title: Measurement of radiocaesium, radiostrontium, and plutonium in whole diets, following deposition of radioactivity in the UK originating from the Chernobyl power plant accident.
abstract: Radionuclide contamination of whole diets as a result of the Chernobyl accident has been measured following the collection of individual diets from adults and children during 1 week in June 1986. The study was conducted in three different parts of the UK, to represent rural areas of both high and low deposition of Chernobyl fallout, and an urban area where the food supply was likely to be derived from a more diverse range of sources. The overall caesium-137 plus caesium-134 concentrations in the diets was less than 5 Bq kg-1 fresh weight, and ranged from less than 0.8 Bq kg-1 to 22 Bq kg-1, the highest levels being found in diets from the high deposition area. The isotopic ratios confirmed contamination to have been predominantly of Chernobyl origin. These levels of radiocaesium would have given rise to an average committed effective dose equivalent to age 70 of less than 0.4 microSv, with a range of less than 0.05 microSv to 1.9 microSv, from intakes in the study week. The opportunity was also taken to analyse the samples for weapons fallout contamination, that is, strontium-89/strontium-90 and plutonium-239/plutonium-240. No diet contained strontium above the reporting level of 0.2 Bq kg-1 but 18% of the diets contained plutonium above the limits of detection (0.1 mBq kg-1), the highest of these being 12 mBq kg-1, found in a diet from one of the low deposition areas.
authors.affiliation: Food Science Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, London, UK.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Mondon
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walters
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D015930:Diet Records; D005507:Food Contamination, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry; D009688:Nuclear Reactors; D011005:Plutonium / Q000032:analysis*; D012424:Rural Population; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D014455:Ukraine; D006113:United Kingdom; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes; D011005:Plutonium