Lake fish as the main contributor of internal dose to lakeshore residents in the Chernobyl contaminated area.
Two field expeditions in 1996 studied 137Cs intake patterns and its content in the bodies of adult residents from the village Kozhany in the Bryansk region, Russia, located on the shore of a drainless peat lake in an area subjected to significant radioactive contamination after the 1986 Chernobyl accident. The 137Cs contents in lake water and fish were two orders of magnitude greater than in local rivers and flow-through lakes, 10 years after Chernobyl radioactive contamination, and remain stable. The 137Cs content in lake fish and a mixture of forest mushrooms was between approximately 10-20 kBq/kg, which exceeded the temporary Russian permissible levels for these products by a factor of 20-40. Consumption of lake fish gave the main contribution to internal doses (40-50%) for Kozhany village inhabitants Simple countermeasures, such as Prussian blue doses for dairy cows and pre-boiling mushrooms and fish before cooking, halved the 137Cs internal dose to inhabitants, even 10 years after the radioactive fallout.
Travnikova
I G
IG
Institute of Radiation Hygiene, Mira Street 8, 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia.
Bazjukin
A N
AN
Bruk
G Ja
GJ
Shutov
V N
VN
Balonov
M I
MI
Skuterud
L
L
Mehli
H
H
Strand
P
P
D000363:Agaricales / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001822:Body Burden; D002417:Cattle; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D003296:Cooking; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005506:Food Contamination; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D011210:Power Plants; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D014455:Ukraine; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive