title: Measurement of 129 I and 137 Cs in soils from Belarus and reconstruction of 131I deposition from the Chernobyl accident.
abstract: I and Cs have been measured in a large number of soil samples collected throughout the country of Belarus to support efforts for thyroid-dose reconstruction following the Chernobyl accident. Samples of soil consisting of multiple 30-cm-deep cores per site were sampled following a selection process to ensure sites were undisturbed and representative. Samples were measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for I, gamma spectrometry for Cs, and gas chromatography (GC) for total iodine. Results show that both I and Cs are retained firmly in the top approximately 15 to 20 cm of the soil. Our results also suggest that the correlation between I and Cs deposition across the country of Belarus is poor; hence, I is a better surrogate for I than is Cs. It was also noted that total iodine concentrations in topsoil from Belarus are low compared with other regions of the world where radiogenic thyroid cancer has been studied.
authors.affiliation: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA. tstraume@mail.arc.nasa.gov
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Straume
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Anspaugh
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Marchetti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Minenko
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Men
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trofimik
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tretyakevich
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Drozdovitch
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shagalova
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zhukova
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Germenchuk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berlovich
mesh_terms: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011210:Power Plants; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D002094:Republic of Belarus; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D014455:Ukraine
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive