title: Absorbed doses in tissue-equivalent spheres above radioactive sources in soil.
abstract: Doses due to external exposure of terrestrial biota are assessed using differential air kerma from radioactive sources in soil and energy-dependent 'absorbed dose-per-air kerma' conversion factors computed for spherical tissue-equivalent bodies. The presented approach allows computing average whole body absorbed dose for terrestrial organisms with body masses from 1 mg to 1,000 kg located at heights from 10 cm to 500 m above ground. Radioactive sources in soil emitting photons with energies from 10 keV to 10 MeV have been considered. Interpolation of the computed quantities over source energy, body mass, and height above ground results in plausible estimates of whole body average absorbed doses for non-human terrestrial biota from gamma-radiation emitted by any radionuclides in contaminated terrain.
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute for Radiation Protection, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, Neuherberg, Germany, ulanovsky@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ulanovsky
mesh_terms: D065638:Absorption, Radiation; D000388:Air; D000818:Animals; D058448:Biota; D001835:Body Weight; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012987:Soil; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive