Stichting Laka

Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
30 years of exposure to Chernobyl originating radionuclides: two case studies on food and wood contamination in the Ukraine (2016)

Auteur	Iryna Labunska1, Valeriy Kashparov2, Sviatoslav Levchuk2, Nikolay Lazarev2, David Santillo1, and Paul Johnston1
	2-34-8-30-49.pdf
Datum	februari 2016
Classificatie	2.34.8.30/49 (TSJERNOBYL - GEVOLGEN REST EUROPA - ALGEMEEN)
Voorkant

1. Introduction 

The explosion of the 4th reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (ChNPP) 
contaminated vast areas of agricultural land and forest with a range of radionuclides 
(De Cort et al., 1998; Kuriny et al., 1993). According to the latest radiological 
surveillance data, the average annual dose to population of a number of settlements 
in Ukraine is still above the dose limit of 1 mSv/year established for individual 
members of public (Lihtarov, 2013, 2012). In these settlements, the primary route of 
exposure to radioactive elements is by consumption of locally produced foodstuffs 
contaminated by radionuclides. Among those radionuclides, 137Cs and 90Sr are the 
most important long-lived elements in terms of widespread contamination and their 
potential to enter the food chain by, for example, accumulating in grain crops 
(Krouglov et al., 1997) and in milk (Belli et al. 1989; Fesenko et al. 2007). It has 
been reported that cow’s milk, wild mushrooms and wild berries are the main 
contributors (70 – 90%) to the internal dose of people residing on 137Cs 
contaminated territories.