Comparison of computational and instrumental methods of individual retrospective dosimetry among inhabitants of the settlement with high radioactive contamination following the Chernobyl NPP accident

«Radiation and Risk», 2006, vol. 15, no. 1-2, pp.146-156

Authors

Stepanenko V.F., Orlov M.Yu., Petin D.V., Tikounov D.D., Borysheva N.B., Ivannikov A.I., Skvortsov V.G., Yaskova E.K., Kolyszhenkov T.V., Kryukova I.G., Moskovko L.I., Tsyb A.F.
Medical Radiological Research Center of RAMS, Obninsk.

Abstract

The results of retrospective estimation of individual accumulated doses of internal and external irradiation of whole body (for period from 1986 till 2000) among inhabitants of Zaborie village, Krasnogorsky raion, Bryansk oblast, which is highly contaminated inhabited settlement following the Chernobyl accident, are presented in the paper. Soil contamination density by ¹³⁷Cs in Zaborie village is about 4.3 MBq/m². Calculated values of total individual accumulated doses were found to be in the range from 50 mGy to 490 mGy. For 18 persons (among 42 investigated inhabitants) the values of individual accumulated doses were found to be higher than 200 mGy. It was concluded that countermeasure, which was performed in 1986 (elimination of private milk cattle), was not effective. In order to reduce the consumption of local contaminated foods the social-economic countermeasures were proposed in the paper. The applied computational method of individual dose reconstruction is based on the individual questioning of inhabitants and on the investigation of current radiation conditions. In order to verify the computational method the comparison of calculated individual dose values with the results of individual dose estimations by instrumental EPR-dosimetry with human tooth enamel was performed. 10 tooth enamel samples were used for this comparison. Good agreement between two methods of individual dose reconstruction (computational and instrumental) was found.

Key words
Reconstruction of individual accumulated doses, internal and external irradiation of the entire body, an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, total individual accumulated doses, contaminated food products, EPR dosimetry for human enamel.

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