Abstract
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident released vast amounts of various fission products, of which 131I and 137Cs are considered the most important because they are a major source of radiation exposure to the general public. 137Cs, unlike 131I, has a 30-year half-life that continues to expose people internally and externally for several decades after being deposited into the ground. 137Cs can be easily transmitted to the body through the intake of products and wild forest foodstuffs produced in contaminated areas. In the early phase, external exposure to 137Cs was predominant; however, it gradually diminished, mostly owing to horizontal and vertical distribution, and internal exposure started gaining dominance. Prior studies have shown that people in the affected areas have been constantly subjected to the inevitable low-grade internal exposure, which in turn has led to high anxiety and concern regarding the potential health effects. The present 10-year study assessed the latest status of the body burden among residents of the contaminated parts of the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine by measuring the internal concentration of 137Cs using the whole-body counter installed at the Medical Center of Korosten city. Almost 110 000 examinees from eight different districts were screened between 2009 and 2018. The study area was situated to the west of Chernobyl, which experienced a significant fallout of 137Cs and 131I from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. We analyzed the data for internal exposure to 137Cs by obtaining the actual magnitude, pace, and pattern of change for each year. During the study, the average 137Cs concentration in residents fell from 21.6 Bq/kg at the beginning of the study to 3.0 Bq/kg at the end of the study. The proportion of examinees with detectable levels had also fallen rapidly, from 45% to 11%. We found a weaker seasonal effect and a significantly higher Bq/kg concentration in adolescents than in other age groups.
Highlights
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a vast majority of the 5 million people residing in the contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine had received annual effective doses of less than 1 mSv from 137Cs released after the accident at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) in addition to the naturally-occurring background radiation
The 137Cs concentrations in the body shown in Fig 1 indicates the value of Bq/kg concentration at the 75th and 95th percentiles of the participants as well as the mean Bq/kg for each study year
Our study revealed that either the average Bq/kg concentration in the bodies of residents of Korosten and its subordinate villages decreased considerably or the number of examination results with detectable levels declined over the course of the study, with fluctuations in some years
Summary
Various studies have reported that several hundred thousand liquidators have been exposed to high doses of radiation, and millions of people residing in contaminated areas have been experiencing chronic exposure to low radiation doses. This accident released huge amounts of various artificial radionuclides, consisting predominantly of 137Cs, 134Cs, and 131I. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a vast majority of the 5 million people residing in the contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine had received annual effective doses of less than 1 mSv from 137Cs released after the accident at CNPP in addition to the naturally-occurring background radiation.
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