Cancer risk due to Cs-137 and Sr-90 dietary intake after the Chernobyl accident (original) (raw)

On the 26 of April, 1986, a major accident occurred at the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Ukraine. Soon after the accident, on May 1*, the radioactive cloud reached Romania. The meteorological conditions (rainy weather) lead to important fallout over our country. The most important radionuclides carried by the radioactive plume over Romania were I, Cs, Cs and Sr. As in many other countries, in the first days, I l had the main contribution to the irradiation dose released to the population. After its decay, and the decay of the other short-lived radionuclides, Cs and Sr remained the most important contaminants. The principal route of intake for these two radionuclides is considered to be the ingestion of contaminated foods. Assessments of radiation doses to people living in the Bucharest area (south-east of Romania the area studied in this paper) have utilized data obtained from measurement of Cs and Sr content in dietary intake samples for a number of subjec...