Radiation Protection Dosimetry 32:259-271 (1990)
© 1990 Oxford University Press
137Cs and 134Cs Human Internal Contamination in Italy Following the 1986 Chernobyl Event
A synthesis of the data concerning the distribution and behaviour over time until September 1989 of 134Cs and 137Cs human contamination deriving from the accident to Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station on 26 April 1986, is presented. The controls have been performed by means of two intercalibrated whole-body counters on healthy adult male and female volunteers living in different Italian regions. The main topics investigated are: the behaviour over time of the contamination in Bologna and Rome: geographic distribution in Italy in September 1987; the statistical distribution of data; the variability of the individual activity in relation to the mean activity of homogeneous groups; the intersex differences; and the effect of the element's biokinetics uncertainties on the committed effective dose equivalent evaluation. Trends are also found, mainly useful where extended contamination involves too large a fraction of the population for individual control of all the subjects concerned, thus requiring the identification of small groups of individuals representative of large population groups.