INTERNAL EXPOSURE TO THE POPULATION OF COASTAL KARNATAKA OF SOUTH-INDIA FROM DIETARY-INTAKE

Systematic studies on radiation levels and radionuclide distribution i n the environment of coastal Karnataka, located on the south west coas t of India, was initiated to provide baseline data on background radia tion levels for the future assessment of the impact of the nuclear and thermal power stations that are being set up in the region. The paper presents the concentration of the prominent natural and artificial ra dionuclides in vegetarian and non-vegetarian composite diet samples of the region. The internal exposures to the population of the region we re estimated from the concentration of prominent radionuclides in tota l diet. The results are discussed in the light of literature values re ported for other environments.