RADIOCESIUM IN DIET AND HUMANS IN NORTHEASTERN POLAND AFTER THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT

Cs-137 and Cs-134 concentrations were determined in the daily diet and foodstuffs in northeastern Poland in the fourth through sixth years a fter the Chernobyl accident. Intakes, body burdens, and dose equivalen ts were evaluated in the consecutive years. The data from this and pre vious work were used for the calculation of the effective half-time of radiocesium in humans. The effective half-time for Cs-137 (1.94 y) wa s similar to that observed after nuclear weapons tests. The effective half-time for Cs-134 was 0.98 y. Taking these half-times into account, the whole-body committed dose equivalent for the adult population was estimated to be 256 muSv; it was about 50% higher than that after the nuclear weapons tests.