INHALATION OF RADIONUCLIDES DURING AGRICULTURAL WORK IN AREAS CONTAMINATED AS A RESULT OF THE CHERNOBYL REACTOR ACCIDENT

Radionuclide concentrations have been determined inside and outside th e cabs of tractors operated on soils that are typical of the 30 km exc lusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was found tha t when the total plutonium deposit exceeded 3.7 kBq m-2 and the Cs-137 deposit exceeded 7.4 M Bq m-2, the levels of these radionuclides in t he operator's cabin could exceed the maximum permissible air concentra tions. However, due to the seasonal nature of work, the quantities of these radionuclides inhaled would not exceed the annual limit on intak e. Dose to the lungs caused by the inhalation of hot particles has bee n addressed by either including or neglecting spatial dose distributio n. The levels of risk of carcinogenic changes in cells of lung tissue calculated according to each of the two approaches have been shown to be of the same order of magnitude.