ACCIDENT DOSIMETRY USING ENVIRONMENTAL MATERIALS COLLECTED FROM REGIONS DOWNWIND OF CHERNOBYL - A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION

Environmental materials including bricks, tiles, porcelain fixtures an d a variety of other ceramic objects were collected in July, 1990, and August, 1991, from indoor and outdoor locations in the town of Pripya t, situated 3 km NW of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The samples were distributed to a number of laboratories to investigate their suit ability for thermoluminescence dosimetry and for measurement of gamma ray doses with samples deemed suitable, using pre-dose, fine-grain and quartz inclusion thermoluminescence techniques. In the most heavily e xposed region of Pripyat, values ranged from near background (congruen t-to 0.1 Gy) in the most shielded interior locations of apartment buil dings to a maximum of 0.6 Gy directly behind closed windows, while ext erior values ranged from 1.7 to 2.3 Gy for samples located at least 1 m above ground level.