TRANSPORT OF RADIOCESIUM FROM A SHEEPS DIET TO ITS TISSUES

Transfer coefficients for radiocaesium transport from a sheep's diet t o blood, muscle, lung, liver, kidney, spleen heart, brain, rumen, inte stines and fat were measured in a controlled experiment involving 50 a dult ewes. The animals were fed dry grass and wheat, both contaminated with Chernobyl fallout debris, for a period of 60 days. During this p eriod half of the animals were killed at regular intervals and samples of their blood and tissues were measured for radiocaesium concentrati on. The rest of the animals were returned to uncontaminated food and w ere monitored for radiocaesium concentration through periodic slaughte ring for an additional 60 days. Transfer coefficients were extracted f rom the plateau reached at the end of the contamination phase. The dat a were also analyzed by means of a recently proposed linear multiple c ompartment model and transport rate parameters for each compartment we re extracted. Transfer coefficients computed through the model's trans port rate parameters show remarkable agreement with the experimentally obtained values.