Radioactivity in milk consumed in Nigeria 10 years after Chernobyl reactoraccident

The average concentrations of the radioactivity in milk imported into and c onsumed in Nigeria, 10 years after Chernobyl-4 nuclear power plant accident , have been measured by means of a well-calibrated high-purity germanium de tector. The photopeaks observed with reliable regularity belong to the natu rally occurring series-decay radionuclides headed by U-238 and Th-232, as w ell as the non-series decay type, K-40. Ten years after the nuclear acciden t, Cs-137 was not detected in any of the milk samples in view of the possib le transfer through the soil-grass-cow-milk route, the time interval bring one third the Cs-137 half-life (30.2 yr). The average total specific activi ty values of 23.07 +/- 7.75, 4.35 +/- 2.06 and 831.66 +/- 54.83 Bq kg(-1) f or Ra-226, Ra-228 and K-40, respectively, were obtained. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.