RADIATION CONTAMINATION AFTER THE CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR ACCIDENT AND THE EFFECTIVE DOSE RECEIVED BY THE POPULATION OF CROATIA

Because of the Chernobyl nuclear accident which led to enhanced deposi tion of all fission products, contamination of the human environment i n the Republic of Croatia was much higher than in the previous two dec ades. The paper deals wish the investigation of deposition and contami nation by fission product radionuclides (Cs-137 and Sr-90, in particul ar), especially within the human food chain. Its aim was to determine differences in contamination levels resulting from the Chernobyl accid ent and from large-scale atmospheric nuclear weapon tests. For the yea r following the Chernobyl accident, the radiation doses received from external and internal exposures were estimated for 1-year old infants, children at the age of 10-years and adults. The corresponding annual effective doses were 1.49, 0.93 and 0.83 mSv, respectively. The paper also gives data on the yearly intakes of Cs-137 and Sr-90 in foods and the corresponding effective doses received by the population of Croat ia over many years from the global fallout following nuclear weapons t esting and the Chernobyl accident. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.