Pathways, levels and trends of population exposure after the Chernobyl accident

Abstract

In this paper main regularities of the long-term exposure of the population of former USSR after the Chernobyl accident are described. Influence of some natural, human and social factors on the forming of external and internal dose in the rural and urban population was studied in the most contaminated regions of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine during 1986-1994. Radioecological processes of I, Cs and Sr nuclides migration in biosphere influencing the processes of population dose formation are considered. The model of their intake in human body was developed and validated by large-scaled measurements of the human body content. The model of external exposure of different population groups was developed and confirmed by the series of individual external dose measurements with thermoluminescent dosemeters. General dosimetric characteristics of the population exposure are given along with some samples of accumulated external and internal effective doses in inhabitants of contaminated areas in 1986-1995. Forecast of the external and internal population effective dose is given for the period of 70 years after the accident.