INHALATION OF RADIONUCLIDES DURING AGRICULTURAL WORK IN AREAS CONTAMINATED AS A RESULT OF THE CHERNOBYL REACTOR ACCIDENT

Radionuclide concentrations have been determined inside and outside the cabs of tractors operated on soils that are typical of the 30 km exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was found that when the total plutonium deposit exceeded 3.7 kBq m-2 and the Cs-137 deposit exceeded 7.4 M Bq m-2, the levels of these radionuclides in the operator's cabin could exceed the maximum permissible air concentrations. However, due to the seasonal nature of work, the quantities of these radionuclides inhaled would not exceed the annual limit on intake. Dose to the lungs caused by the inhalation of hot particles has been addressed by either including or neglecting spatial dose distribution. The levels of risk of carcinogenic changes in cells of lung tissue calculated according to each of the two approaches have been shown to be of the same order of magnitude.