A comparison of doses from Cs-137 and Po-210 in marine food: A major international study

Radioactivity levels of natural Po-210 and anthropogenic Cs-137 in sea water and biota (fish and shellfish) have been estimated for the FAO fishing areas on the basis of measurements carried out in recent years. Collective doses resulting from seafood consumption are calculated for each FAO area using radioactivity data for water and biota. Good agreement is observed between the results calculated by these two methods, with the exception of the doses from Po-210 via shellfish consumption. The collection effective dose commitment from Cs-137 in marine food in 1990 has been estimated at 160 man Sv with an uncertainty of 50%. The corresponding dose from Po-210 is 30 000 man Sv with an estimated uncertainty of a factor of 5. The results confirm that the dominant contribution to doses derives from natural Po-210 in fish and shellfish and that the contribution from anthropogenic Cs-137 (mainly originating from nuclear weapons tests) is negligible. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.