Assessment of Agricultural Workers' Exposure Due to Crop Harvesting Operations Within the Areas Affected by Radioactive Contamination.

Abstract

Implementation of field experiments took place in two sites located in the Bragin district of the Gomel region, Belarus, i.e. a field in the evacuation zone and a private plot of land in a residential area of thedistrict. The objective of the research was to study the levels of radioactive contamination of air due to the dust raised up during crop harvesting operations. Comparative dose assessment was done to assess external exposure and committed effective doses of internal exposure due to inhalation of (241)Am, (238,239+240)Pu, (137)Cs and (90)Sr by agricultural workers involved in dust-generating harvesting operations. According to the results, the dominant contributors (93-97%) to internal exposure of agricultural workers both on a private plot of land and in the area of evacuation, were the transuranic elements (241)Am and (238,239,240)Pu. In the context of the total doses received by the harvest-workers, the dominant contribution belonged to external exposure which was 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than the levels of internal exposure due to inhalation of radionuclides.