Exposure of the population of the Gomel region due to inhalation of the Chernobyl fuel particles

The main pathway of plutonium to human body on the territories contaminated after the Chernobyl accident was inhalation of aerosol particles of dispersed nuclear fuel - the so-called Chernobyl fuel particles. These particles are a rare form of radioactive contamination of the air and their radiobiological properties are poorly understood. The radioactive fission products (I, Te, Cs, Ru, Sr isotopes and others) and transuranic radionuclides (Pu, Cm, Am, Np) containing fuel particles are firmly fixed with the uranium dioxide matrix. Due to this bonding their behaviour in the environment and in human body is collective. This phenomenon has been experimentally confirmed in the studies of distribution of Pu isotopes in the bodies of the accident liquidators and the kinetics of removal of Cs isotopes from their organisms. The studies of the plutonium content in body on the contaminated areas of the Gomel region were carried out to reconstruct the value of inhalation intake of aerosol fuel particles in the first days after the Chernobyl NPP and to estimate corresponding internal exposure doses. The completed works have revealed the Chernobyl fuel particles in respiratory organs of the inhabitants on the contaminated areas. It has been shown that in terms of size and ratio of plutonium isotopes, the fuel particles inhaled by the residents of the Gomel region correlate with the fuel particles released from the damaged 4th unit of the Chernobyl NPP. The reconstructed doses for the studied witnesses of the accident make it possible to predict the range of internal doses for other groups of liquidators as well as residents of the contaminated areas in Belorus, Ukraine and Russian Federation.