Software for estimating radiation dose to reference organisms following long-term exposure to radioactive fallouts

Method for evaluating absorbed dose rate to reference organisms of terrestrial biogeocenosis following chronic exposure to radioactive fallouts is presented in the article. The software with a set of libraries of dose conversion coefficients for estimating absorbed dose rate to reference organisms being on different distances from a source of radiation was developed using Lazarus programming environment and Object Pascal language. The results of the software testing show that calculated long-term average annual coefficients of atmospheric dilution are comparable with the published data, and dose values are comparable with the values calculated with the Erica Assessment Tool. Calculation of radioactive contamination levels and radiation doses to biota using different methods results in nonsignificant difference if a source of radiation is located 6000 m far from an exposed organism. Main program modules used for calculating absorbed dose rate to reference organisms are described in the article. Authors also consider trends and techniques in development of software tools for evaluation of radiation doses to biota. The presented software can be used for estimating radiation dose to biota of terrestrial biogeocenosis in the vicinity of nuclear fuel cycle plants.