Assessment of committed doses received by agricultural workers in grain harvesting operations in the areas of radioactive contamination

Abstract

Implementation of field experiments took place in two farmland fields located in Bragin district of Gomel region, Belarus, i.e. a plot of land in the resettled area and a backyard crop field in a populated area of the district. The objective of research was to study the levels of radioactive contamination of air in the workplace of agricultural workers during intensive grain harvesting operations. Comparative dose analysis was done to assess external exposure and committed effective doses of internal exposure received by agricultural workers due to inhalation of grain dust containing 241Am, 238,239+240Pu, 137Cs and 90Sr. According to the results, the dominant contributors (82–97%) to internal exposure of agricultural workers both on a private farm field and in the resettled area, were the transuranium elements 241Am and 238,239+240Pu. In the context of total doses received by harvest workers, the most significant contribution was caused by external exposure which was 2–3 orders of magnitude higher than the levels of internal exposure due to inhalation intake of radionuclides.