Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
20.5.2 Doses from the Food Chain
The activity that enters the human body as a result of consuming a given food stuff
over a given period of time depends on the food consumption rate (e.g. in the unit of
gram/day), the specific activity in the food stuff (e.g. Bq/g) as a function of time,
and the ingestion time period (e.g. days). As for inhalation, the resulting dose
commitment is calculated with complicated models and summarized as nuclide-
and organ dependent dose factors for various age groups. The organ doses are then
obtained by multiplying the activity intake (Bq) by ingestion with the organ-
specific ingestion dose factor (Sv/Bq).
The basic problem in determining a realistic ingestion dose for a specific
individual in industrialized societies lies in the ever-changing distribution pattern
between the food production origin and the consumer—consuming food produced
locally is the exception rather than the rule. This implies that a realistic calculation
of the aggregate individual ingestion dose on the basis of a representative food
basket makes sense only for locally autonomous self-suppliers.
For these reasons, individual ingestion doses are usually calculated only for
selected food stuffs on the assumption of local production and consumption, and
doses for an individual representing the average population are usually not
quantified.
The aggregate collective dose from ingestion is determined usually on the
assumption that all food produced somewhere is also consumed somewhere else.
Then, the collective dose for a given food stuff can be calculated by multiplying the
local production rate for the foodstuff taken from a database and the contamination
level in the food stuff calculated by a food chain transport model, and summing up
over all locations and time periods considered.
References
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Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, Heft 24 (2000) Radiologische Grundlagen f¨r
Entscheidungen ¨ber Maßnahmen zum Schutz der Bev¨ lkerung bei unfallbedingten
Freisetzungen von Radionukliden. M¨nchen, Urban & Fischer, M¨nchen · Jena
2. Annals of the ICRP, Publication 103 (2007) The 2007 recommendations of the International
commission on radiological protection. Elsevier
3. Annals of the ICRP, Publication 111 (2008) Application of the commission's recommenda-
tions to the protection of people living in long-term contaminated areas after a nuclear accident
or a radiation emergency. Elsevier
4. Nisbet AF et al (2010) Decision aiding handbooks for managing contaminated food production
systems, drinking water and inhabited areas in Europe. In Raskob W, Hugon M (eds)
Enhancing nuclear and radiological emergency management and rehabilitation: Key results
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5. Council Regulation (Euratom) No 3954/87 of 22/12/1987 laying down maximum permitted
levels of radioactive contamination of foodststuffs and of feedingstuffs following a nuclear
