Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 21, 2025

Visualization of Low-Level Gamma Radiation Sources Using a Low-Cost, High-Sensitivity, Omnidirectional Compton Camera
Published on: January 30, 2020
External Cesium-137 doses to humans from soil influenced by the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear power plants
Ka-Ming Wai1,2, Dragana Krstic3, Dragoslav Nikezic3
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Shantou University, Shantou, China. jmwei@stu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
External exposure to gamma-photon irradiation from soil contamination due to nuclear power plant (NPP) accidents has significant contribution to human radiation exposure in the proximity of the NPP. Detailed absorbed doses in human organs are rarely reported in the literature. We applied the Monte Carlo Neutron Particle (MCNP) transport code to calculate and compare the absorbed doses in different human organs. The absorbed doses by gamma-photon radiation were from cesium-137 (137Cs) in soil contaminated by the two major NPP accidents. More serious and wide-spread impacts of the Chernobyl NPP accident on soil contamination in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and countries as far as Sweden and Greece were due to the inland location, radiative plume transport pathway and high 137Cs emission strength (9 times the Fukushima emission). Based on our MCNP calculations, the largest absorbed dose was found in skin. The maximum calculated external 137Cs annual effective dose received from the Chernobyl accident was 10 times higher relative to the Fukushima accident. Our calculated effective doses at various influenced areas were comparable to those available in the literature. The calculated annual effective doses at areas near the Fukushima and Chernobyl NPPs exceeded the ICRP recommendation of 1 mSv yr-1.
More Related Videos
07:08Establishment of a Robust and Reproducible Model of Radiation-Induced Skin and Muscle Fibrosis
Published on: August 31, 2022
09:18Laser-heating and Radiance Spectrometry for the Study of Nuclear Materials in Conditions Simulating a Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Published on: December 14, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Biological Effects of Radiation
Nuclear Transmutation
Nuclear Power
Nuclear Fuels
Nuclear fuel consists of a fissile isotope, such as uranium-235, which must be present in sufficient quantity to provide a...
Isotopes and Radioisotopes
An isotope containing...
Nuclear Fission