Total body potassium measurement--the effect of fallout from Chernobyl

As a result of fallout from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in April 1986, the caesium radioisotopes, 134Cs and 137Cs, have been detected in man. A minor consequence of this is that total body potassium (TBK) measurements obtained from the whole body activity of 40K, a naturally occurring radioisotope of potassium, can be overestimated because of gamma spectrum overlap between 134Cs and 40K. Whole-body activities for 134Cs and 40K were measured in 18 healthy adults (13 M, 5 F) in June/July, 1986, using a whole-body counter with NaI crystal scintillation detectors. Studies using anthropometric phantoms containing known activities of the two radionuclides, allowed the contribution of 134Cs to the '40K activity' in the human subjects to be assessed. The group mean 134Cs level was 172 Bq, resulting in an average overestimate in TBK of 2.8%. It is recommended that when TBK measurements are being undertaken and 134Cs contamination is suspected, then 134Cs levels should be measured and their effect corrected for.