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Estimation of annual effective dose from ingestion of 40K and 137Cs in foods frequently consumed in Korea

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Abstract

The activity concentrations of natural (40K) and anthropogenic (137Cs) radionuclides were measured in the 30 most commonly consumed foods in Korea. The average activity-concentrations of 40K and 137Cs were 67 Bq kg−1 and 46 mBq kg−1 fresh weight of food, respectively. The total annual intakes of 40K and 137Cs by humans were 14915 and 3.64 Bq year−1, respectively. The calculated mean annual effective doses from ingestion of the investigated foodstuffs were 92 µSv for 40K and 0.047 µSv for 137Cs. Our results can provide useful background information on radiation protection in Korea, and in other countries as well.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all members in the center for environmental radiation and radioactivity assessment and 15 regional monitoring stations for their technical support with sampling and laboratory analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon, 305-338, Republic of Korea

    Jung-Seok Chae, Hyeong Jin Kim & Ju-Yong Yun

  2. Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju, 690-756, Republic of Korea

    Tae-Hoon Kim

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  1. Jung-Seok Chae
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Correspondence to Tae-Hoon Kim.

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Chae, JS., Kim, TH., Kim, H.J. et al. Estimation of annual effective dose from ingestion of 40K and 137Cs in foods frequently consumed in Korea. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 310, 1069–1075 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-4891-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-4891-5

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