Estimated association between dwelling soil contamination and internal radiation contamination levels after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan

Abstract

Objectives: Measurement of soil contamination levels has been considered a feasible method for dose estimation of internal radiation exposure following the Chernobyl disaster by means of aggregate transfer factors; however, it is still unclear whether the estimation of internal contamination based on soil contamination levels is universally valid or incident specific. Methods: To address this issue, we evaluated relationships between in vivo and soil cesium-137 (Cs- 137) contamination using data on internal contamination levels among Minamisoma (10-40 km north from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant), Fukushima residents 2-3 years following the disaster, and constructed three models f..