The transfer of 137Cs and 90Sr from feed to rabbits

Radiological assessment of the impact of nuclear weapons testing on the local population in the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) requires comprehensive site-specific information on radionuclide behaviour in the environment. However, information on radionuclide behaviour in the conditions of the STS is rather sparse and, in particular, there are no data in the literature on parameters of radionuclide transfer from feed to rabbit products which have been identified as contributors to internal dose to the inhabitants. The transfer of 137Cs and 90Sr to rabbit meat was studied under laboratory conditions in a controlled experiment with 32 locally bred rabbits maintained in the Kazakh Agricultural Research Institute. The equilibrium transfer coefficients for 137Cs and 90Sr from feed to rabbit meat were estimated to be 0.4 d kg−1 and 0.15 d kg−1, respectively. The biological half-lives were estimated to be 0.1 d for 137Cs and 0.14 d for 90Sr. Whereas for 137Cs the distribution in the body is relatively homogeneous, there are large differences between the organs and tissues for 90Sr for which, as expected, the highest concentrations were found in bone.