90Sr in residents of the Iset riverside settlements

The river Iset belongs to the Techa-Iset-Tobol-Irtysh-Ob system contaminated by liquid radioactive wastes from Mayak plutonium facility in 1949-1956. This study represents the first retrospective analysis of postmortem measurements of 90Sr in bones from residents of the Iset riverside settlements in 1960-1982. It was shown that 90Sr concentration in bones of residents lived in settlements located downstream from the Techa river mouth (Shadrinsk, Isetskoye, Yalutorovsk) was 5 times higher than average 90Sr concentration in bones of the Russian residents. There was not statistically significant difference in accumulated 90Sr in bones between residents of the considered Iset' settlements indicating similar levels of 90Sr ingestion. Dietary 90Sr intake was reconstructed from the measurements of the radionuclide in bones. Total 90Sr dietary intake in 1950-1975 was 68 kBq; and 90% of the intake occurred in 1950-1961. In 1960s, 90Sr-contamination of the diet in settlements located downstream from the Techa river mouth was mostly (by 70%) due to global fallouts. Absorbed dose in the red bone marrow cumulated over 25 years of exposure was equal to 14 (4.7-42) mGy.