The absorbed dose rate of external exposure to representatives of ichthyofauna of lakes in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone

Abstract

The limits of the average value of the average annual external radiation dose rate of fishes from four lakes (with different degrees of radionuclide pollution of ichthyofauna representatives) of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone as of 2021 are given, namely: Azbuchyn Lake (4 - 33 μGy/h), Vershyna Lake (3 - 26 μGy/h), Glyboke Lake (2 - 15 μGy/h) and Plyutovyshche Lake (0.02 - 0.16 μGy/h). Bottom-dwelling fish species such as tench and Prussian carp receive the highest external radiation dose, and rudd and surface fish species receive the lowest. It has been proven that the radionuclide 137Cs forms from 62.8 to 98.7 % of the absorbed dose of external irradiation of fishes from the studied water bodies. It is clearly shown that the current levels of the average annual absorbed external dose rate for many of the studied fishes of the lakes exceed the screening dose of 2 μGy/h and in 6 cases out of 22 exceed the safe level of 10 μGy/h recommended by the European Commission project “PROTECT”.