There is considerable interest in the chemical composition of smokeless tobacco products (STPs), owing to health concerns associated with their use. Previous studies have documented levels of 210Po, 210Pb and uranium in STP samples. Here, the levels of 13 α-particle and 15 β-radiation emitting radionuclides have been measured in a broad and representative range of contemporary STPs commercially...

All soil used anywhere in the world for agriculture contains radionuclides to a greater or lesser extent. Typical soils (IA89a) contain approximately 300 kBq/m3 of 40K to a depth of 20 cm. This radionuclide and others are then taken up by crops and transferred to food, leading to a concentration in food and feed of between 50 and 150 Bq/kg. The ingestion of radionuclides in food is one of the p...

The regularities of natural (K-40, Th-232, Ra-226) and artificial (Sr-90 and Cs-137) radionuclides accumulation by embryonic soils and various organs of Taraxacum officinale Web. in rock waste disposal areas of the Kedrovsky coal pit in the Kuznetsk Basin were studied. The K-40 natural radionuclide causes major radioactivity of embryonic soils at rock waste disposal areas – its share in the tot...

The fifth framework EU project BORIS (Bioavailability Of Radionuclides In Soils: role of biological components and resulting improvement of prediction models) had three scientific objectives. The first was to improve understanding of the mechanisms governing the transfer of radionuclides to plants. The second was to improve existing predictive models of radionuclide interaction with soils by in...

Natural radiation sources contribute much the largest part of the radiation exposure of the average person. This paper examines doses from natural radiation to the red bone marrow, the tissue in which leukaemia is considered to originate, with particular emphasis on doses to children. The most significant contributions are from x-rays and gamma rays, radionuclides in food and inhalation of isot...

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident on March 11, 2011 attracted people's attention, with anxiety over possible radiation hazards. Immediate and long-term concerns are around protection from external and internal exposure by the liberated radionuclides. In particular, residents living in the affected regions are most concerned about ingesting contaminated foodstuffs, including dri...

Erratum: “Radionuclides in Fracking Wastewater: Managing a Toxic Blend” The Focus article “Radionuclides in Fracking Wastewater: Managing a Toxic Blend” [Environ Health Perspect 122:A50–A55 (2014); http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.122-A50] incorrectly stated that Pennsylvania requires pit liners for temporary impoundments and disposal to have a minimum thickness of 30 mm. The correct minimum thick...

A combined y-ray probe@* imaging detector was created by modification of a beta imaging intra-operative probe. This phoswich detector consists of a thin CaF,(Eu) p*imaging disk, coupled through a light diffuser to 7 or 19 parallelepiped highZ scintillation crystals arranged hexagonally in columns. These elements are either 2 x 2 ~ 1 0 mm3 or 4 x 4 ~ 1 0 mm3 LSO, GSO or BGO crystals, and act as ...