Environmental radiation and radioactive releases

Abstract

Today the most important anthropogenic radiation comes from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons carried out 20-30 years ago, authorized discharges to the sea from nuclear reprocessing plants, and from the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In the past decade the International Union of Radioecologists (IUR) has contributed to improved international co-operation among radioecologists from all parts of the world through its creation of a number of working groups for specific radioecological problems. More than 30 years of radioecological studies have probably made the radioactive contamination of our environment the best-understood of all present pollution problems. This review indicates the doses to man received from the important anthropogenic sources, as well as those from natural background radiation. It appears that in a global perspective the latter is by far the most important contributor.