Assessment of Current Exposure of the Population Living in the Techa River Basin From Radioactive Releases of the Mayak Facility

Abstract

Current doses arising from external and internal pathways have been estimated for the residents of two villages, Muslumovo and Brodokalmak, alongside the Techa River, which was contaminated by radioactive releases from the Mayak production facility. The dose estimates are based on numerous environmental measurements supplemented by further human whole body measurements and studies on occupational and dietary habits of Slavic and Turkish ethnic groups. Estimated doses arise mainly from use of the contaminated floodplains alongside the Techa River. The current average annual effective dose attributable to Cs and Sr in the environment, under conditions where restrictions on some river-related activities are in place, may exceed the Russian national action level of 1 mSv only in the hypothetical critical group of herdsmen in Muslumovo. The dose to this critical group in Brodokalmak is assessed to be 3 times less than that in Muslumovo and 2 fold below the action level. The external and internal exposures give comparable contributions to the total dose in both settlements and population groups: 47% and 53% in Muslumovo and 40% and 60% in Brodokalmak, respectively. About one quarter to one half of the internal dose in adults arises from the intake of Sr. In order to avoid substantial increases in the dose received by Muslumovo residents, it is expedient to prolong the current policy of restriction of some river-related population activities in this village.

Overview of Dose Assessment Developments and the Health of Riverside Residents Close to the “Mayak” PA Facilities, Russia

“…The main findings were consistent: only a hypothetical critical group in Muslyumovo (equivalent to Group 3, termed as herdsmen) was found to potentially receive more than 1 mSv yr –1 , the corresponding group in Brodokalmak receiving three times less dose. However, contributions of external doses to the total doses were less than the previous assessments [ 24 – 25 ] being 47 % and 40 % for residents in Muslyumovo and Brodokalmak, respectively [ 41 ].…”

“…The most recent published assessment of external and internal doses to Techa residents is based on similar data sets regarding environmental levels of radioactivity [ 41 ], consumption patterns and occupancy factors as the studies mentioned here. The main findings were consistent: only a hypothetical critical group in Muslyumovo (equivalent to Group 3, termed as herdsmen) was found to potentially receive more than 1 mSv yr –1 , the corresponding group in Brodokalmak receiving three times less dose.…”

Sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the environment: a review

“…1), including 1.2 Â 10 4 TBq of 90 Sr and 1.3 Â 10 4 TBq of 137 Cs, was released to the Techa River (Christensen et al, 1997;Balonov et al, 2006Balonov et al, , 2007. As summarized in Balonov et al (2007), about 95% of the radioactivity was released to the Balonov et al (2007) presented an excellent study on the exposure assessment of the population living in the Techa area basin. Since 1951, the liquid waste has been discharged into a small swampy lake, Lake Karachai, covering less than 0.5 km 2 in area, inside the Mayak complex.…”

Inter-varietal variation in caesium and strontium uptake by plants: a meta-analysis

“…Radioisotopes of caesium were the primary long-term contributors to human doses received after the Windscale (1957;Wright et al, 2003) and Chernobyl (1986;IAEA, 2006) accidents, and are now the principal radiological concern in areas affected by the accident at Fukushima in 2011 (Nakanishi and Tanoi, 2013). Strontium-90 is a major contributor to doses in areas contaminated by the Mayak accident (1957;Balanov et al, 2007) and is present in soils of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone at activity concentrations approaching those of 137 Cs (Kholosha, 2008).…”