Cumulative Dose Assessment Using Thermoluminescence Properties of Porcelain Isolators as Evidence of a Severe Radiation Accident in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, 1978

Abstract

The cumulated absorbed doses in four electric porcelain isolators collected at the site of the "Kraton-3" underground nuclear explosion in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, were evaluated using the thermoluminescence technique. The doses attributable to the accidental radioactive release from the explosion ranged from 1.2 to 10 Gy; the maximal value was detected for the isolator collected near the "Kraton-3" borehole. The measured thermoluminescence doses for two of the four samples analyzed are in reasonable agreement with the estimates of external gamma dose presented by earlier investigators of the site.

Radioecological studies at the Kraton-3 underground nuclear explosion site in 1978–2007: a review

“…The sum of these phenomena, reported for the Kraton-3 site, is commonly referred to as ''dead forest'' (Burtcev and Kolodeznikova, 1994;Gedeonov et al, 2002Gedeonov et al, , 2004. In the years following the turn of the millennium (early 2000s), the length of the ''dead forest'' area was about 3.5 km, and its maximum width was 600 m. A sketch map of the ''dead forest'', as well as aerial and on the ground photos from the area are given in the published literature (Ramzaev et al, 2004(Ramzaev et al, , 2007cRamzaev and Gö ksu, 2006). A collated sketch map of the site is given in Fig.…”

“…Gamma-ray dose rates in air have frequently been measured during field studies conducted at the Kraton-3 site (Burtcev and Kolodeznikova, 1994;Kershengoltz et al, 2002;Kovalev, 2002;Kuznetsova et al, 2008;Logachev, 2001;Miretsky et al, 1997;Ramzaev et al, 2004;Ramzaev and Gö ksu, 2006;Shadrina et al, 2004). Some investigators performed routine dosimetry in tandem with in situ or in air g-ray spectrometry or/and GPS mapping (Dubasov, 1997;IRH, 2002;Koltin, 1993;Kovalev, 2002;Morozova and Podmogov, 2003).…”

Radiostrontium hot spot in the Russian Arctic: ground surface contamination by 90Sr at the “Kraton-3” underground nuclear explosion site

“…1). A detailed description of the nuclear explosion and its consequences to the environment and to the participants of the experiment are given in Burtcev and Kolodeznikova (1994), Myasnikov et al (2000), Gedeonov et al (2002), Ramzaev and Göksu (2006), and Ramzaev et al (2007a).…”

137Cs and 90Sr in live and dead reindeer lichens (genera Cladonia) from the “Kraton-3” underground nuclear explosion site

“…Such comparatively high levels of doses are quite plausible in some limited areas of the ''Kraton-3'' site. For example, the cumulative gamma-doses in air (notably excluding doses arising from a and b irradiation) were estimated to be within the range 1.2e10 Gy at several selected places located at a distance up to 3 km from the borehole (Logachev, 2001;Ramzaev and Göksu, 2006). Detailed estimations of the doses to biota, and potentially to humans are outside the scope of the present paper.…”