The Geography of Radioactive Contamination in the Former USSR

Pryde, Philip R.; Bradley, D.J.

doi:10.1080/10605851.1994.10640975

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…During the Soviet period most information about nuclear explosion tests was classified as top secret and no evidence was revealed to the public. The Soviet Union has a long and active history (from 1965 to 1989) of using nuclear explosions for``peaceful'' purposes (Pryde and Bradley, 1994). These explosions were part of the Soviet Union Programme No.…”

Section: Nuclear Explosionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural resource use in the Russian North: a case study of diamond mining in the Republic of Sakha

Yakovleva

Alabaster

Петрова

2000

Environmental Management and Health

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The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has a rich diversity of mineral resources and produces 99 per cent of Russia’s diamonds, worth annually US$1.5 billion and amounting to between 20‐25 per cent of the world’s output. During the period 1974 to 1987, ten “peaceful” underground nuclear explosions were made in the diamond province. One of these directly supported the diamond mining operations, but it “back‐fired”, contaminating the surface with radionuclides such as caesium‐137, strontium‐90, plutonium‐239 and 240, and americium‐241. Furthermore, the low level of implementation of existing environmental legislation by the diamond mining company has resulted in contamination of the river systems which are the key sources of drinking water, and has significantly affected the health status of the population, which may have long‐lasting consequences, as there is increasing evidence of genetic abnormalities. This paper investigates the exploitation of diamond reserves in the Republic of Sakha and its environmental, social and health impacts, and reviews the actions taken by the Government of the Republic to tackle these problems.

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Section: Nuclear Explosionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural resource use in the Russian North: a case study of diamond mining in the Republic of Sakha

Yakovleva

Alabaster

Петрова

2000

Environmental Management and Health

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“…These waste materials included submarine reactors, fuel assemblies, and other radioactive wastes that were dumped into the Kara and Barents Seas between 1959 and 1992 [2]. Additionally, three major Russian nuclear weapons production facilities, Chelyabinsk, Tomsk, and Krasnoyarsk, located at the headwaters of the Ob and Yenisey Rivers, which°ow from the Urals into the Kara Sea, discharged over 10 18 Bq of radioactive materials into these two rivers since the early 1950s [2,3]. The announcement about direct dumping of waste into the Arctic Ocean and the potential for future contamination from materials in the Ob and Yenisey Rivers, raised questions regarding exposure of Alaskan native communities through their traditional food supplies, and potential e®ects on Alaskan¯sheries resources [4,5,6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dose Estimates from Ingestion of Marine and Terrestrial Animals Harvested in the Beaufort Sea and Northwestern Alaska

Inkret¹,

Schillaci²,

Efurd³

et al. 2000

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Between 1993 and 1995, marine and terrestrial animal samples were collected from the Beaufort Sea and northwest Alaska. These samples were analyzed at Los Alamos National Laboratory for the presence of the anthropogenic radionuclides, 90 Sr, 137 Cs, 238 Pu, 239+240 Pu, and 241 Am. The measurement data were combined with food consumption rates based on survey results for populations residing in three northwest Alaskan communities and published age-dependent ingestion dose coe±cients to estimate potential radiological impacts from the consumption of traditional animal foods harvested in this region.The results of this study indicate that committed equivalent doses to adults from 90 Sr and 137 Cs, due to consumption of traditional food sources, are consistent with currently accepted estimates of average doses to adults in North America due to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing fallout.

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