The Reproductive Health of Male Staff of the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the reproductive health of male staff in the main departments of the Kursk nuclear power plant (NPP).
 Material and methods: The fertility and health of newborns were investigated. Data on marital status of 626 men of the staff and data about 813 newborns in families of male staff were analyzed. In the control group the data on the health status of newborns and pregnant groups of the population of Kurchatov city was used. Sources of information on doses to the personnel were the forms of a single system for monitoring and recording individual doses of radiation № 1-DOS “Information on the doses to persons in the conditions of normal operation of technogenic sources of ionizing radiation”.
 Results: Total occupational doses to the end of the main reproductive period (20–40 years) did not exceed 210 mSv, which is significantly below the threshold for temporary sterility during long-term irradiation (400 mSv/year, ICRP). Cases of infertile marriages in the families of the men of the staff (0.17 %) are below the estimation of the frequency of male infertility in Russia (1–2 %). 
 Infant health in families of male staff and in the control group had no differences. The frequency of birth of health children was 65.3 % in families of male staff and 66.0 % for the control group. Frequency of birth of children with malformations was 35.7±6.5 per 1,000 live births and statistically (p = 0.84) did not differ from the frequency in the control group (37.4±5.3 per 1,000 live births) and was below the level adopted by the ICRP to calculate the radiation genetic risk (60 per 1,000 live births). There were no differences influenced by mother factors (age, diseases and complications during pregnancy) on fetal development and newborn health in families of the staff and control group. 
 According to the calculations, the total occupational doses to men before the conception of children for more than 98 % of cases did not exceed 100 mSv, i.e. it was below the doses (>100 mSv), for which the genetic effects were observed in the number of epidemiological studies. However, it should be noted that 25.6 % of childbirth were in families, where men were older than 30 years, i.e. at the age, which is not subject to the additional job restrictions under the planned increased exposure.
 Conclusions: The impact of occupational exposure on the reproductive health status of men staff of the Kursk NPP was not identified.