The Russian radiation legacy: its integrated impact and lessons.

Abstract

Information about the consequences of human exposure to radiation in the former Soviet Union has recently become available. These data add new insights and provide possible answers to several important questions regarding radiation and its impact on occupational and public health. The 1986 Chernobyl accident initiated a major and early increase in childhood thyroid cancer that resulted from ingestion of iodine-131 (1311) by young children living in the most heavily contaminated areas of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. No significant additional cancer or other adverse medical effects have yet been reported in the affected populations and among clean-up workers. Major psychological stress independent of radiation dose has been observed in those people thought to be exposed. During the early days of the atomic energy program in the former Soviet Union, some unfortunate events occurred. The country's first atomic test in Semipalatinsk in 1949 exposed over 25,000 people downwind from the blast to significant doses of fission products, especially 1311. During the late 1940s and the early 1950s nuclear material production facilities were developed near Chelyabinsk in the South Ural Mountains, which resulted in major releases into the environment and significant overexposures for thousands of workers and nearby populations. Chronic radiation sickness was observed early in exposed workers, and increases in leukemia and other cancers were also reported. The series of plutonium inhalationrelated lung cancers and fatalities among workers exposed in that first decade appears to be unique. Long-term consequences of chronic radiation sickness and four decades of follow-up are being described for the first time. Villagers downstream from the plant consumed high levels of 137Cs and 90Sr and, it is reported, manifested increases in leukemia from internal and external exposures. Although the 4G-year databases for retrospective dosimetry and epidemiology studies are just beginning to be integrated and evaluated, preliminary evaluations suggest that there may be graded, significant dose-rate amelioration factors for cancer and leukemia risks in workers and the general population relative to the risk data on the Japanese atomic bomb survivors. Even for plutonium-induced lung cancers in workers, such a dose-rate effect may be evident. These experiences give us insight into the consequences of protracted radiation at high and low doses and rates. If these findings are validated and confirmed, they can provide information that reduces some of the uncertainties in retrospective radiation dosimetry and radiation risk estimates (especially for low-level, chronic exposures) for activities related to medicine as well as the handling of nuclear materials and nuclear facility decommissioning, decontamination, and demilitarization. -Environ Health Perspect 105(Suppl 6): 1385-1391 (1997)

Very high mutation rate in offspring of Chernobyl accident liquidators

“…According to several attempts at dose reconstruction for Chernobyl liquidators, the modal doses may lie within the interval 50^200 mGy (e.g. Goldman 1997). Unfortunately, no reliable dose reconstruction was possible in our material, so this parameter is not considered in the foregoing analysis.…”

Pyridoxamine protects intestinal epithelium from ionizing radiation-induced apoptosis

“…However, in these professional occupations there is a risk of exposure to higher doses of IR. Such excessive exposure can occur due to the accidents at nuclear power plants [7, 40, 41], exposure to contaminated waste [42], consequences of nuclear “dirty bombing” [42, 43] or due to industrial accidents during mining, milling and processing of radioactive materials [44]. In these situations, the risk of exposure to high doses of radiation increases significantly not only for radiation workers but also for personnel participating in emergency response.…”

“…Since the intestinal epithelium is one of the fastest proliferating tissues in the body, the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is injured in intended or accidental radiation exposure [4-7]. In the GI tract, epithelial cells of the small intestinal crypts are the most susceptible to radiation-induced apoptosis [8].…”

Sustainability: GEOC’s Perspective

“…For example, in the Ural Mountains, Lake Karachay was used as a storage lake. After partially drying out, radioactive dust was blown out during a dust storm, resulting in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people to radioactive materials (25). In the United States, extensive contamination of local groundwater by nuclear waste materials is found in Hanford, Washington, an important site heavily contaminated by nuclear waste from military applications (26).…”