[ RadSafe ] Laka Karachay

Tue Jan 20 15:42:40 CST 2015

Here is what I found on PubMed:

Health Phys. 2014 Feb;106(2):294-304. doi: 10.1097/HP.0000000000000033.
Joint U.S./Russian studies of population exposures resulting from nuclear production activities in the southern Urals.
Napier BA, Environmental Assessment Group, Earth Systems Science Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, MS K3-54, Richland, WA 99352.
Abstract
Beginning in 1948, the Soviet Union initiated a program for production of nuclear materials for a weapons program. The first facility for production of plutonium was constructed in the central portion of the country east of the southern Ural Mountains, about halfway between the major industrial cities of Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk. The facility, now known as the Mayak Production Association, and its associated town, now known as Ozersk, were built to irradiate uranium in reactors, separate the resulting plutonium in reprocessing plants, and prepare plutonium metal in the metallurgical plant. The rush to production, coupled with inexperience in handling radioactive materials, led to large radiation exposures, not only to the workers in the facilities, but also to the surrounding public. Fuel processing started with no controls on releases, and fuel dissolution and accidents in reactors resulted in release of ~37 PBq of I between 1948 and 1967. Designed disposals of low- and intermediate-level liquid radioactive wastes, and accidental releases via cooling water from tank farms of high-level liquid radioactive wastes into the small Techa River, caused significant contamination and exposures to residents of numerous small riverside villages downstream of the site. Discovery of the magnitude of the aquatic contamination in late 1951 caused revisions to the waste handling regimes, but not before over 200 PBq of radionuclides (with large contributions of Sr and Cs) were released. Liquid wastes were diverted to tiny Lake Karachay (which today holds over 4 EBq); cooling water was stopped in the tank farms. In 1957, one of the tanks in the tank farm overheated and exploded; over 70 PBq, disproportionately Sr, was blown over a large area to the northeast of the site. A large area was contaminated and many villages evacuated. This area today is known as the East Urals Radioactive Trace (EURT). Each of these releases was significant; together they have created a unique group of cohorts with their chronic, low dose-rate radiation exposure. The 26,000 workers at Mayak were highly exposed to external gamma and inhaled plutonium. A cohort of individuals raised as children in Ozersk is under evaluation for their exposures to radioiodine. The Techa River Cohort consists of over 30,000 people who were born before the start of exposure in 1949 and lived along the Techa River. The Techa River Offspring Cohort consists of ~21,000 persons born to one or more exposed parents of this group, many who also lived along the contaminated river. The EURT Cohort consists of ~18,000 people who were evacuated from the EURT soon after the 1957 explosion and another 8,000 who remained. These groups together are the focus of dose reconstruction and epidemiological studies funded by the United States, Russia, and the European Union to address the question, "Are doses delivered at low dose rates as effective in producing health effects as the same doses delivered at high dose rates?"Introduction of Joint U.S. and Russian Studies of Population Exposures (Video 2:13, http://links.lww.com/HP/A28).

-----Message d'origine-----
De : radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] De la part de Theo Richel
Envoyé : 20 janvier 2015 16:18
À : The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Objet : Re: [ RadSafe ] Laka Karachay

Hmm

Google gives 80.000 results of which the great majority is the usual radiophobic hysteria afaics. I asked for serious info and I though this was the place for it. 

I have also tried PubMed, but that didn't result in anything worthwhile. There is supposed to be a report from the National Resources Defense Council, but that is also a hotbed of radiophobia. So: serious info.

Thx

TR

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of JPreisig at aol.com
Sent: dinsdag 20 januari 2015 10:07
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Laka Karachay

Hmmm,

      Google    Lake Karachay

      Joe Preisig

In a message dated 1/20/2015 3:42:31 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, theo at richel.org writes:

Hello,

A short video can be seen on AOL and elsewehere (http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/16/lethal-lake-in-russia-could-kill-you/21131073/  ) on the most polluted place on earth. The lake in Russia is supposed to be so  radioactive that sitting on the banks could kill you in an hour. Anyone can  point me to serious info about this?

Thanks

Theo Richel
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