[ RadSafe ] Laka Karachay

JPreisig at aol.com JPreisig at aol.com
Tue Jan 20 15:49:08 CST 2015 

Radsafe,
 
      I recall many Health Physics journal  articles and HP Society Meeting 
presentations using the word Mayak.  See  the HP Society website or look in 
your back issues of the HP journal???
 
     Joe Preisig
 
 
 
 
 
In a message ions dated 1/20/2015 4:43:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
Colette.Tremblay at ssp.ulaval.ca writes:

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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