Re: Low Dose Study, Part II

[John Goldsmith <gjohn@bgumail.bgu.ac.il>]

On Wed, 10 May 1995 don@radpro.uchicago.edu wrote:

> 
> The follow-up paper to the October 1994 Lancet paper has apparently 
> appeared in the MAy 1995 issue of Radaiation Research, v. 142, pp. 117-132.
> 
> This study re-examined & recomputed data compiled from national studies
> in the US, Canada & the UK.  The authors again conclude that "[o]verall, the 
> results of this study do not suggest that current radiation risk estimates
> for low levels of exposure [to low LET radiation] are appreciably in error."  
> 
> I have only perused the article quickly and I suspect it warrants a careful
> reading before comment.  I hope that people who read this article will 
> contribute their observations to radsafe.
> 
> A second paper in the aforementioned volume of Radiation Research that
> caught my attention was a letter to the editor describing the availability
> of a paper on "...Chronic Radiation Syndrome in Humans Irradiated in the
> Former Soviet Union."  It seems that the "Mayak" weapons plant discharged
> 4,500 Ci [of what?] PER DAY into the Techa River in 1950-1951.  Additionally, 
> some workers in the plant were exposed to annual doses of 2.0-4.5 Gy, 
> apparently over a considerable period.  
> A limited number of copies of the contract report are available from the 
> Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI), Publications Division,
> Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, 
> Bethesda, MD 20889-5603; tel. (301) 295-2017.  "Qualified users " 
> may obtain the report from the Defense Technical Information Center,
> Cameron Station, Building 5, Attn. BCR, Alexandria, VA 22304-6145; tel.
> (703) 274-7633.  Others may obtain the report from NTIS, 5285 Port Royal Road,
> Springfield, VA  22161; tel. (703) 487-4650.  The DTIC/NTIS report accession 
> number is A286238. 
	A thorough and well written account of the Techa- Kyshtim problem 
can be found in a Special Issue of Science of the Total Environment, 
about 1992 edited by Werner Burkart, Institute for Radiation Hygiene, 
Federal Office of RAdiation Protection D-85764 Neuherberg/Munchen.
         John Goldsmith   gjohn @BGUmail.BGU.AC.IL
> ___________________________________________________________________
> 
> Don Jordan                          Tel. (312) 702-6299
> Office of Radiation Safety          Fax        702-4008
> The University of Chicago           email: don@radpro.uchicago.edu
> 1101 East 57th Street, Room 11
> Chicago, Illinois  60637  
>                 -- Any opinions are the author's -- 
> 
> 
>