Re: Newspaper Story About Soviet Pu Workers in 40's and 50's

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

Dear Colleagues:
     What seems relatively newsworthy in this story is the health endpoint, 
"pneumoscleriosis".  In my scant contacts with Russian radiological 
health personnel, they seem to have documented a substantial amount of 
hot particle inhalation and to have more pulmonary fibrosis among those 
exposed. I assume these are related.  In our preoccupation with cancer, I 
don't recall many reports of pulmonary fibrosis. I looked for such reports 
for uranium miners but failed to find them. 
Can some of you radsafers fill us in on this?
    John Goldsmith, M.D., M.P.H., Ben Gurion U.  gjohn@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, Dr. Marvin Goldman wrote:

> >
> >     Fellow Radsafers,
> >
> >     I have just come across a May 25 newspaper clipping
> >     in the Ottawa Citizen discussing the story
> >     of Soviet weapons facility workers in the
> >     late 40's and early 50's.
> >
> >     The article says that there were very poor
> >     working conditions at the plant at Dubna
> >     and that a number of workers died of an
> >     apparently Pu-induced pneumo-sclerosis.
> >
> >     I apologize if this is old news to you
> >     but I would like to know if there is more
> >     information out there on this topic.
> >
> >     Jim Presley
> >     Health Physicist
> >     AECB
> >
> >     presley.j@atomcom.gc.ca
> I would check the news paper source.  Dubna was not into Pu heavily.
> 
> However, a part of Mayak PA, the radiochemical plant at Ozorsk
> (Chelyabinsk-65), from '48-'58 did experience major regional,  population
> exposures as well as the highest ever recorded worker Pu exposures,
> resulting in chronic radiation sickness, increased leukenmia and lung
> cancer risk and major liver burdens as well.
> 
> These are continuing to be studied and is the subject of a major bi-lateral
> research program between USA and Russia;  some of the early information
> will be in the July '96 issue of the Health Physics Journal.  The
> collective dose from all operations and accidents there is likely to be
> larger than that for Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and the folloup time is
> roughly comparable.  We may have the potential for an independent
> assessment of human radiation risks from non-acute exposures if the
> resources are available to do the work).
> 
> Additional Pu risks may have been experienced at Tomsk-7 and at
> Krasnyarsk-26, but little has been published about these places.
> 
> Marvin Goldman
> 
>