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

[mgoldman@ucdavis.edu (Dr. Marvin Goldman)]

>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
>>
>>
Reply on Pneumosclerosis:
Some of the radiochemical plant workers at MAYAK, (Chelyabinsk-65), exposed
to aerosols and external radiation  in the 1848-58 period, suffered from
pneumosclerosis and fibrosis from massive lung burdens of radioactive
materials.  Some 7-10 died in a few years and several dozen survivors are
still being followed.  Details in upcoming July issue of Health Physics
Journal