Specific features of medical care provision to the population of the Techa riverside settlements

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the issue of medical care provision to the residents of the Techa riverside settlements affected by long-term radiation exposure. The river was contaminated due to operational and accidental releases of liquid radioactive waste (LRW) by the ‘Mayak’ Production Association from 1949 to 1956. Contamination of the river and its floodplain with radionuclides, including long-lived 90Sr and 137Cs, caused long-term external and internal exposure of the population, predominantly of the bone marrow. Protective countermeasures (resettlement of residents, introduction of restrictions on the use of the river and floodplain, construction of wells, etc) did not manage to prevent relatively high exposure doses to the population. The mean dose value of bone marrow exposure in residents of the riverside settlements was 0.35 Gy, whereas the maximum values were up to 7.92 Gy. The first medical examinations by mobile teams of the Moscow Institute of Biophysics were started approximately two years after the onset of LRW releases. Since 1955, exposed residents have been followed up and are undergoing medical treatment at the Clinic of the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (URCRM). This center was established in response to the necessity to study the biological effects of the combined external γ-exposure and exposure due to 90Sr in order to arrange medical care for the exposed population. The URCRM Clinic focuses on the provision of hematological care since cases of chronic radiation syndrome were registered among the exposed population in the early period, and increased leukemia incidence has been observed in the long-term period.