Stochastic effects of environmental radiation exposure in populations living near the Mayak Industrial Association: preliminary report on study of cancer morbidity.

Abstract

The Mayak Industrial Association, located in the South Ural Mountains, began operation in 1948 and was the first Russian site for the production and separation of plutonium. During the early days of operation, technological failures resulted in the release of large amounts of radioactive waste into the Techa River. Residents who lived in villages on the banks of the Techa and Iset Rivers were exposed to varying levels of radioactivity. The objective of this study is to assess stochastic (carcinogenic) effects in populations exposed to offsite releases of radioactive materials from the Mayak nuclear facility in Russia. Subjects of the present study are those individuals who lived during the period January 1950 through December 1960 in any of the exposed villages along the Techa River in Chelyabinsk Oblast. Death certificates and cancer incidence data have been routinely collected in the past from a five-rayon catchment area of Chelyabinsk Oblast. The registry of exposed residents along the Techa River assembled and maintained by the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine for the past 40 y is the basis for identifying study subjects for this project. Specific study objectives are to evaluate the incidence of cancer among current and former residents of Chelyabinsk Oblast who are in the exposed Techa River cohort; integrate results from the dose-reconstruction study to estimate doses for risk assessment; and develop a structure for maintaining continued follow-up of the cohort for cancer incidence. In the earlier part of our collaborative effort, the focus has been to enhance the cancer morbidity registry by updating it with cancer cases diagnosed through 1997, to conduct a series of validation procedures to ensure completeness and accuracy of the registry, and to reduce the numbers of subjects lost to follow-up. A feasibility study to determine cancer morbidity in migrants from the catchment area has been proposed. Our preliminary analyses of cancer morbidity underscore the importance of examining both cancer mortality and cancer morbidity in conducting a comprehensive analysis of the occurrence of cancer in this important cohort.