Chernobyl Atomic Power Station Research Articles

HPGe 검출기에서 환경방사능측정의 검출하한치에 관한 연구

검출한계에 대한 기본개념을 기초로 백그라운드 측정시간과 시료측정시간을 고려하였고, 환경시료중에서 육상시료(하천토, 표층토양, 식수, 지하수, 지표수, 솔잎, 쑥) 분석에서 백그라운드 계측시간과 시료 측정시간의 변화에 따른 MDA 값들을 비교하였다. 물시료 분석결과를 살펴보면 대부분 시료에서 불검출로 나타났으며, 육상시료 분석결과 대부분의 시료에서 "과학기술부고시 제 2008-28호"의 검출하한치 미만으로 측정되었으나, 일부 시료에서는 인공방사성핵종인 <TEX>$^{137}Cs$</TEX>이 검출되었다. 이는 과거 50.60년대 행해졌던 대기권 핵실험에 의한 낙진 및 소련의 체르노빌 원전사고 등에 의한 영향으로 우리나라뿐만 아니라 전 세계적으로 검출되고 있는 수준이다. 또한 <TEX>$^{137}Cs$</TEX>의 동위원소이며, 상대적으로 반감기가 짧은 <TEX>$^{134}Cs$</TEX>가 모든 시료에 대해서 검출되지 않는 것으로 보아 원전운영에 의한 영향이 아님을 알 수 있다. Based on basic concept of detection limit, sample measurement time & background measurement time was considered, and MDA values according to background measurement time and sample measurement time in land samples(river soil, surface soil, drinking water, underground water, surface water, pine leaf, mugwort) analysis among environmental samples were compared. Seeing the water sample analysis result, it was shown that most of the samples were not detected, and most of the samples in land specimen analysis showed to be below the detection limit of "Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Announcement Je-2008-28-ho", but <TEX>$^{137}Cs$</TEX> which is one of artificial radioactive nuclide was detected in some samples. It can be traced back to 1950s and 1960s when nuclear tests were carried out in atmosphere and catastrophic Chernobyl atomic power station accident that caused fallouts in the sky, and this is common level of detection that can be observed worldwide. Seeing the result that the <TEX>$^{134}Cs$</TEX>(which is a isotope of <TEX>$^{137}Cs$</TEX>, and it has relatively short half life) was not detected in all samples, it can be considered it doesn't affect to the operation of atomic power station.

The possibility of determining of anomalies and pathologies in the offspring of liquidators of Chernobyl accident by non-radiation factors

Hereditary effects of radiation on people are not revealed and estimations for humans have been carried out by extrapolation from mutagenesis of irradiated mice (UNSCEAR). Nevertheless, in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus disturbance and pathologies are found in the children of liquidators of the accident at the Chernobyl atomic power station. Authors connect effects only with irradiation (basically in low doses) though there were also other factors. So, the psychogenic stress leads to genomic and chromosomal damages and strengthens the mutagens. For the offspring of parents with psychoemotional stress, depression, etc. the set of alterations and diseases is registered. For liquidators probably there is also the influence of other non–radiation factors. The conclusion is made that effects on the children of liquidators have mainly not a radiation cause. Families of liquidators were in a stress (together with effects of other agents on fathers) and could give birth to less healthy children.

P02-86 - Aspects of aetiology of neuro-psychic disorders in liquidators of Chernobyl nuclear station accident consequences

A selected group of 213 men who had worked at Chernobyl Atomic Power Station within 1986-1987 during 7-60 days (average index is 30+10.4 days) was examined. Mental disorders were found in 196 patients (asthenic, dysthymic, psychovegetative, psychoorganic syndromes). Various neurological symptoms, for example of Marinesku-Rodovichi, were often met. Angiopathia of the retina among 61.7% was found and discircular encephalopathia among 39.3% cases was discovered. The latter suggested by the obtained instrumental data (REG, EEG, SPECT). The author considered aetiology of these disorders, demonstrated scientific value of studying Chernobyl liquidators cohort, as they were protected from internal radiation and reside on radiation “pure” territories. External radiation dose in those liquidators was 18.7+10.8 cGrey. Catamnesis enabled to doubt “radiation aetiology” of all syndromes revealed by clinical and instrumental studies. So, the prolonged over 1-2 months external radiation of such low doses could not case health deterioration in adult males. The MMPI-test profile of our liquidators was very similar to the MMPI-test of american veterans of Vientam war. Diagnosed psychoorganic syndrome in 53.6% cases could have alcohol aetiology. This conclusion is not extrapolated to the whole Chernobyl liquidators cohort. Also the author disputed with psychiatrist V.A.Soldatkin about situation in Rostov-on-the-Don region, with psychiatrists V.L.Malygin, B.D.Tsygankov about situation in Tula region, with psychiatrists V.A.Buikov, P.P.Balashov on the aetiology of psychopathology among the population of South Urals region (after radioactive incidents). The influence of the low doses of the gamma-radiation, of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders, of the Alcohol abuse et cetera was discussed.

Accounting of heterogeneity in the estimation of radiation risks

The problem is considered of taking account of heterogeneity in the individual radiosensitivity in evaluating the radiation risk of the origin of a disease in a group of persons subjected to the radiation action. Mathematical models are described for the estimation of the radiation risk of the origin of the disease with and without regard for heterogeneity. The use of the described method is demonstrated with an example of the estimation of the risk of the origin of radiation-induced diseases from the class of "solid cancers" among the persons taking part in the liquidation of consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl' Atomic Power Station (CAPS) in the years 1986---1991. It is shown that the heterogeneity disregard leads to understated estimates of the radiation risk of the origin of radiation-induced solid cancers. The effect is investigated of the length of the latent period in the origin of radiation-induced "solid cancers" in taking account of heterogeneity.

The contents in ground, products and entering of 90Sr and 137Cs global fall-out into the organism of the people inhabitants before the failure on the Chernobyl atomic power station

The contents in ground, products and entering of 90Sr and 137Cs global fall-out into the organism of the people inhabitants before the failure on the Chernobyl atomic power station

Effects psychophysiological adaptation acute radiation sickness patients and clean up workers of chernobyl acc

The purpose: Psychophysiological an estimation of efficiency of adaptation of persons with a acute radiation sickness and local radiation injuries, victims at liquidation of failure on Chernobyl power station. The Material and methods: It is lead psychophysiological inspection (MMPI, Cattle test, Raven test, USK,sensomotoric reactions). To 73 patients, from them 10 acute radiation sickness I-IV degrees of weight and 63 participants of liquidation of failure on ChNPP (liquidators) - the personnel of the Chernobyl atomic power station and the enterprises of the Ministry of an atomic energy of the USSR. Results: the Structure of the person at patients acute radiation sickness had asthenic type and alarms (80,0 %), rigidity behaviour (60,0 %), psichoasthenic tendencies (60,0 %), an originality of thinking (50 %), inverted behaviour (60,0 %), propensity to draw attention to available symptoms and problems (60,0 %) have been caused by decrease in efficiency psychophysiological adaptations at 80 % of patients in the form of concern a state of health. The structure of the person at liquidators of failure on ChNPP had asthenico-neurotic type and has been caused by concern a state of health (68,3 %), alarm (53,3 %), demonstrate behaviour (58,3 %), originality of thinking (60,0 %) and extraverted behaviour (86,7 %). Conclusions: the Asthenic type of the person at the patients who have transferred acute radiation sickness and local radiation injuries depends, along with stress, from weight of transferring of a acute radiation sickness, local radiation injuries and infectious-endocrine changes. At liquidators of failure on ChNPP the basic stress the factor of a asthenico-neurotic pathology was, in their opinion, threat of a life and to health in connection with an opportunity of the negative radiating influence, proof enough radiophobia and a social dissatisfaction

P.1.g.016 Immunity system state in liquidators of consequences of Chernobyl atomic power station accident

P.1.g.016 Immunity system state in liquidators of consequences of Chernobyl atomic power station accident

Thyropathy in the children from a south-western area of the Kaluga Region, irradiated in utero and in the first birth weeks after Chernobyl atomic power station accident

The cohort study examined the incidence of thyropathy within the first 11-12 years of life among 560 children irradiated in utero and within the first 13 birth weeks via incorporation of iodine-131, who lived in a south-western iodine-deficient area of the Kaluga Region. Incidence rates in the irradiated children were compared with those among 199 non-irradiated children of the same age, who lived in the same region. Among the irradiated children, the incidence of thyropathy was generally 2.3 times higher than that among the non-irradiated ones. It is much higher (by 3.9 times) among 140 children irradiated in utero and partially within the first weeks of life (up to week 13). Thyropathy morbidity was ascertained to be higher in the girls than in the boys. This difference was particularly great among the children irradiated in utero and partially within the first weeks of postnatal life.

DESEASE AND DEATH RATE FROM THE CANCER OF LANG AMONG MEN-LIQUIDATORS OF FAILURE ON THE CHERNOBYL ATOMIC POWER STATION, LIVING IN SEPARATE REGIONS OF REPUBLIC BYELORUSSIA

In original research the modern sight at problems of desease and death rate of liquidators of failure at the Chernobyl atomic power station, living in three regions of Byelorussia is offered. The data statistical and pathomorphological researches are used.

Hyperinsulinemia in children living in radionuclide-polluted areas and in Chernobyl accident liquidators

1п 1989-1990, a total of 94 children (43 boys and 51 girls) aged 2-15 years from radionuclide-polluted areas (Zones 2 to 4) divided into zones according to the level of contamination after the Chernobyl accident were examined. Obvious deviations in the children’s physical and mental development were not observed. There was a family history of diabetes mellitus (DM) (n= 1) and arterial hypertension (n - 1). Individual dosimetric data were absent. The basal levels of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, thyroxine, prolactin, and insulin-binding serum activity (IBSA) were determined in blood. According to the blood concentration of insulin, the children were divided into 3 groups: 1) children with normal basal levels; 2) those with not more than twice higher levels than the upper normal range; and 3) those with twice or more higher than the range (there was no correlation of the content of insulin with age, sex, the levels of glucagon, thyroxine, and IBSA). In all the groups, body-mass index (BMI), the levels of C-peptide and glucose, and IBSA were in the normal range. Group 3 children were tallest. The children from more polluted areas (Zones 2-3) had higher insulin levels. Adult victims without a family history of DM made up 2 groups. Group 1 included 119 liquidators of accident consequences (LA Cs) aged 22-48years at its moment who had been exposed to radioecological and psychogenic factors for a short space of time (not more than 3 months in Zone 1' in 1988 to early 1987) (SELACs). The basal blood concentrations of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon were measured at the stages of the 1988-1992follow-up. There were gradual increases in the levels of insulin and C-peptide with their peak in 1990 and subsequent decreases to normal values in 1992. Following 5-6years after the accident, the insulin test showed no hypoglycemic effect of the hormone in LACs with the normal BMI. Following 11-12 years after the accident, the oral glucose tolerance test (OGT) revealed enhanced insulin production. Group 2 comprised 78 LACs who had been exposed to radioecological and psychogenic factors in the zone of the Chernobyl atomic power station from 1986-1987 to 1993-1994) (LELACs). Of them, 16 LELACs suffered from type 2 DM within 3 years. The baseline blood concentrations of glucose and insulin were determined. The baseline level of insulin was increased, in patients with DM in particular. Thus, all the examined children and LACs were found to have hyperinsulinemia that might be directly or indirectly associated with the influence of radioecological factors of the accident and be a cause of metabolic syndrome X in both adults and children.

The accelerated occurrence of age-related changes of organism in Chernobyl workers: a radiation-induced progeroid syndrome?

The rate of aging was studied in 306 persons working at Chernobyl Atomic Power Station after the accident by means of integral and partial biological age assessment. An accelerated rate of aging was found in 81% of men and in 77% of women in comparison with a control random population sample of Kiev. Persons younger than 45 years appeared to be more vulnerable to radiation. The biological age of persons who worked in the contaminated zone immediately after the disaster exceeded the biological age in those who arrived in Chernobyl 4 months later. The biological age in the investigated persons exceeded its average populational value for 5 years (the integral biological and partial cardiopulmonary age) and for 11 years for the partial psychological age. These data may underlie the concept of radiation progeroid syndrome as the form of accelerated aging.

Higher Water Vegetation of the Kiev and Kakhovka Reservoirs after the Meltdown at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station

Higher Water Vegetation of the Kiev and Kakhovka Reservoirs after the Meltdown at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station

A prayer for Chernobyl

On 26 April 1986, at 01.23 hours and 58 seconds, a series of explosions destroyed the nuclear reactor and building of the fourth power generator unit of Chernobyl atomic power station. During World War II, the German fascists destroyed 619 Belarusian villages along with their inhabitants. As a result of the Chernobyl disaster, the country lost 485 villages and hamlets. During the war, one in four Belarusians lost their lives. After Chernobyl, one in five Belarusians, 2.1 million people, are living in contaminated territory. Seven hundred thousand of these are children. Ongoing low level radiation results in a year on year increase in the number of Belarusans suffering from cancers, mental debility, neuro-psychological disorders,and genetic mutations. 'Chernobyl' volume of the Belarusian Encyclopaedia, Minsk, 1996.

Human cytogenetic consequences of the Chernobyl accident

The frequency of chromosomal aberrations was evaluated in more than 500 liquidators of the Chernobyl accident. The ‘sarcophagus’ builders and the dosimetrists showed the highest frequency of aberrations per 100 cells: 3.24 ± 0.25 and 3.11 ± 0.43. For Chernobyl Atomic Power Station staff members the mean frequencies of aberrations per 100 cells was 2.37 ± 0.20. The mean yields of aberrations in the other groups was between 1.31 and 1.47 per 100 cells. If the mean frequencies of aberrations are converted into equivalent whole body doses, values between 136 and 414 mGy are obtained. Especially in the group of ‘sarcophagus’ builders, the yields of aberrations varied interindividually and corresponded to equivalent whole body doses of up to about 2 Gy.

Devices for monitoring the thermal state of the object “enclosure”

The design of heat flow and temperature metering equipment used at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station for heat and temperature diagnosis of the state of the damaged reactor is described.

Small dosages of ionizing radiation as a risk factor of systemic osteoporosis

Biopsy specimens from the wing of the ilium were examined in 16 liquidators of the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station accident. A test for clonogenic stromal cells was performed long with quantitative analysis of osseous tissue parameters and the histomorphometric assessment of remodelling processes (resorption and osteogenesis). There was strong evidence for the fact that small dose ionizing radiation might lead to the development of at least 3 types of osseous tissue metabolic disturbances: osteoporosis of the cortical bone; that of the cortical and spongy bones (the mixed type) and abnormalities arbitrarily defined as osteosclerosis. It was found that resorption was simultaneously or even before suppressed in osteoporosis in the liquidators, whereas in other forms of osteoporosis, inhibited ostepgenesis triggerred rarefaction of the bones. The negative effect of ionizing radiation on stromal cells of the bone marrow was evident by the studies of the efficiency of cloning of osteoblast precursors. No dependence of the revealed changes on the dosage of ionizing radiation and the various pattern of metabolic disturbances in the osseous tissue under the action of the same dosages suggest that a premorbid background is of definite value in the development of abnormalities.

The possibility of safety atomic energetic development in NNC of RK, the former semipalatinsk test site

At this report, some data of the radiation situation on the territory of National Nuclear Centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan are presented, basing on the comparison with the consequences of radiation pollution after the explosion of 4-th block of Chernobyl Atomic Power Station. It is shown below that the doses of irradiation, which STS has got during the 40 years of air, ground and underground explosions is not less than the one of ChAPS region. Sufferings of these two regions are comparable, but with the one difference: at STS the things were made by plan for the space of 40 years, whereas the Chernobyl event was unexpected and it was classified as catastrophe. At this work the scheme of new double-step subcritical nuclear reactor, which is managed by external neutron source is suggested. It is pointed out that the injection of neutron in volume of reactor core must be as far as possible uniform, as it follows from the analysis of ChAPS reactor runaway.

Transferable clastogenic activity in plasma from persons exposed as salvage personnel of the Chernobyl reactor.

Clastogenic factors were first described in the plasma of people who had been accidentally or therapeutically irradiated. They were found also in A-bomb survivors, where they persisted for many years after the irradiation. The present study searched for these factors in the plasma of 32 civil workers from Armenia, who had been engaged as "liquidators" around the Chernobyl atomic power station in 1986. It also included 15 liquidators who had emigrated from the ex-Soviet Union to Israel. Reference plasma samples were obtained from 41 blood donors from the Armenian Blood Center in Yerevan. The samples were tested for their clastogenic activity in blood cultures from healthy donors. The majority of results from the liquidators exceeded those from the unexposed reference samples. The samples from the first Armenian group, with the higher average irradiation dose (0.6 +/- 0.6 Gy), were more clastogenic than those from the second group exposed to 0.2 +/- 0.2 Gy. The number of aberrations in the test cultures was 17.9 +/- 2.9% and 10.5 +/- 3.8% respectively, compared to 5.7 +/- 3.2% in the cultures exposed to the reference ultrafiltrates from Armenian blood donors. The samples from the Israeli liquidators also induced significantly increased aberration rates (14.0 +/- 3.9% aberrant cells). The clastogenic activity was regularly inhibited by superoxide dismutase, indicating that the chromosome-damaging effects of radiation-induced clastogenic factors are exerted via the intermediation of superoxide radicals, as is known for clastogenic factors of different origin.

The demographic consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl' atomic power station.

The author attempts to estimate the demographic effects of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl atomic power station in the Ukraine in April 1986. Topics covered include the resettlement of the population most directly affected; the health status of the population; the impact on sex and age structure, fertility, and mortality; and migration.

Supplying Water and Treating Sewage in Kiev After the Chernobyl Accident

After the 1986 catastrophe at the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station near Kiev, Ukraine, the city'ssurface water sources, including the Dnieper River and a reservoir, were contaminated with radionuclides. In addition, certain peculiarities were later noted in the activated sludge at the sewage treatment facilities. The staff of Kievvodokanal (the Kiev Water Supply and Sewer Authority) had to institute immediate and radical measures to protect the populace. These measures included intensive monitoring, cloud seeding, boring of additional wells, and development of contingency plans. In addition, an underground barrier was built around Chernobyl, and a complex, major treatment plant was quickly built on the Desna River because the radioactivity of its water was an order of magnitude lower than in the Dnieper River. The staff is prepared to share its experiences and cooperate with organizations to develop a conceptualized plan for supplying water to population centers in the event of radioactive contamination of water sources.