Retrospective Dose Assessment for the Population Living in Areas of Local Fallout from the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site Part I: External Exposure

Abstract

A short analysis of all 111 atmospheric events conducted at the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) in 1949-1962 with regard to significant off-site exposure (more than 5 mSv of the effective dose during the first year after the explosion) has been made. The analytical method used to assess external exposure to the residents living in settlements near the STS is described. This method makes use of the archival data on the radiological conditions, including the measurements of exposure rate. Special attention was given to the residents of Dolon and Kanonerka villages exposed mainly as a result of the first test, detonated on August 29, 1949. For the residents of those settlements born in 1935, the dose estimates calculated according to the analytical method, are compared to those derived from the thermoluminescence measurements in bricks and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements in teeth. The methods described in this paper were used for external dose assessment for the cohort members at an initial stage of an ongoing epidemiological study conducted by the U.S. National Cancer Institute in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Recently revised methods and estimates of external exposure for that cohort are given in another paper (Simon et al.) in this conference.

Mortality from Cardiovascular Diseases in the Semipalatinsk Historical Cohort, 1960–1999, and its Relationship to Radiation Exposure

“…For the purpose of a study on thyroid diseases among the population living in the vicinity of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, the NCI developed a dosimetry system based on a joint U.S./ Russian dose reconstruction methodology that combines the experience of dose-reconstruction scientists in Russia and the U.S. (17, 18). The method is similar, with some unique aspects, to methods used in other studies to estimate doses from nuclear weapons testing fallout.…”

Accounting for Shared and Unshared Dosimetric Uncertainties in the Dose Response for Ultrasound-Detected Thyroid Nodules after Exposure to Radioactive Fallout

“…Methods for estimation of doses from external and internal irradiation by fallout from nuclear testing, with particular emphasis on fallout from the Nevada Test Site (NTS), have been discussed elsewhere in detail [e.g., Simon et al (16, 17) and Beck et al (18)], and formed much of the basis for the dose-estimation methods used in 2008 and in the current article. Modifications to the methods for the NTS dose reconstruction based on joint discussions between U.S. and Russian investigators were discussed by Simon et al (19), Gordeev et al (20, 21) and Beck et al (18). Specific details about contamination from the SNTS were discussed by Gordeev et al (20–22).…”

Dosimetry study of East Kazakhstan residents by tooth enamel EPR spectroscopy

“…11 of surface explosions heavily contaminated a huge territory of East Kazakhstan. Only the data of influence from four explosions to the population was included into this report [1][2][3][4].…”

“…On 12 August 1953, the first thermonuclear explosion with 400 kiloton total yield took place, which contaminated the territory to the south from the hypocenter and near Sarzhal village with radioactive fallout [4,11,12]. On 7 August 1962, the nuclear explosion with 9.9 kiloton total yield took place, which contaminated a huge territory to the east from the hypocenter and near Kurchatov city, Akzhar, Begen, Semenovka, Grachi, Mayskoe and Buras villages with radioactive fallout [3,13].…”