(March 18, 1994) A soon to be published study conducted in the 1950s on 1,828 of those employed at the former Soviet Union's Mayak nuclear weapons plant, shows that chronic radiation disease (CRD) afflicted most of the workers. Up till recently, the findings of the study have been kept secret. It shows that 83.6 percent of the workers suffered from CRD.
(408.4038) WISE Amsterdam - Further, it reveals that while little attention was given to health and safety in the then Soviet Union's race to develop nuclear weapons in the early 1950s, the health of the workers at this southern Ural plant in the Chelyabinsk area of Russia, was carefully monitored over a 40 year period.
The study, conducted by a group of scientists - led by Nadezhda Okladnikova of the Russian Ministry of Public Health's Biophysics Institute (Branch No 1) - uses previously secret data on occupational exposure to radiation. It provides unique medical information on the long-term effects of high and low levels of chronic and acute exposure and the emergence of the CRD syndrome - virtually unknown in the West.
This particular study is one of 16 on the southern Urals region to be published in a special issue of the highly respected international scientific journal Science of the Total Environment, which will publish the results in early April.
The papers have been edited by Professor Albrecht Kellerer, Head of the Radio Biology Institute at Munich University and Dr Werner Burkart, Radiation Biologist at the Institute of Radiation Hygiene in Munich. Both Kellerer and Burkart have conducted their own research in the southern Urals to assess the health of people who still live near to Mayak - which is now Russia's main nuclear reprocessing facility - and the effects of CRD.
All workers were given a comprehensive medical examination before beginning work at Mayak. It included detailed blood counts and consultations with specialists - including aeuropathologist and dermatologist. Medical checks were then carried out monthly, bimonthly, quarterly or annually depending on the level of radiation risk.
Gamma radiation doses in many cases exceeded what is now considered a maximum permissible dose. In 1959, 83.6 percent of 1,828 people exposed to radiation were diagnosed as suffering from CRD - on the basis of persistent changes in their blood counts and neurological changes. The notes reveal that the CRD cases were caused by total radiation doses of between one and 10 gray with maximum doses per year of two to three gray; around 50-100 times the maximum permitted annual dose for workers in the West. Those with CR1) all worked at the plant in the early days between 1949 and 1953.
The medical records of these workers showed dramatic falls in their white blood cells in the early years - which recovered to some extent when radiation exposure was stopped, but never to the original level. Bone marrow studies were conducted on 374 patients which showed various types of damage in around 40 percent of the cases. 'These people experienced continuous exposure at a much higher level then anywhere else," says Kellerer.
Three syndromes were identified which affected the central nervous system - disturbances of blood supply to the system, persistent and general fatigue and a form of multiple sclerosis. This continued after exposure ceased. Later, after around 30 years, some cases showed a reduced blood supply to the brain.
The study also examines causes of death among CR1) patients over 40 years - a total of 333 deaths. In the first decade, the main cause of death was acute myeloid leukaemia but, in the following decades, it was lung cancer. Throughout the period, stomach cancer came second among malignancies. The average age of patients dying from leukaemia was 36.2 years; for lung cancer deaths, the average age was 58.2; and for patients dying of heart disease, it was 592 years.
As well as the CRD patients, there were 41 who suffered from acute radiation sickness - four of whom died. The study says that 90 percent of the others showed clinical recovery. They did not develop the syndromes of CR1), although some suffered local radiation injuries.
The publication of these 16 papers in April, may help to shed some light on reports of widespread and persistent ill health among the population still living near Mayak in areas known to be contaminated with radiation.
Source: Greenbase (IPS), 2 March 1994
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