Title: Fukushima nuclear power plant and your health ryugakusei [互換モード].
Research Institute for Radiation Biology & Medic
Author: Toshiya Inaba
Reference: [PDF-816K]Apr 2011
Keywords: Fukushima
Abstract: .. –Radiation and radioactive materials released from the nuclear power plant -Contamination of air, water, and food with radioactive materials. -Radiation and health.
Irradiation from inside) Chernobyl Groundburst Wind…citizens ~4000 thyroid cancer, mainly children…mSv Air Fallout Chernobyl Wind Why thyroid cancer ? Xenon-133…Internal exposure Chernobyl Thyroid cancer ~4000 No significant…
URL: http://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/upload/0/news_events/2010nendo/20110311_tohokujishin/ryugakusei.pdf
Title: Green growth and role of nuclear power: A perspective from India
Author: Grover, R.B.
Reference: Energy Strategy Reviews, In Press, Corrected Proof,Jan 2013
doi: 10.1016/j.esr.2012.12.010
Keywords: Nuclear Power; Universal access; Environment impact; Energy resources; Green growth; Public perception
Abstract: Considering growth in demand for modern energy services, renewable energy sources alone cannot meet future energy demand in India. The Government of India has, after examination of various options for green growth, reiterated the importance of accelerated development of nuclear energy along with other clean energy technologies. Several studies have indicated that nuclear technology stands out when compared to other electricity generating technologies on the basis of protection of climate and ecosystem, sustainability of fuel sources and reliability of supplies. India has set up necessary infrastructure to support growth of nuclear power and as a result of domestic research and development, and recent policy initiative, a range of reactor choices is available for deployment. India has also in place a sound domestic legal framework for governance of nuclear power and has signed various conventions including Convention on Nuclear Safety. The overall vision is to increase nuclear electricity generation to about 25% of total electricity generation by the middle of the century.
…Island in USA in 1979, Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986 and…environmental consequences. At Chernobyl, the reactor was destroyed…About 4000 cases of thyroid cancer in children have been…cases were curable. Chernobyl case was a unique…
URL:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X12000545
Title: 95/00818 The Chernobyl papers. Volume 1: Doses to the Soviet population and early health effects studies
Reference: Fuel and Energy Abstracts, 36 (1), p.48, Jan 1995
doi: 10.1016/0140-6701(95)96073-2
Keywords:
Abstract: …the population after the Chernobyl accident; Biological dosimetry…syndrome in victims of the Chernobyl accident; and the Thyroid cancer in children of the Belarus Republic after the Chernobyl accident. 95/00819 Clean…
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0140670195960732
Title: Preparing a scientific report to the General Assembly on ‘Exposures due to the nuclear accident following the Great East-Japan earthquake and tsunami’
Author: Wolfgang Weiss
Reference: Journal of Radiological Protection, 32 (1), p.N113-N118, Mar 2012
doi: 10.1088/0952-4746/32/1/N113
Keywords:
Abstract: At its 58th session in May 2011, the United Nations Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) decided to carry out, once sufficient information was available, a full assessment of the levels of exposure and radiation risks attributable to the Fukushima accident. It envisages a preliminary document for consideration at its 59th session in May of 2012 and a more complete report for the 60th session of the Committee in 2013. This paper summarises the aims and objectives of the project, the scope, the working arrangements as well as the relation of the work to other activities.
…exposure, mainly after Chernobyl and focused at low…related for example to thyroid cancer or leukaemia risk assessment…accident had ended. The Chernobyl experience tells us to expect…compare with accidents at Chernobyl, TMI, and Windscale? Doses to members of…
URL:http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/32/1/N113/
Title: Japan’s nuclear crisis
Author: The Lancet Oncology
Reference: The Lancet Oncology, 12 (5), p.409, May 2011
doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70100-0
Keywords:
Abstract: …comparisons being made to Chernobyl; little consensus has…health effects of the Chernobyl accident. A 2008 UNSCEAR…that over 6000 cases of thyroid cancer in young people could be linked to Chernobyl, but that evidence was…
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470204511701000
Title: Monitoring and assessment of radionuclide discharges from Temelín Nuclear Power Plant into the Vltava River (Czech Republic)
Author: Hanslík, Eduard; Ivanovová, Diana; Juranová, Eva; Šimonek, Pavel; Jedináková-Křížová, Věra.
Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. Feb2009, Vol. 100 Issue 2, p131-138. 8p.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2008.11.001
Keywords: Tritium; Activation and fission products; Radioactive wastewater; Surface water; Sediment; Environmental half-life; Ecological half-time
Abstract: The paper summarizes impacts of the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on the Vltava and Labe River basins. The study is based on the results of long-term monitoring carried out before the plant operation (1989–2000), and subsequently during the plant operation (2001–2005). In the first period, the main objective was to determine background radionuclide levels remaining in the environment after global fallout and due to the Chernobyl accident. A decrease in the concentrations of 90Sr, 134Cs and 137Cs, which was observed before the plant operation, continued also during the subsequent period. Apart from tritium, the results of the observation did not indicate any impacts of the plant on the concentrations of activation and fission products in the hydrosphere. The annual average tritium concentrations in the Vltava River were in agreement with predicted values. The maximum annual average tritium concentration (13.5 Bq L−1) was observed in 2004 downstream from the wastewater discharge in the Vltava River at Solenice. Estimated radiation doses for adults due to intakes of river water as drinking water contaminated by tritium are below 0.1 μSv y−1.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X08001963
Title: High levels of fluctuating asymmetry in populations of Apodemus flavicollis from the most contaminated areas in Chornobyl
Author: Taras K Oleksyk, James M Novak, James R Purdue, Sergiy P Gashchak, Michael H Smith
Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. Mar2004, Vol. 73 Issue 1, p1. 20p.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2003.07.001
Keywords: Radiocesium; 137Cs; Apodemus flavicollis; Chornobyl; Chernobyl; Size; Shape; Fluctuating asymmetry; Directional asymmetry; Geometric morphometrics
Abstract: Random deviations from the perfect symmetry of normally bilaterally symmetrical characters for an individual with a given genotype occur during individual development due to the influence of multiple environmental factors. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is often used as a measure of developmental instability, and can be estimated as the variance of the distribution of differences between the left and right sides. We addressed the question of whether levels of FA were elevated in radioactively contaminated populations living around Chornobyl compared to those in reference populations of the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis). In addition, we studied amounts of directional asymmetry (DA) when one side is larger than the other on average. There was a significant difference among populations, including reference populations, in the amount of both FA and DA. A higher level of FA was documented for the contaminated populations in close proximity to the failed Chornobyl reactor for both the asymmetry of size and shape. The FAs of size and shape were highest in populations from the most contaminated locations in the Chornobyl exclusion zone. Although the directional asymmetry of shape was also highest in the contaminated populations, it was not significantly different from those in most of the reference populations. Populations from less contaminated areas inside the Chornobyl exclusion zone did not express FA values different from those of the reference populations outside the affected area. FA of skulls of A. flavicollis may indicate the degree to which the level of radioactive contamination affects the development of animals at Chornobyl. However, the mechanisms leading to these effects are not clear and probably vary from population to population. There were significant correlations between the overall right to left differences for the Procrustes aligned shape configurations, centroid sizes, and intramuscular 137Cs. Detectable effects of radiation on developmental stability probably start to occur between 0.132 and 0.297 μGy/h.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X03002224
Title: Radioactive contamination in the marine environment adjacent to the outfall of the radioactive waste treatment plant at ATOMFLOT, northern Russia
Author: Brown, J.E.; Nikitin, A.; Valetova, N.K.; Chumichev, V.B.; Katrich, I.Y.; Berezhnoy, V.I.; Pegoev, N.N.; Kabanov, A.I.; Pichugin, S.N.; Vopiyashin, Y.Y.; Lind, B.; Grottheim, S.; Sickel, M.; Strand, P.
Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2002, vol.61, no.1, pp. 111-31
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0265-931X(01)00121-7
Keywords: Radionuclides; Marine; Kola Bay; ATOMFLOT
Abstract: RTP “ATOMFLOT” is a civilian nuclear icebreaker base located on the Kola Bay of northwest Russia. The objectives of this study were to determine the distributions of man-made radionuclides in the marine environment adjacent to the base, to explain the form of the distributions in sediments and to derive information concerning the fate of radionuclides discharged from ATOMFLOT. Mean activity concentrations (d.w.) for surface sediment, of 63 Bq kg−1137Cs, 5.8 Bq kg−190Sr and 0.45 Bq kg−1239,240Pu were measured. Filtered seawater activity levels were in the range of 3–6.9 Bq m−3137Cs, 2.0–11.2 Bq m−390Sr, and 16–40 mBq m−3, 239,240Pu. Short-lived radionuclides were present at sediment depths in excess of 10 cm indicating a high degree of sediment mixing. Correlations of radionuclide activity concentrations with grain-size appear to be absent; instead, the presence of relatively contaminated sediment appears to be related to the existence of radioactive particles.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X01001217
Title: Protection of Melanized Cryptococcus neoformans from Lethal Dose Gamma Irradiation Involves Changes in Melanin’s Chemical Structure and Paramagnetism
Author: Khajo, Abdelahad; Bryan, Ruth A.; Friedman, Matthew; Burger, Richard M.; Levitsky, Yan; Casadevall, Arturo; Magliozzo, Richard S.; Dadachova, Ekaterina.
Reference: PLoS ONE. 2011, Vol. 6 Issue 9, p1-8. 8p.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025092.
Keywords: *CRYPTOCOCCUS neoformans*MELANINS*CHEMICAL structure*PARAMAGNETISM*HYDROXYL group*BACTERIAL cells*FUNGUS-bacterium relationships
Abstract: Certain fungi thrive in highly radioactive environments including the defunct Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Cryptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans), which uses L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) to produce melanin, was used here to investigate how gamma radiation under aqueous aerobic conditions affects the properties of melanin, with the aim of gaining insight into its radioprotective role. Exposure of melanized fungal cell in aqueous suspensions to doses of γ-radiation capable of killing 50 to 80% of the cells did not lead to a detectable loss of melanin integrity according to EPR spectra of melanin radicals. Moreover, upon UV-visible (Xe-lamp) illumination of melanized cells, the increase in radical population was unchanged after γ-irradiation. Gamma-irradiation of frozen cell suspensions and storage of samples for several days at 77 K however, produced melanin modification noted by a reduced radical population and reduced photoresponse. More direct evidence for structural modification of melanin came from the detection of soluble products with absorbance maxima near 260 nm in supernatants collected after γ-irradiation of cells and cell-free melanin. These products, which include thiobarbituric acid (TBA)-reactive aldehydes, were also generated by Fenton reagent treatment of cells and cell-free melanin. In an assay of melanin integrity based on the metal (Bi+3) binding capacity of cells, no detectable loss in binding was detected after γ-irradiation. Our results show that melanin in C. neoformans cells is susceptible to some damage by hydroxyl radical formed in lethal radioactive aqueous environments and serves a protective role in melanized fungi that involves sacrificial breakdown.
URL: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0025092
Title: Fungi and ionizing radiation from radionuclides
Author: Dighton, John; Tugay, Tatyana; Zhdanova, Nelli.
Reference: FEMS Microbiology Letters. Apr2008, Vol. 281 Issue 2, p109-120. 12p. 1
doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2008.01076.x
Keywords: melanin, micro-fungi, mycorrhizae, radioadaptive properties, radionuclides, remediation
Abstract: Radionuclides in the environment are one of the major concerns to human health and ecotoxicology. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant renewed interest in the role played by fungi in mediating radionuclide movement in ecosystems. As a result of these studies, our knowledge of the importance of fungi, especially in their mycorrhizal habit, in long-term accumulation of radionuclides, transfer up the food chain and regulation of accumulation by their host plants was increased. Micro-fungi have been found to be highly resilient to exposure to ionizing radiation, with fungi having been isolated from within and around the Chernobyl plant. Radioresistance of some fungal species has been linked to the presence of melanin, which has been shown to have emerging properties of acting as an energy transporter for metabolism and has been implicated in enhancing hyphal growth and directed growth of sensitized hyphae towards sources of radiation. Using this recently acquired knowledge, we may be in a better position to suggest the use of fungi in bioremediation of radioactively contaminated sites and cleanup of industrial effluent
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6968.2008.01076.x/full
