Reference: National Archive of the Republic of Belorussia, 2006
ISBN: 985-6372-45-3
Keywords: sources of contamination, cesium, strontium, plutonium, alkali metals, safety against radiation, Belorussia, radionuclides,
Abstract: History of liquidation in Belorussia from the day of the disaster until December 1991
Author: Vit’kov V.I., Kobalenko G.D., Kungurtsev S.A., Chekanov N.A.
Reference: Gazette “ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ СИСТЕМЫ И ПРИБОРЫ” (ecological systems and devices), 2010
ISSN: 2072-9952
DOI:
Keywords: Belgorod region, radioactive contamination, the Chernobyl accident, radionuclide activity, diffusion of cesium-137
Abstract: Investigation of changes of soil contamination, according to time, of the Belgorod region contaminated by radionuclide emissions of Chernobyl. The average velocity distribution of the radionuclide cesium-137 into the soil was found to be 3 mm / year. It is shown that over time, the radiation situation in the most contaminated after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is gradually stabilizing.
Title: I-129 and I-131 ground deposition densities are correlated in Belorussian settlements contaminated following the Chernobyl accident
Author: Masaharu Hoshi, Valery F Stepanenko, Yuri I Gavrilin, Yuri M Volkov, Irina K Makarenkova, Jun Takada, Valery E Shevchuk, Valery G Skvortsov, Dmitry V Petin, Elena K Iaskova, Alexey E Kondrashov, Alexander I Ivannikov, Nataly M Ermakova, Leonid N Chunikhin
Reference: International Congress Series, Volume 1234, May 2002, Pages 115-120
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0531-5131(01)00601-X
Keywords: Chernobyl accident; I-129; I-131; Thyroid dose
Abstract: Long-living I-129 is considered as the witness of short-living I-131 fallout following the Chernobyl accident. Data on I-129 deposition densities might help to estimate thyroid doses in population of many contaminated areas where information on the I-131 ground deposition density is unknown.
This pilot study aimed to investigate the correlations between I-129 ground deposition densities measured in 2000 and those of I-131 measured in 1986.
I-129 measurements were performed by iodine separation and registration of I-129 decays using beta-x coincidence. Soil samples were collected and I-129, Cs-137 ground deposition densities were measured in three contaminated raions of Belorussia (14 locations in 12 settlements). For 10 of 12 settlements, there were available data of I-131 and Cs-137 spectrometric measurements during the first weeks after the accident in 1986.
Results of I-129 and Cs-137 measurements in 2000 were used for the reconstruction of I-131/Cs-137 ratio. Comparisons of reconstructed I-131/Cs-137 ratios with the I-131/Cs-137 ratios obtained by direct measurements in 1986 showed good agreement: correlation coefficient was 0.69 and linear regression coefficient (±SD) was 2.36(±0.88). The study confirms the possibility to apply the data on I-129 ground deposition densities for further application to improve estimations of thyroid absorbed doses, which result from I-131 irradiation.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S053151310100601X
Title: Radioecological evaluation of protective activities applied in agricultural sphere in Belarus between 2000 and 2005. (to the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster)
Author: Podolyak A.G., Bogdevich I.M., Ageets V.Yu., Timofeev S.F.
Reference: Radiation Biology, Radioecology, (Russian:“РАДИАЦИОННАЯ БИОЛОГИЯ. РАДИОЭКОЛОГИЯ “), Volume 47, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 356-370
ISSN: 0869-8031
DOI: 10.1134/S0869803107030162
Keywords: Belarus, protective activities in agriculture, 137Cs , 90Sr, 2000~2005
Abstract: Gives basic evaluation of protective activities, in agriculture, in the land contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. Analysis of the principles of the activities of 90sr and 137cs. Evaluation of liquidation of the disaster.
Title: Occult thyroid carcinomas in the region of Minsk, Belarus. An autopsy study of 215 patients.
Author: Furmanchuk AW, Roussak N, Ruchti C. Research Institute for Oncology and Medical Radiology, Minsk, Republic of Belarus.
Reference: Histopathology. 1993 Oct;23(4):319-25.
doi:
Keywords:
Abstract: Thyroid glands from 215 patients, aged 19 to 88 years, without known thyroid disease, were serially sectioned at 2-3 mm intervals and microscopically examined for occult disease. Glands were normal in 32.5%, while nodules were observed in 60% and adenomas in 13%. Carcinomas were found in 20 cases (9.3%): occult papillary carcinomas in 19 (8.8%) and one medullary carcinoma. No carcinomas were found in the thyroids of 15 patients less than 40 years of age. There were no significant differences in frequency of occult carcinomas between female and male patients and, for patients over 40 years, with increasing age. Of the 19 papillary tumours more than one focus was found in six cases (a total of 28 foci). The diameter of 27 of these tumours was less than or equal to 5 mm (96.4%), with one exception (diameter 6.3 mm). These findings were compared with those obtained in 86 thyroid glands of children surgically resected for carcinomas between 1986 and 1991. Only 10 of these tumours (11.6%) were less than or equal to 1 cm. These tumours, however, were significantly larger than the occult papillary carcinomas and their morphological features were quite different. Our results are discussed with regard to the possible role of factors other than irradiation due to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, and the observed sharp numerical increase of thyroid carcinomas in children of the Republic of Belarus after this event.
Title: Pediatric thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl disaster. Pathomorphologic study of 84 cases (1991-1992) from the Republic of Belarus.
Author: Nikiforov Y, Gnepp DR.
Reference: Cancer. 1994 Jul 15;74(2):748-66.
doi:
Keywords:
Abstract: Post-Chernobyl pediatric thyroid carcinoma is characterized by a short latency, a higher proportion of tumors arising in young children, and an almost equal sex ratio. Microscopically, these tumors were usually aggressive, often demonstrating intraglandular tumor dissemination (92%), thyroid capsular and adjacent soft tissue invasion (89%), and cervical lymph node metastases (88%). Papillary carcinoma was diagnosed in 99% of cases, with an unusually high frequency of solid growth patterns. Morphologic changes in nonneoplastic thyroid tissue were present in 90% of the glands, and the most specific findings were vascular changes and perifollicular fibrosis.
Title: Influence of radionuclides distributed in the whole body on the thyroid dose estimates obtained from direct thyroid measurements made in Belarus after the Chernobyl accident.
Author: Ulanovsky, A., Drozdovitch, V.*, Bouville, A.*:
Reference: Radiat. Prot. Dosim. 112, 405-418 (2004)
Keywords:
Abstract: Thyroid dose reconstruction is most accurate when using the results of direct thyroid measurements, in which gamma radiation emitted by radionuclides present in the thyroid and in the remainder of the body is recorded by means of a radiation detector positioned against the neck. A large number of such measurements were performed in Belarus in May-June 1986. Owing to the short half-life of 131I and to the intake and accumulation of caesium radioisotopes (mainly 134Cs and 137Cs) in the body, the thyroid doses derived from thyroid measurements made after the beginning of June 1986 have so far been often considered to be unreliable. To evaluate the influence of the caesium radioisotopes to the signal recorded by an instrument performing measurement of 131I activity in the thyroid, a Monte Carlo method was used to calculate the calibration factors of that instrument. These calculations were made for males of six reference ages: newborn, 1, 5, 10 and 15 years old, and adult. The calibration factors were combined with estimated time-dependent intake functions for 131I and caesium radioisotopes. The fractions of the instrument indications that were due to 131I in thyroid were thus estimated as a function of the age of the subject that was measured and of the time elapsed since the accident. Using this information when processing the thyroid measurements made in May 1986 would improve the accuracy of the thyroid dose estimates, and may make it possible to use a larger proportion of the thyroid measurements made in June 1986.
Title: A radioecological model for thyroid dose reconstrucion of the Belarus population following the Chernobyl accident.
Author: Kruk, J.E.*, Pröhl, G., Kenigsberg, J.I.*:
Reference: Radiat. Environ. Bioph. 43, 101-110 (2004)
doi:10.1607/s 004-0241-z
Keywords: Belarus
Abstract: A radioecological model was developed to estimate thyroid exposures of the Belarus population following the Chernobyl accident. The input of the model includes an extensive data set of the 137Cs activity per unit area deposited during the Chernobyl accident, the rainfall data for different regions of Belarus, the 131I/137Cs ratio in the deposit and the start of the grazing period in Belarus in April/May 1986. The output of the model is the age-dependent thyroid exposure due to the intake of 131I with fresh milk. Age-dependent average thyroid doses were assessed for selected regions of Belarus. The maximum thyroid doses were estimated for the inhabitants of Gomel oblast where the highest deposition was observed among the regions considered here. The lowest doses were estimated for Vitebsk oblast with the lowest level of depositions. The mean exposures for the oblasts of Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev and Brest were very similar. The results were compared with estimations of thyroid exposure that were based on 131I measurements in human thyroids, and they are in good agreement. The model may be used for the assessment of thyroid doses in Belarus for areas where no 131I measurements are available.
URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00411-004-0241-z#
Title: INDIVIDUAL THYROID DOSE ESTIMATION FOR A CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF CHERNOBYL-RELATED THYROID CANCER AMONG CHILDREN OF BELARUS-PART I: 131I, SHORT-LIVED RADIOIODINES (132I, 133I, 135I), AND SHORT-LIVED RADIOTELLURIUMS (131MTe AND 132Te)
Author: Gavrilin, Yuri*; Khrouch, Valeri*; Shinkarev, Sergey*; Drozdovitch, Vladimir†; Minenko, Victor‡; Shemiakina, Elena§; Ulanovsky, Alexander§; Bouville, André**; Anspaugh, Lynn††; Voillequé, Paul‡‡; Luckyanov, Nickolas**
Reference: Health Phys. 86, 565-585 (2004)
Keywords: Chernobyl, thyroid, cancer, children
Abstract: Large amounts of radioiodines were released into the atmosphere during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on 26 April 1986. In order to investigate whether the thyroid cancers observed among children in Belarus could have been caused by radiation exposures from the Chernobyl accident, a team of Belarusian, Russian, and American scientists conducted a case-control study to compare cases and controls according to estimated thyroid dose. The primary purpose of this paper is to present detailed information on the estimated thyroid doses, due to intakes of 131I, that were used in the case-control study. The range of the 131I thyroid doses among the 107 cases and the 214 controls was found to extend from 0.00002 to 4.3 Gy, with medians of approximately 0.2 Gy for the cases and 0.07 Gy for the controls. In addition, the thyroid doses resulting from the intakes of short-lived radioiodines (132I, 133I, and 135I) and radiotelluriums (131mTe and 132Te) were estimated and compared to the doses from 131I. The ratios of the estimated thyroid doses from the short-lived radionuclides and from 131I for the cases and the controls range from 0.003 to 0.1, with median values of approximately 0.02 for both cases and controls.
Title: Social Aspects of the Chernobyl Activity in Belarus
Author: Mikhail V. MALKO
Reference: [PDF-75K]Aug 2002 Institute of Physical and Chemical Radiation Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
Keywords:Belarus
Abstract: The Chernobyl accident has caused heavy impact on the environment in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine. It has also resulted in a significant worsening of the economic situation in the affected republics of the former USSR, as well as in disruption of social life in large territories, growing anxiety and fears among the people living in contaminated areas and significant medical effects on all categories of the people affected by the accident. The USSR authorities knew about the seriousness of the radiological situation caused by the Chernobyl accident from the very beginning. However, at the time of the accident, the Soviet Union was in a state of deep economic crisis and was unable to implement necessary measures to mitigate the radiological consequences of the accident. That was one of the reasons for the USSR to conceal the true information about the accident and its consequences from the Soviet people. The traditional Soviet policy of concealing all data on any unpleasant event happening in the Soviet Union had played a very important role too. The collapse of the USSR created the formal possibility to develop appropriate policy aimed at mitigation of the Chernobyl consequences in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine. However, implementation of this policy has been limited due to lack of necessary material and financial means. These and other problems are the subject of the present report.
URL: http://www.rri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/NSRG/reports/kr21/kr21pdf/Malko3.pdf