Radiation Situation and Health Statistics of the People in the Tula Region of Russia After the Chernobyl Catastrophe

Radiation Situation and Health Statistics of the People in the Tula Region of Russia after the Chernobyl Catastrophe J. Socorro DELGADO ANDIA The Federal Assembly - Parliament of the Russian Federation - the State Duma 2, Geogievsky per., r. 1426, Moscow 1-3265, Russia General view of the situation in Russia after the in 1986, 70% of hay and 80% of milk were rejected in ChAPS accident the Bryansk region. Part of population received a The Chernobyl APS accident was the greatest considerable level of additional irradiation. According technogenic catastrophe. According to the latest data of to the data of EMERCOM of Russia, as a result of the Ministry of Russian Federation for Civil Defence, countermeasures and natural processes, the Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of radiation-hygienic situation on the polluted territories Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of Russia), over 30 became better significantly. Recently contents of million people living in the territory of 19 subjects of radionuclides in food products are below the Russian Federation are undergoing radioactive regulation limits in general. Nearly 100,000 people pollution [7]. are, however, still subject to additional exposure in Large-scale consequences of the accident doses higher than 1 mSv/year, and in 4 settlements (in profoundly affected the policy, economy and social life the mentioned regions) the average additional of the country. Several principal factors are irradiation dose exceeds 5 mSv/year [7]. highlighted: Compensations and supports in the affected areas Radiation effects on man and the environment; from the government were sufficient until 1992. Problems of information about the accident and its However, since the end of 1992, the situation got worse consequences - real and imaginary; abruptly. Negative consequences of the accident in Psychological impact on population, conditioned by economic development and social sphere are clearly information about the accident, implemented seen in the Bryansk, the Kaluga, the Orel and the Tula countermeasures, social privileges, compensations regions. In late years there appear in the affected areas and so on; greater reduction of industrial and agricultural Social-economic impact on the whole country and production, aggravation of demographic situation, the affected territories. lowering of citizens’ income, and slow adaptation to Regretfully, the processes which took place in the the social-economic changes than in the country on the USSR and, later on, in Russia did not promote the whole. successful liquidation of negative effects of the According to sociological studies of last years, in mentioned factors. Moreover, during 11 years after the spite of the complicated ecological situation in these accident, an increase of negative consequences has areas, people are concerned more about heavy living been observed. conditions, inflation and the critical state of economy As a result of the Chernobyl APS accident, the area rather than about the environmental and medical of territories in Russia polluted with 137Cs of higher problems due to the Chernobyl accident. Objective than 37 kBq/m2 (1 Ci/km2) amounted to 57,000 km2. grounds exist for it. Indices of mean wages and total Nearly 3 million people are living there. The territories income are substantially lower there than the of the Bryansk, the Kaluga, the Tula and the Orel Russian average, and the level of salary is lower regions suffered most, where nearly 1.8 million people than the price to buy principal food products. are living. Almost 300 km2 of territories with levels The social consequences of the accident are also over 1,480 kBq/m2 (40 Ci/km2) were put out of quite significant. Already in first years there appeared a economic use. All inhabitants there were resettled. tendency to migration of a part of population from Nearly 30,000 km2 of agricultural land, including 1,710 polluted areas; first of all, intelligentsia (teachers, km2 with 555 kBq/m2 (15 Ci/km2) or higher, and nearly physicians, rural specialists) and youth. This tendency 5,900 km2 of forest were covered with radioactive later on became a mass phenomenon. The government pollution [6]. activities related to resettlement promoted this trend. Within the affected territories, a series of protective The migration process led to a significant aggravation activities were carried out in different terms after the of the demographic situation in rural areas. The share catastrophe. In the first years after the accident, the of pension age people in villages of polluted districts radiation-hygienic situation was urgent. High level reached 40%, and the number of pre-pension age pollution of local agricultural products was observed: among the able-to-work population reached 30-40%. It should be noted that a new tendency began to appear in 157 early 90’s, and since 1994 it become clear. A stable situation in the region for the first time on 26.12.1990. increase of population in rural districts in the polluted 17 districts and Donsk city entered the zone of regions is observed. In the Bryansk region the radiocontamination (>1 Ci/km2 with 137Cs) as a result migration-related increase is already over 2 times as of the Chernobyl APS accident. These are districts of high as the natural decrease of population. The cause of Arsenievsk, Belevsk, Bogoroditsk, Venevsk, Volovsk, this phenomenon is related with social processes which Efremov, Kamensk, Kimovsk, Kireevsk, Kurkinsk, are taking place in Russia and CIS countries. Objective Novomoskovsk, Odoevsk, Plavsk, Teplo-Ogarevsk, causes exist; people are immigrating from northern and Uzlovsk, Chernsk and Shchekino. In total: 2,048 eastern territories of Russia, and from zones of racial settlements with 930 thousand population (including and military conflicts both inside Russia and in the 750.6 thousand adults and 165.6 thousand children). At republics of the former USSR. This considerable present, the number of population constitutes near influx of population into the radiocontaminated 916,000 including 159,689 children. Various districts territories can cause new problems including of the Tula region are situated at 500-600 km from the increase of social tension. Chernobyl APS. The total area of radioactive pollution It used to be considered that medical consequences constitutes 14.5 thousand km2, i. e. 56% of the region of the accident are dominating factors. In fact, more area (Table 1). than 100 cases of thyroid cancer were discovered in By 01.01.1997, 16 settlements were excluded from Russia among those who had been children and the category of radiocontaminated as compared with adolescents at the time of the Chernobyl accident. This 1991; 3 of them - in the zone of 5-15 Ci/km2, and 11 - in index exceeds by tens of times the average. However, the zone of 1-5 Ci/km2. The number of residents of the the health state is determined not only by radiation above mentioned districts decreased for the observed exposure or the ecological situation, but also by the period by 23,667: 340 of them - in the zone of 5-15 totality of social-economic factors and tendencies of Ci/km2, and 23,324 - in the zone of 1-5 Ci/km2 [1]. their changes. All these factors determine the observed It is also noted that, within separate settlements, multiple health disturbances of the population living on there are spots which are not representative for all the the polluted territories. Perspectives of liquidation of area of the given settlement and show high levels of the accident consequences are indissolubly pollution areas even from one to several square meters. connected with perspectives overcoming the As a rule, such increased pollution are observed under current economic crisis in Russia. An optimistic drains from roofs, in places of storage of manure or forecast says that the medico-demographic after-effects ashes, in low parts of earth etc. of the accident can be overcome in 10-15 years on all The area of agricultural land in the region, polluted polluted territories. A pessimistic forecast says that the with radionuclides is 8,950.77 km2, details of which are medico-demographic situation in the polluted districts as follows. will get worse far more quickly than in Russia on the 1) 1-5 Ci/km2 - 7,685.55 km2 of agricultural land whole. (50.1% of total area) including 6,269.23 km2 of It is necessary to mention that a substantial loss of ploughland, 185.87 km2 of hayfield, 1,230.45 km2 the health of the people was caused not only as a result of fodder land. of irradiation, but also due to the absence (in the first 2) 5-15 Ci/km2 - 1,260.82 km2 of agricultural land stage after the ChAPS accident) of information about (8.2% of total area) including 1,044.92 km2 of radiation pollution and, later on, its imperfection and ploughland, 32.31 km2 of hayfield, 183.59 km2 of distortion. Consequently, psychological disadaptation fodder land. is observed in the overwhelming majority of adults 3) 15-40 Ci/km2 - 4.40 km2 of agricultural land living on polluted areas. The insufficient and imperfect (0.003% of total area), all of which belong to information to the public and to medical personnel ploughland. The districts with the largest polluted about irradiation effects on organism and prophylactic areas are the next: Plavsk (2.20 km2), Uzlovsk (2.20 methods also worsened the harmful consequences of km2). the ChAPS accident . The radioactive pollution of forest (State Forest These can be seen through the analysis of the health Fund) in the Tula region amounts to 707.13 km2, over a state of residents in the Tula region, significant part of quarter of the total forest (2,706.14 km2) of the region. which is polluted with radiostrontium and radiocesium Out of them, 109.31 km2 and 597.82 km2 are situated in from Chernobyl.

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