Office for a Democratic Belarus Belarus Headlines Issue XIX November 21– December 5, 2007 Belarus Before and After Chernobyl Explosion. Radio- ecological, Demographic and Medical Aspects Excerpts from article by radioactivity caused Prof. Yury Bandazheusky by nuclear arms tests and functioning of Office for a Democratic Radio-Ecological Situa- nuclear power Belarus tion in Belarus before the plants. Chernobyl Explosion Nuclear weapon Inside this issue Today, after more than 20 tests started in 1945 years after explosion at the and were very inten- Chernobyl power plant, sive in the period of 1-2 people continue to experi- 1945-1958 and in Belarus before ence the consequences of and after 1961-1962. Beginning with tration in human body depends this accident. Many ques- 1963 some countries began on the level of pollution and Chernobyl tions that came with this underground testing of nuclear thereof on the quality of food tragedy remain unan- by Professor weapons. consumed by the population, swered. Above all is the the nutrition structure, age and Bandazheusky question of what will hap- Most widespread and therefore sex distinctive features [18]. pen to the people who face dangerous for people’s health radioactivity every day liv- radioactive elements are cae- In the former USSR Cs-137 ing their lives in polluted sium-137, zirconium-95, car- was first registered in 1963. Politics and 3-5 areas. bon-14, ruthenium-106, stron- Researchers of the Institute for Society News cium-90, cerium-144, tritium, Biophysics of the USSR The aim of this article is to and iodine-131. These ele- Healthcare Ministry made demonstrate some little- ments come from nuclear more than 1000 tests of cow known, and possibly kept weapons tests and work of milk in different districts of Economic News 5-7 back on purpose, facts and nuclear power plants. Palessie (territory of modern proofs of medical affects on southern Belarus and part of big groups of people who If looking at the tissue doses Ukraine) [18]. Based on this encounter radioactive formation and radio-biological research they developed a so- agents. The information consequences of global fall- called “milk-caesium” map 7 EU and Belarus below sheds some light on outs, the leading element is showing that the strongest health problems experi- isotope Cs-137, which mainly concentration of Cs-137 at that enced by people living on penetrates into the environ- time was in Gomel region of the European territory of ment together with radioactive Belarus. To compare, on the the former USSR. waste or nuclear blasts’ prod- territory of Ukraine, numbers ucts. Main sources of the nu- Economic News 6 reflecting radio-caesium in It is important to determine clear waste containing Cs-137 Culture News the first time when popula- cow milk were much lower. are nuclear reactors and facto- As a result, annual dosage tion of these territories was ries refining exposed to rays affected by radioactivity. received by the population of fuel. The most intense pollu- Belarus in those years was 2,5 T&V of the 8-9 When defining that, one has tion of the environment with to keep in mind that there is higher than of the Ukrainians. Belarusian Cs-137 occurs through explo- Analyzing yearly data about so-called natural radioactiv- sions on nuclear power plants, Design ity which has existed long the Cs-137 fallouts and its one of which happened in presence in food (cow milk) before the first human be- Chernobyl in 1986. ing appeared on Earth. But and in human bodies, it can be there is also another kind of The level of Cs-137 concen- concluded that 1963 was the year of the maximal fallouts ISSUE XIX BELARUS HEADLINES PAGE 2 of the given element on the territory lution rates and collective doses of radia- grew by 24 %. [34] of Belarus before the Chernobyl ex- tion. Possibility to conduct mass screen- plosion. ings arose only in 1992 when a special During the last three decades there has been device invented at the Ukrainian Acad- permanent increase in cancer with Gomel Radio-ecologic Situation in Belarus emy of Sciences was delivered to Gomel voblast as a leading region [1]. Thyroid after Chernobyl Explosion in 1986 voblast thanks to the active support of cancer has become the world community’s the Belarusian Engineering Academy. concern as it dramatically increased within According to conclusions of the USSR several years after the Chernobyl catastro- principal specialists in nuclear engi- Demographic Indexes and Population phe. Thyroid cancer cases reached 9,2 per neering [24], the explosion at Cherno- Health Conditions before and after 100.000 people in Belarus in 1997 that con- byl power plant occurred at the end of 1986 stitutes 513 % if compared to 1986 [13]. an active working zone of the reactor containing the maximum quantity of Demographic situation in Belarus before The general rate of thyroid cancer cases radioactive products. These elements radioactive caesium pollution of 1960s diagnosed in Belarus in 1998 2-2,5 times polluted large parts of territories of was a favourable one. Even during the exceed that of 1990. Among teenagers un- Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and reached hard after-war period (after 1945) the der 19 years old it grew 25 times in 1990- some other countries. birth rate was higher than the death rate 1998. It also grew more than 4 times (the natural growth of the population in among adults. Total number of thyroid can- The most badly affected areas of Bela- Belarus reached 13,7% in 1940 and 11,2 cer cases diagnosed between 1986 and rus were Gomel and Mahileu regions. % in 1945). In 1960 Belarus experienced 1999 was 6030, with 1083 of them children Almost every district of these two the maximum natural growth of popula- and teenagers suffering from the disease voblasts (region, Belarusian—ODB) tion in the after-war period – 17,8 %. [21]. was heavily polluted by radioactive However, beginning with 1965, constant elements. It is important to say that the decline in birth rate and an increase in Gomel region has the largest number of compulsory evacuation to the so- deaths can be seen, which resulted in thyroid cancer cases in the country--around called “clean” from Cs-137 territories only 5,9 % of natural growth in 1985. 54 % of the total. Despite the leading role was ineffective because the soil there of I-131 responsible for this disease, scien- was polluted with plutonium 238, 239, After the explosion at the nuclear power tists discovered the link between thyroid 240 (more than 3,7 kBq/m²). plant on 26 April, 1986 the situation be- cancer and Cs-137 pollution [25]. came even worse and in 1993 the death Keeping in mind that contamination of rate exceeded the birth rate. Progressive Works cited by the author when preparing this article can be found on our web-site: Gomel and Brest regions was discov- decline in birth rate with 9,3 % and the ered long before the Chernobyl explo- growth in death rates by 14,2 % led to http://www.democraticbelarus.eu/node/2993 sion [18], it is possible that similar the situation when the natural growth situation could have been observed in reached -4,9 % [16], which could no Grodno and Minsk regions given the longer be called a growth but a decline To be continued high level of Cs-137 contamination ( - 5,9 % in 2002, - 5,3 % in 2005). The registered there in 1990s. This fact death rate grew up to 32,7 % (from 10,7 Professor Bandazheusky is State Doctor in Sci- leads to conclusions that are fully con- to 14,2 per 1000 people) in the period of entific Medicine, specialized in Anatomo- tradictory to forecasts given by some 1990-1999. pathology researchers who calculated collective doses of exposure to radiation for the Belarus also witnessed permanent dete- State Doctor in Scientific Medicine, specialized population based only on results of the rioration of people’s health condition. In in Physio-pathology 1986 accident. Information about pre- the period from 1990 to 1999, the pri- Professor of Scientific Medicine, specialized in vious years’ pollution was kept secret. mary illness rate grew by 43 % [32] and Physio-pathology was connected mostly to blood circula- Once thrown into the atmosphere, ra- tion disorders and neoplasm (cancerous Rector of the State Institute of Medicine, Gomel, dioactive elements continue to pene- tumours-ODB)[2]. The blood circulation Belarus (1990-1999) trate into organisms of people and disorders enjoyed steady growth in the animals through natural ways. Iodine- Named Honourable Citizen of numerous cities last three decades. Since 1980 to 1994 it in France, Holder of the European Liberty Pass- 131 gets into human body with food grew 5,5 times while general sickness port N° 25 since 2001 and air, unlike caesium-137 and stron- rate increased 4,2 times [17]. The general cium-90, which can affect human sickness rate is intensively increasing in Recognized Prisoner of Opinion by Amnesty body predominately through contami- the polluted areas and has the highest International in 2001. nated nutrition. Products of animal index in Gomel voblast since 1988. and plant origin from the polluted areas are the main sources of radio- It is the blood circulation disorders that Translation and photo by nuclides in human bodies. bear major responsibility for people’s deaths in Belarus. In 1997 it took 50,4 % During the first few years after Cher- [33] of lives, in 1998 – 51,9 % [34], 1999 the Office for a Democratic Belarus nobyl no measurement of radioactive – 52,9 % [35]. In the period from 1989 caesium doses within large groups of until 1998 the number of death cases 05/12/2007 population was conducted.