Twenty years of the Chernobyl accident: Results and problems in eliminating its consequences
in Russia 1986-2006. Russian national report 726 KB - http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/37/079/37079086.pdf - Text Version by Gerasimova, N.V.; Marchenko, T.A. (EMERCOM of Russia (Russian Federation)); Shoigu,
S.K.; Bolshov, L.A. (eds.) (and others); Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies, and Elimination
of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of Russia) (Russian Federation); Ministry
of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, Federal Inspectorate for
Consumer Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) (Russian Federation) Read MoreCollapse
[en]
Twenty years after the Chernobyl accident, above 1.5 million people in 14 subjects
of the Russian Federation continue to live in the area of radioactive contamination.
More than 180,000 of the Russians were affected by radiation, when participating in
elimination of the accident and its consequences. Since the first days of the accident,
the public health service faced a task to develop and implement the measures on minimization
of medical effects of the accident and public provision with medical assistance, including
the employees of the nuclear power plant and the participants in mitigation of the
accident. The health of the liquidators and the public living in the contaminated
areas is the most socially significant issue being solved in the process of elimination
of the Chernobyl consequences. Radiological effects have been the focus of attention
for the overall 20-year period. The radiation protection system was based on performance
of the two conditions, namely: absolute prevention of acute (deterministic) effects
and reduction in the risk of remote (stochastic) effects to acceptable (justified)
levels. As early as in 1986, a decision was made to create the unified system of medical
observation for the individuals affected by radiation as a result of the Chernobyl
accident. The Russian State Medical and Dosimetry Register (RSMDR) was established
on the basis of the Medical Radiological Research Center of the Russian Academy of
Medical Sciences. The two most suffered public groups were defined as a result of
research activity of the Register. These are the children (at the moment of the accident)
living in the highly contaminated areas and the liquidators who have obtained the
exposure dose above 150 mGy. According to the Register's data, 122 cases (54%) out
of 226 thyroid cancers revealed during the years 1991-2003 among the children (at
the moment of the Chernobyl catastrophe) from the Bryansk region can be considered
as radiation-stipulated. Hygienic regulation is one of the most important trends in
protection of the public and the human habitat in radiological emergencies. This regulation
has developed and improved along with changes in the radiation status, thus, fortifying
the latter's improvements with a view to stabilize and normalize it through preventive/protective
measures. Since 2002, the emergency standards have been abolished and replaced by
the common federal ones. Regardless of the measures for public protection and the
remediation activity, the output of products exceeding the hygienic standards has
been under way on the individual farms. The samples of such products reach 12% in
the south-west districts of the Bryansk region. At present, the public exposure doses
obtained in 425 localities of the Brynask region and in 3 settlements of the Kaluga
region exceed the established standard of 1 mSv; that requires the arrangements for
and performance of a package of protective measures. At the same time, the radiation
status has completely normalized in other 12 subjects of the Russian Federation. To
minimize medical effects, the Federal Supervision Service for Consumerism and Human
Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) considers it essential to continue a package of actions
on health protection and medical rehabilitation of the public affected by radiation
as a result of the Chernobyl accident, as well as to develop further epidemiological
research to reveal radiological effects of the accident. The above mentioned remains
the priority for the Russian preventive public health service
