Chernobyl NPP Accident: Residents and Evacuees (2) 

[7] Balarussian Children: Residents and Evacuees 

Scenario 

        Shortly after the Chernobyl accident, blood samples were obtained from 38 children residing in three villages in Belarus (22 males and 16 females, mean age of 12.2 y), and 60 children (32 males and 28 females, mean age of 11.1 y) evacuated from 30km exclusion zone in Belarus. The chromosome aberration frequencies were compared with those of children in Minsk as controls. The dose-response relationship to be inferred was that for 60Co gamma-rays, i.e., Y(dics)=0.001+(0.02±0.003)D, where D is dose in Gy. 

Reference 

      Mikhalevich, L. S., Lloyd, D. C., Edwards, A. A., Perepetskaya, G. A. and Kartel, N. A. (2000): Dose estimates made by dicentric analysis for some Belarussian children irradiated by the Chernobyl accident. Radiat. Prot. Dosimet., 87:109-114. 

Chromosome aberration analysis 

Place Location No. of Sampling No. of No. of Dics/100 cells No. of No. of excess
children date cells dics ±SE centric rings acentrics
(i)  Residents in
(a) Bragin 50km N from Chernobyl 15 July 1986 3,900 21 0.385±0.118 0 197
(b) Mikulichi close to Bragin 17 Dec. 1986 4,250 26 0.612±0.120 1 137
(c) Burki close to Bragin 6 Dec. 1986 1,500 7 0.467±0.176 1 48
(ii)  Evacuees from
(a) Nudichi <30km zone to Minsk 22 July 1986 6,600 53 0.803±0.110 4 148
(b) Ilichi <30km zone to Minsk 13 July 1986 3,900 38 0.974±0.158 3 64
(c) Gluchovichi <30km zone to Minsk 11 July 1986 3,300 41 1.242±0.194 3 85
(d) Refalov <30km zone to Minsk 3 July 1986 900 6 0.667±0.272 0 22
(e) Kozelushtsy <30km zone to Minsk 6 July 1986 1,800 12 0.667±0.192 0 65
(f) Jasmentsy <30km zone to Minsk 3 July 1986 900 9 1.000±0.333 0 5
(g) Krug-Rulka <30km zone to Minsk 1 July 1986 300 4 1.333±0.667 0 5
(h) Gorodische <30km zone to Minsk 1 July 1986 300 3 1.000±0.577 0 4
(iii)  Minsk controls 18 18,000 166 0.067±0.047 0 14

      The cytogenetically estimated dose to the evacuees from the exclusion zone was higher than the physically calculated external gamma-ray dose (Likhtarev et al. Health Phys., 66:643-652, 1994). The authors suggest the involvement of early incorporation of short-lived fission products.



[8] Evacuees from Mozyr, Svetologorsk, Mogilev, Kiev; 1 week after the accident 

Scenario 

      Industrial workers assigned by contracting companies of Federal Republic of Germany who had been present in the vicinity of Chernobyl at the time of accident and after. Blood sampling was made from the returnees from Mozyr, Svetlogorsk, Mogilev and Kiev during May 1986 (mostly 1 week after the accident) except for 2 Kiev returnees from whom sapling was made 1 year after the accident. 

Reference 

       Stephan G. and Oestreicher, U. (1989): An increased frequency of structural chromosome aberrations in persons present in the vicinity of Chernobyl during and after the reactor accident. Is this effect caused by radiation exposure? Mutation Res., 223:7-12. 

Chromosome aberration analysis 

.
Place of No. of No. of Aberrations per 100 cells
residence persons cells Dic Ace cR Cbr
Control 26 16,384 0.9 5.8 0 4.8
Mozyr 2 2,074 5.8 16 0.5 10.1
Svetlogorsk-1 12 10,400 2.7 10.4 0 4.7
Svetlogorsk-2 11 9,651 2.1 9.2 0 4.4
Mogilev-1 27 26,080 3.3 12.5 0.04 5.8
Mogilev-2 23 22,173 2.6 11.8 0.04 5.5
Kiev 3 3,014 3.0 7.0 0.33 5.0
.



[9] Chernobyl: Evacuees from Prypiat 

Scenario 

     Lymphocyte chromosome aberrations were studied in the evacuees from Prypiat in two groups (E1 and E2). E1 comprises 16 citizens of Prypiat (12 adults and 4 children). The departed from the city on either 28 or 28 April 1986, traveled by bus to Kiev and then to Kharkov by train. Blood samples were taken 2-8 days after departure from Prypiat. E2 comprises 27 citizen of Prypiat or residents of adjacent village (aged 17-48 y). They departed by the same route to Kharkov during 27 April and 5 May 1986. Blood sampling was made 7-12 months after they arrive at Kharkov.

     The authors concluded that the aberration frequencies were elevated in both groups compared with those in controls. Higher aberration frequencies in E2 compared with E1 could be due to longer stay in the contaminated area. 

Reference 

     Maznik, N. A., Vinnikov, V. A., Lloyd, D. C. and Edwards, A. A. (1997): Chromosomal dosimetry for some groups of evacuees from Prypiat and Ukainian liquidators at Chernobyl. Radiat. Protect. Dosimet., 74:5-11. 

Chromosome aberration analysis 

.
Study No. of Sex Age* N. of Chromosome aberrations Distribution of dicentrics per 100 cells
groups persons Male Female Adult Children cells Dic cR xAce 0 1 2 3 4
[C] Controls 30 24 6 30 (26-52) 3,800 3 1 33
[E1] Evacuees 1 16 10 6 32 (17-66) 10 (3.5-15) 1,395 15 0 27 2 7 3 0 0
[E2] Evacuees 2 27 14 13 30 (17-48) 2,417 39 9 54 4 2 11 3 1
*) mean (range)
.



[10] Chenobyl: Children (Padovani et al. 1993, 1997) 

Scenario 

     Children from the contaminated areas of Belarus and Russia came to Italy for 1 month stay of trip organized by the local humanitarian organization; one for 41 Belarusian children in 1991-1992 and another for 31 Russian children in 1993-1994. During their stay in Italy, whole-body counting (WBC) for 137Cs body burden and chromosome aberration frequencies in lymphocytes were examined.
     They concluded that even if the aberration frequencies were very low the observation showed statistically significant difference between the exposed and unexposed control groups. 

Reference 

     Padovani, L., Caporossi, D., Tedeschi, B., Vernole, P., Nicoletti, B. and Mauro, F. (1993): Cytogenetic study in lymphocytes from children exposed to ionizing radiation after Chernobyl accident. Mutation Res., 319:55-60.
     Padovani, L., Stronati, L., Mauro, F., Testa, A., Appolloni, M., Anzidei, P., Caporossi, D., Tedeschi, B. and Vernole, P. (1997): Cytogenetic effects in lymphocytes from children exposed to radiation fall-out after Chernobyl accident. Mutation Res., 395:249-254.

Chromosome aberration analysis  
.
[1] Belarussian children visited Italy and sampled in 1991-1992 (Padovani et al. 1993)
Group Residents Sex Ground contamination level** WBC No. of No. of Chromosome aberrations per 1000 cells
in Belarus (M/F) (137Cs Bq/km2) (137Cs Bq) children cells Ace Dic Tr icd ctb
A Navrovl'a 4M;5F 55-150×1010 460-2,795 9 5,000 4.8 0 0.4 11 12.8
B Near the Chernobyl NPS* 16M;8F 4-40×1010 44-397 24 20,020 1.8 0 0.3 1 9.6
C Stolin 5M;3F 4-55×1010 7,714-32,343 8 3,650 3 1 1.1 5 17
Controls Healthy Italian children 5M;5F - - 10 10,000 0.3 0 0.3 2 22.4
*) Evacuated soon after the accident, and transferred to Gomel or Drujri, 200-300 km from Chernobyl where the ground contamination was 1-10 Ci/km2.
**) IAEA (1991): Surface contamination map (The International Chernobyl Project). International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.
.
.
[2] Russian children visited Italy and sampled in 1993-1994 (Padovani et al. 1997)
Group Children from Sex WBC No. of No. of Chromosome aberrations per 100 cells
Russian Federation (M/F) (137Cs Bq) children cells Ace+DM Dic+cR Tr
A Brianskya 9M;15F 780-30,000 24 13,813 0.35 0 0.15
B Smolensk: residents in Pripjat at the time of accident but evacuated to Smolensk* 1M;6F <70-128 7 3,844 0.31 0 0.1
C Uncontaminated area of Smolensk (Controls) 5M;6F <70 11 6,301 0.22 0 0.061
*) The children were living in Pripjat (Ukraine) at the time of the accident, but evacuated to Smolensk 36 hrs after the accident.
.



[11] Hungarian evacuees 


see RBC data