Assessment of external dose to inhabitants evacuated from the 30-km zone soon after the Chernobyl accident.
According to reports by the former USSR government, IAEA and WHO, no case of acute radiation effects was recognized among inhabitants who were evacuated from the 30-km zone around the Chernobyl site soon after the accident on April 26, 1986. Along with the collapse of the USSR, however, several documents appeared that report the occurrence of acute radiation effects among inhabitants. In order to check the possibility of acute radiation effects among evacuees, we evaluated the external dose of evacuees until their evacuation based on the data about the radiation situation soon after the accident. Our estimates indicate that a substantial number of inhabitants in some villages could have received more than 0.5 Sv that is recognized by ICRP and UNSCEAR as a threshold dose for a clinically significant depression of the blood-forming function of bone marrow. Some of them could have received more than 1 Sv.
Imanaka
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Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Kumatori-cho, Osaka 590-0494, Japan. imanaka@rri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Koide
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D004189:Disaster Planning; D005720:Gamma Rays; D006801:Humans; D011210:Power Plants; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D014455:Ukraine / Q000453:epidemiology