Search of the Russian scientific literature for the descriptions of the medical consequences of the Kyshtym accident
This report describes a study concerning the nuclear waste accident at Kyshtym in the Soviet Urals in 1958. Soviet medical literature, interviews with potentially knowledgeable people, and the Samizdat Writing (underground documents smuggled to the West and/or surreptitiously circulated in the Soviet Union), were studied to attempt to determine what injuries or deaths, if any, occurred as a result of the event. All of the cases of radiation exposure discussed in the various literature searched seemed to be typical occupational or therapy overdoses. No allusion to the massive numbers reportedly irradiated in the accident appears in the literature searched. Evidently, these data are classified and not discussed in the open literature. This study also resulted in a modification of our understanding of the accident's cause; i.e., perhaps there was no single cause. At present, the best supposition is that there were many releases of wastes to the river system over time, plus an explosion in the fuel reprocessing plant, and that would help to explain the widespread distribution of nuclides. The lack of short-half-lived nuclides relative to long-lived ones can also be explained by the release over an extended period and the time between the accident and the beginning of the studies.
- Research Organization:
- Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (USA). Dept. of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 6399997
- Report Number(s):
- ONWI-424; ON: DE83009224
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Russian Kyshtym incident
Joint US/Russian Studies of Population Exposures Resulting from Nuclear Production Activities in the Southern Urals
Related Subjects
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
RADIATION ACCIDENTS
NUCLEAR INDUSTRY
REVIEWS
USSR
EXPLOSIONS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
RADIATION HAZARDS
ACCIDENTS
ASIA
DOCUMENT TYPES
EASTERN EUROPE
EUROPE
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
INDUSTRY
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
POPULATIONS
054000* - Nuclear Fuels- Health & Safety