I remember how April 27, 1986 and we at the Institute of Biological Physics in Moscow adopted 250 casualties. The people arrived on two special flights. These two planes were later destroyed because they were very dirty.

These memories of the first days after the accident during the International scientific and practical conference in Gomel “25 years after the Chernobyl disaster. Overcoming its consequences within the framework of the Union State” shared Leonid Ilyin- Russian academician, now honorary president of the Federal Medical Biophysical Center named after A. I. Burnazyan, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor. From the first days and during the most difficult period of the Chernobyl accident, he worked in the lesion site, was one of the scientific supervisors of biomedical and hygienic work to mitigate the consequences of the accident, made fundamental decisions on the strategy and tactics of protecting people:

More than 100 employees of the Chernobyl power plant have been treated in our clinic. Dose rate from some patients reached up to 1 roentgen per hour. Concerning Chernobyl station and our time spent there in the most difficult period, then we are with an academic meteorologist Yuri Israel discussed all the problems associated with the movement of air masses. He is a professional in this business. I realized that the first plume went to the West, and - mysticism - it went around the city of Pripyat, which is located next to Chernobyl. This was explained by the fact that the air temperature in the city is slightly higher than in the surrounding area. And this cloud bypassed the city of Pripyat. According to our calculations, if there had been no evacuation on April 27, then by the end of the week, the population of the city would have obvious conditioned radiation damage. It was very difficult to figure out how these air masses, which went north, approached the settlements of the Gomel region and Gomel. Air masses began to spin around Gomel. The specific concentration of radioactive substances was increased, because within 10 days a large number of radioactive materials. Now there are a variety of estimates of emission levels. One thing is clear: it was a tragedy not only of Chernobyl, but of the entire population of the Gomel region. Was a complete failure in the organization of iodine prophylaxis. Let me remind you that 19 years before the accident, we developed a system of iodine prophylaxis. But required document did not reach for unknown reasons to those who could use it. Thus, iodine prophylaxis was not carried out in the Gomel region. Therefore, we got high dose loads, including in children. Against this background, many radiological problems arose. And that is why the idea of ​​creating a center for radiation medicine and human ecology in Gomel causes a feeling of pride in us and a feeling of envy in our foreign colleagues. Moreover, not only residents of the Gomel region, but also the whole of Belarus undergo medical examination and treatment here.

Employees Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, which is located in Gomel, lead a huge scientific work and for the eighth time in April they hold a traditional scientific conference dedicated to the medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident.

State Register of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Disaster, was founded in 1993. The purpose of its creation was to ensure control over the state of health and obtain information about the medical and biological consequences of the disaster on Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as well as other radiation accidents. This database is constantly updated with the necessary information about diseases and treatment of people. It contains information about dispensary examinations and radiation doses. To date, at the republican level of the state register, information has been accumulated on 282 thousand people, which belong to the most exposed categories of the affected population. Information from the State Register is used to study the structure, dynamics, trends in morbidity, disability, outcomes of diseases of citizens, analysis and control of medical examinations in government organizations health care, development of methods and criteria for determining groups of increased radiation risk based on a comprehensive radiation-epidemiological and statistical analysis.

Back in the early 1990s, as a result of thyroid dosimetric certification were reconstructed average thyroid doses for more than 9.5 million people who then lived in 23 thousand settlements of the republic. It was revealed that almost the entire population of the country was exposed to iodine radionuclides to one degree or another, says the director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor Alexander Rozhko:

It should be emphasized that in none of the categories of the affected population the average effective accumulated radiation doses for the entire post-accident period did not exceed 80-100 mSv. Obviously, as a result of the protective measures taken, the level of public exposure is significantly below the threshold for the occurrence of any specific effects. Throughout the country is carried out special medical examination. It concerns those citizens who belong to the affected population, and today it is 1.5 million people. Every year, each victim undergoes a dispensary examination. According to medical indications, the reception of injured citizens is carried out by specialists of the required profile, including in our Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology. The same applies to the possibility of inpatient treatment of any disease.

- Who is at risk today, a quarter of a century after the accident?

Today, among the population affected by the Chernobyl disaster, 3 groups of potential radiation risk have been identified. Group A includes those who, in the early post-accident period (1986) lived or worked within the evacuation zone. This group includes part of the liquidators and the evacuated population. Risk group B consists of those who were at the time of the disaster, regardless of which category of the affected population they belong to. Group B includes those who repeatedly have internal exposure level exceeding 1.0 mSv/year.

- At the conference, information was announced that “there is a class of diseases and a separate group of the population, which has experienced a dramatic increase in the incidence over the past years. Talk about thyroid pathology, and not just thyroid cancer. In almost all analyzed age groups, this dose dependence is present. Benign nodular pathology also has a causal share of disease due to exposure to iodine-131.” Tell us, what deviations in the state of health, including those related to the state of the thyroid gland, manifest themselves 25 years after the accident?

Studies conducted at our institution have shown a direct relationship between the level of thyroid exposure to radioactive isotopes of iodine and the frequency of such thyroid diseases as nodular goiter and thyroid adenoma. However, this effect has so far been evaluated only for those who suffered from exposure. in childhood and adolescence. In general, the structure of primary and general morbidity of the affected population is similar to that of the entire population of Belarus. One of the indicators of the effectiveness of prophylactic medical examinations is the steady decline in primary morbidity over many years. The main factor influencing the change in the levels and structure of the incidence of the affected population is the aging of citizens. This affects the increase in the proportion of cardiovascular and oncological diseases, which, however, should not be associated with the “Chernobyl” impact. The average age in the main groups of the affected population is 10 years or more higher than the national average, which, of course, is the main reason for the higher rates of cancer. For the vast majority of localizations of malignant neoplasms, there is no real outstripping growth in oncological morbidity. It can be stated with certainty that a significant number of additional (irradiation-related) cases of thyroid cancer have been registered not only in children and adolescents, but also in the adult affected population. The radiation risk, which is several times higher than spontaneous morbidity, was found in the liquidators and the evacuated population to the greatest extent.

- What are the directions for further activities of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology?

Priority areas of practical and scientific activity research should be considered filling in the State Register the results of the assessment of radiation doses and radiation-epidemiological data analysis by groups of increased radiation risk, improving the system of medical supervision, special medical examination of various categories of the affected population, taking into account groups of increased radiation risk, as well as the development and implementation of methods for the prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of oncological and non-oncological diseases in the affected population.

Irina Astashkevich, April 26, 2011.
Newspaper "Zvyazda", original in Belarusian: http://zvyazda.minsk.by/ru/archive/article.php?id=78266&idate=2011-04-26

The fact that nuclear transformations can become a source of enormous energy became clear to scientists a few years after the discovery of A. Becquerel and P. Curie. So, in 1910, V.I. Vernadsky, in his report at the general meeting of the Academy of Sciences, said that humanity, having learned in the future to control the processes of atomic decay, will receive such a powerful source of energy that it did not know before. But in 1922, he also warned that the time for mastering atomic energy was close, and the main question was how humanity would use this colossal source of energy - to increase its well-being or to self-destruct. The subsequent creation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction and accidents at industrial nuclear power facilities, primarily at nuclear power plants (NPPs), show the relevance of the scientist's warning.

CHERNOBYL TRAGEDY
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES

From the standpoint of the country's environmental security Nuclear pollution is one of the biggest threats. And the share of nuclear power plants in this threat is very significant. Perhaps we are exaggerating this threat, but only Chernobyl alone fully justifies this threat of ours.

Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.V. Yablokov

Explosion of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant(Chernobyl nuclear power plant) occurred on April 26, 1986 at 01:23:40 and caused, first of all, the mechanical destruction of many fuel assemblies - nuclear fuel (fuel elements - fuel rods) - and the explosive release of a significant amount of dispersed nuclear fuel containing more than 100 different radionuclides.

The first stage of the accident - two explosions: after the first - within 1 s, the radioactivity of the reactor increased 100 times; after the second - after 3 with the radioactivity of the reactor increased by 440 times. mechanical power The explosion was such that the upper protective plate of the nuclear reactor unit weighing 2 thousand tons shattered to smithereens, exposing the reactor.

The second stage of the accident (April 26 - May 2) is the burning of graphite rods due to the release of enormous energy.

During the period of rod burning, the temperature inside the reactor did not fall below 1500 °C, and after May 2 it began to rise, approaching 3000 °C, which caused the remaining nuclear fuel to melt (zirconium, from which fuel rod assemblies are made in all types of reactors, has a melting point of 1852 °C).

The burning of the reactor, although with less force, continued until May 10. From the burning reactor, as from the mouth of a volcano, burning particles of the destroyed reactor and radionuclides with radioactivity of millions of curies were thrown out.

Domestic nuclear experts have established the main technical cause of the accident. The explosion of the reactor of the fourth block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the result of an engineering and design defect in the very technical scheme of the water-graphite reactors of the RBMK series (high-power boiling water reactor) - reactors modernized for nuclear power, which have been working at the Mayak production association for more than 40 years, producing weapons-grade plutonium. Without going into the design features of the RBMK, we note that they are not able to stop the uncontrolled "acceleration of reactivity" if an emergency stop is necessary in conditions of operation at exorbitant power.

Another cause of the accident was the human factor - the criminal neglect of the rules of work and safety precautions and the unprofessionalism of some of the personnel.

The loading of the RBMK-1000 reactor installed at the Chernobyl power unit is 100 tons with an enrichment of 1.8% (1800 kg of uranium-235). As experts have established, 3.5% of the fission products in the reactor (63 kg) were released into the atmosphere. For comparison: as a result of the explosion atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, only 0.74 kg of radioactive waste was formed.

The official estimate of the radioactivity of the nuclides released from the Chernobyl reactor (50 million Ci) is clearly underestimated, since it was obtained after the recalculation of radioactivity on May 6 and did not take into account most of the short-lived radionuclides (including iodine-131, its half-life is 8.1 days ), which are extremely dangerous, and their release until May 6 determined more than 80% of the radioactivity in the air and on the Earth's surface. During the heating period of the reactor from May 2 to May 6, the release of radioactive iodine increased, while the release of other radionuclides also increased significantly, especially cesium-134 and -137, strontium-89 and -90, radionuclides of barium, ruthenium, cerium, etc.

According to American experts, the activity of radioiodine at the time of the explosion was 100 million Ci ("typical" nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, carried out before 1968, gave up to 159 thousand Ci).

At the time of the explosion, a huge, 2 km high, cloud of radioactivity of tens of millions of curies was formed, consisting of aerosols - dispersed hot particles of nuclear fuel mixed with radioactive gases.

After the explosion, large fragments of fuel cartridges and graphite appeared on the territory of the fourth block, which the liquidators of the consequences of the accident collected with bulldozers and shovels (!). Until May 2, they tried to prevent the burning of graphite in the destroyed reactor by dropping bags of sand, dolomite and other substances from helicopters (about 5000 tons were dropped), while the helicopters had to fly at a height of 150 m directly above the reactor vent.

Small pieces of nuclear fuel fused with asphalt were scattered throughout the station, and it was impossible to collect them. As a result, to protect against radiation, the entire territory of the station was covered with a layer of concrete and asphalt 1.5 m thick.

Fortunately, in the western and northwestern direction, where the first most concentrated cloud of hot radioactive particles and radioactive gases began to spread, there were no cities and densely populated areas. A change in wind direction by 180° a week later, when the outflow of a highly radioactive gas-aerosol jet from the reactor core was still ongoing, led to a wide spread of radioactive products.

A few days after the explosion, a five-kilometer strip of a dying forest began to appear along the axis of movement of the explosive radioactive cloud, called the "red forest", because the pine needles changed their color from green to yellow-red. A strip of dead forest where tree crowns received doses of 10,000–11,700 rad (adsorbed radiation dose is one of the off-system units of absorbed radiation dose, 1 rad = 0.01 Gy; in the SI system - gray (Gy): in 1 kg of substance when a radiation dose of 1 Gy is absorbed, energy of 1 J is released), which is an order of magnitude higher than the lethal doses for vegetation, occupied an area of ​​38 km 2. All small mammals died in this forest.

With precipitation and in the form of dry fallout along the "Chernobyl trace" contamination of water bodies and soil occurred. After the short-lived radioactive isotopes disappeared from the environment, the main danger was the radioactive dust from the dry particles of nuclear fuel, since it could easily be blown up by the wind and enter the lungs. Even five years later, in wild mammals - elks, wild boars and others - living in the exclusion zone, up to 25,000 such particles per 1 kg of lung tissue were found in the lungs.

According to official data, the total area contaminated with radionuclides with an indicator of 0.2 mR/h (background allowable value of 0.01 mR/h) in the first days after the accident amounted to 200 thousand km 2, and the area of ​​the zone with a contamination level of 15 Ci/km 2 for cesium-137 (100 times higher than the national average) - 10 thousand km 2. Almost a quarter of a million people lived on the territory of the latter.

After the accident, it was decided to establish an exclusion zone, where the radiation power was 0.2 mSv / h (sievert (Sv) - a unit of equivalent radiation dose in the SI system, the main dosimetric unit in the field of radiation safety, introduced to assess the possible damage to human health from chronic exposure to radiation; 1 Sv = 1 Gy), and resettlement zones, where the radiation power was 0.05 mSv / h (according to the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the zone of mandatory resettlement should be considered areas where radiation doses exceed 5 mSv per hour). year!). Was mothballed, depopulated the city of power engineers Pripyat. True, some time later, the Government Commission for the Implementation of the Protection of the Population decided not to carry out forced evacuation of people from the mandatory evacuation zone in order to avoid stress and socio-psychological tension (!).

Only years after the catastrophe, some information appears in the press about the changes in living organisms at the genetic level that occurred as a result of irradiation during and after the Chernobyl accident. Environmental monitoring natural environment in the zone of influence of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, since the formation, the State Committee has constantly carried out Russian Federation for Environmental Protection (1996–2000).

In the first days of the tragedy, no special medical measures were taken to protect the population from radiation damage. Iodine prophylaxis (taking potassium iodide tablets with food to saturate the body with stable iodine and prevent the absorption of radioiodine) was started even in Kyiv only after May 10, that is, too late. In rural areas, iodine prophylaxis was started even later, and often not carried out at all.

Since from the end of April, radioiodine entered the body mainly with food, at the beginning of May, the supply of the population with powdered milk from state reserves was organized in Kyiv. In rural areas, the supply of clean products to the population was organized very late and far from everywhere. Residents of villages within a 30-kilometer zone continued to consume contaminated food until the moment of evacuation, i.e., for 9–10 days. Outside this zone, radioiodine control has been established only for milk sent to dairies. In private households, children continued to consume products contaminated with radioiodine for weeks.

Subsequently, much better control was established for the content of radiocesium, but this isotope, although long-lived, is considered less dangerous and non-carcinogenic, because it accumulates in the muscles and is quite easily excreted from the body. At the same time, the control of strontium-90 is poorly organized up to the present time, because it requires sophisticated equipment. Meanwhile, strontium-90 is 40–50 times more radiotoxic and carcinogenic than radiocesium.

Functional and morphological changes in the thyroid gland were most quickly detected by radioecologists in wild ungulates (moose, deer), as well as by veterinarians in cows, goats and other farm animals that absorbed a huge amount of radioactive iodine with plants. Absorbed doses by the thyroid gland in cows in areas adjacent to Chernobyl sometimes ranged from 2500 to 2800 rads. Cases of destruction and atrophy of the thyroid gland and death of animals were often observed.

Exposure doses to the thyroid gland in children in the area of ​​the accident on a massive scale amounted to 250–1000 rad. It turned out that Russian doctors were not aware that iodine prophylaxis and a ban on milk consumption are two fairly simple and affordable methods that could easily prevent radioiodine overexposure. These methods immediately after the Chernobyl accident were widely used in Poland, Sweden, Austria, South Germany, affected by the wing of the Chernobyl cloud.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of diseases of the thyroid gland, which selectively accumulates radioactive iodine, in children should increase over time, reaching a peak (an increase of 40%) in 13-15 years, i.e. at the present time. From the secret note of the USSR Ministry of Health dated November 11, 1986, sent to the Politburo and declassified in 1992, it became known that 1 million 694 thousand children were exposed to iodine exposure. The incidence of thyroid cancer in children has been on the rise in Ukraine since 1990.

The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are still being manifested. The area of ​​radioactively contaminated agricultural land is currently 3.5 million hectares. In 1999, the highest density of caesium-137 contamination and, accordingly, higher concentrations of this radionuclide in foodstuffs were registered in the Bryansk region. Here, as well as in some areas of the Kaluga, Oryol and Tula regions, the radiation situation remains unfavorable: more than 2 million hectares of agricultural land have a cesium-137 contamination density of more than 1 Ci / km 2, including more than 300 thousand hectares - over 5 Ci/km 2 (with an average background value in Russia of 0.15 Ci/km 2).

Radiation contamination as a result of the Chernobyl accident is still observed in densely populated areas where forests are of great economic and social importance (mainly the Bryansk region). The area of ​​forest fund lands contaminated with cesium-137 as a result of the Chernobyl accident is 1 million hectares. At the same time, it is not possible to completely stop the use of the forest fund and forestry activities in the zones of radioactive contamination; at the same time, forestry management here without special protective measures leads to an increase in radiation doses to the population.

At present, the radiation situation in the forests has stabilized, a recovery stage has begun, which, given the existing composition of radionuclides, will last for tens, and in some cases hundreds of years. At this stage, the root intake of radionuclides predominates compared to the external one, the coefficient of transfer of radionuclides from soil to plants in the series increases: coniferous trees - deciduous trees - young trees (the highest content of radionuclides was noted in vegetative organs - needles, leaves, shoots - compared to wood ) - wild berries - mushrooms. On wet and waterlogged soils, this process is much more intense.

Measures to protect the population and rehabilitation work in contaminated areas due to the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, constant radiation monitoring of agricultural products (milk, meat, hay, green mass, mushrooms), providing residents of the most affected areas with food products with therapeutic and prophylactic properties in accordance with a special Unfortunately, the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 18, 1997 is not implemented in full due to insufficient funding (for some positions, only by 40%). As a result, in 1999, liming of soils on lands with a pollution density of more than 5 Ci / km 2 was carried out by 65.8%, and a radical improvement of meadows and pastures - by only 32.9%.

Summing up the sad outcome of the Chernobyl disaster that occurred in 1986, we note that 80 thousand people died, more than 3 million people suffered, of which 1 million were children. Chernobyl brought losses comparable to the state budgets of entire states, and the consequences of this catastrophe cannot be overcome in the foreseeable future. The shutdown of the last operating Chernobyl power unit in December 2000 does not fully solve environmental issues this station. Work on dismantling the station is not only designed for decades, but also does not have a reliable scientific and technical justification and, moreover, is very expensive. Chernobyl overflowing with spent fuel; the money promised by the West for closing the station ($1.5 billion) is barely enough to transport this fuel to reprocessing plants and disposal - one special train for transporting radioactive waste costs at least a billion dollars. In 10 years, and possibly much earlier, it will be necessary to build a new sarcophagus for the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which will require both high-quality cement and special metal for reinforcement, which neither Ukraine nor Russia has.

Since the Chernobyl disaster, the situation with the safety of nuclear facilities, primarily nuclear power plants and primarily in our country, has only worsened. Emergency situations at nuclear power plants have become almost the norm of their work. moreover, in 1999, one of the power units at the Kola NPP was shut down due to the fact that someone freely entered the plant control unit and tore out the electronic boards containing precious metals from the cells, as a result of which the oil pressure sensors in the turbine block of the power plant, which could lead to a serious disaster if the emergency protection system did not work. The saddest thing is that the attacker was not detained at the scene of the crime, but only a few days later, when he tried to sell the stolen boards.

The potential environmental hazard of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other nuclear power facilities, according to many reputable environmental scientists, is still extremely high.

E.E. Borovsky

The bitter lesson of Chernobyl is not only in the catastrophe itself, but also in the fact that the fear of the truth greatly increases the consequences of catastrophes. However, still not everyone wants to understand this ...

My guest is Chernobyl

The doorbell rang. I'm in the peephole
looked and froze - under the fox earflap
not that there was no face at all,
like in a book about an invisible maniac,
but it was woven by someone
from black swirling smoke
and moved, becoming easy
completely different people, but only
eyes on this smoke did not change,
like the same smoke condensed into balls.
I pretended that I didn't exist
closed the peephole, breathing quite inaudibly,
and tiptoed away from the door.
But into the keyhole, snaking,
smoke began to creep in and became a figure
in a coat, put on pot-bellied smoke,
and in a black hat over a face of smoke
and with fingers from the smoke, but nevertheless
with a ring undeniably engagement,
which confirmed that this smoke is married.
I muttered, coughing, "Who are you?"
The stranger, raising his hat: "I am Chernobyl."
“Excuse me, but you are not a man.
You are an atomic decay, you are a catastrophe,
shivering involuntarily, I muttered.
Chernobyl said with a sense of superiority:
"All disasters are hidden inside
us all. People symbolize them
and Poincaré's nickname - War
even during the First World
No wonder they gave it to a fat man - a Frenchman.
Who, say, is the Holocaust? Of course Hitler...
And who is Stalin? Gulag Archipelago...»
“And who are you, Chernobyl? Whose face
comes to you?" “No, not Gorbachev,
although there was an explosion with him,
and it was his fault...
My face is not faces, but facelessness.
Remember how it was then
how the authorities lied cowardly to the people of Kiev,
hiding disaster like a secret
and at the same time swallowing disaster,
and walked like children with red flags,
fellow citizens poisoned by me.
And again you had Chernobyl recently,
when the submarine was choking at the bottom,
and the authorities were confused in explanations,
and the lie became a vulgar requiem.
Who am I, Chernobyl? Animal fear of truth.
As long as he is immortal, I am immortal.
“But you are being shut down,” I exclaimed. -
Surely the sarcophagus will not help?
“Did he make Stalin weaker? -
Chernobyl chuckled at me. -
Didn't guess why I came to you
fell into the cracks as an unwanted guest?
You - heard - blathered something about the anthem
according to Stalin's old recipe.
In vain you, my dear, said
about the full nostalgia of the old anthem,
that you will not get up with him ...
Imagine everyone is standing up and you are sitting...
You will immediately shout "Anti-patriot!"
To all of you, so obsolete democrats,
advises the Soviet atom to get up ... "
And whether a man, or a beast,
my unexpected midnight guest disappeared,
and for a long time I stared at the door,
waiting for black smoke from the keyhole...

Our correspondent visited Pripyat and tried to refresh in his and your memory some facts about radiation, which had faded greatly after graduation. He brought the article, but he did not become the Hulk: he returned as skinny and white as he left. And we were hoping...

Theater of Radiation

There are several interesting objects in the Zone: the station itself, the abandoned city of Pripyat and the Russian Woodpecker installation.

The same 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant today looks everyday. Background outside - 5–9 microsieverts per hour (2-3 times higher than in an airplane)

In total, more than 600 thousand people participated in the liquidation. Arriving and gaining an acceptable, and sometimes unacceptable dose, a person retired. The remaining reactors operated for another decade and a half. A new roof was erected on the 4th block, the station was repeatedly washed to a shine, filled with concrete, scattered pieces of fuel were collected and taken out, the layer of soil around was cut off. The work continues to this day and will continue for another fifty years at least.

The tour can even be allowed under the sarcophagus in the ominous block number 4 - not into the reactor hall itself, but to the control panel where the events unfolded. Here is darkness and desolation. Background - 2-13 microsieverts per hour (one minute here is like 1-6 minutes in an airplane, you can live). But particle contamination is strong: several hundred particles per minute per square centimeter. It is impossible to breathe without a respirator, the clothes are special, replaceable.

At the exit - mandatory control of hands, feet and clothes. And this is not the last frame on the way. Radioactive dust is just dust. It is recommended to start by washing your hands with cool water and soap. Atomic workers always wash cold water, as warm expands the pores and dust can clog into the skin for a long time. They also say that nuclear scientists wash their hands twice in the toilet - before and after. And it's not a joke.

The station is full of life, thousands of people from different countries: waste processing and disposal plants are being launched (where to build them, if not here?), a giant arch is being built, which in a couple of years will be rolled onto the reactor so that it can be disassembled. The ultimate goal is the concept of a "green lawn": to disassemble all the uncontrollably glowing horror inside, carefully recycle and bury.

Where to find radiation if you are an alien and cannot live without it

Noticeably phonite any granite. Granite embankments, lined metro stations, slabs in a building materials store - everywhere you can see an elevated background.

Good phonite rhodonite is a stone resembling red granite. In Moscow, for example, he decorated the Mayakovskaya metro station.

Zone of the Chernobyl station, Fukushima, former nuclear test sites.

Household devices. Isotopes are used in fire detectors. The simplest isotope of hydrogen, tritium, which emits beta particles with a half-life of 12 years, can be legally bought in the form of a luminous keychain with the frank name Betalight.

In Moscow, the ravines of the Kolomenskoye Park on the slope of the river, where there used to be a waste disposal site, are fading. There are nuclear burial sites near Sergiev Posad and Podolsk. Yes, and in Moscow there are many institutions with such dirt inside, left over from the experiments of bygone years, that it is scary to enter there.

On this page we have placed a small probe containing the isotope of radiation-404. Try not to touch it with your hands or lick it until you get a home dosimeter.

City of Pripyat

Today, in terms of radiation, Pripyat is thousands, hundreds of thousands times cleaner than in the days after the accident. Tours are taken to the city: here you can walk, breathe without respirators. The biggest danger is falling buildings. It is not recommended to touch objects with your hands, sit on the ground, drink and eat: dust can get in. The city will never come to life. Children will never be able to play in the sandbox here. Grannies will not grow radishes in the beds. Water for drinking and, probably, even for showering will have to be transported from cleaner places. But it is a unique reserve of the era. Perhaps this is the only place on Earth where you can see a piece of the real Soviet Union 80s of the last century.

Surviving frescoes on the walls of crumbling buildings

Monument to firefighters who worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

The dirtiest place in the city is the basement of the city hospital: jackets, helmets and boots are piled here, which the firefighters of that fatal brigade took off when they returned from extinguishing the roof of the block. Everything is covered with soot and particles of nuclear fuel. Even after almost 30 years, clothes are emitting up to one roentgen per hour - it is impossible to enter the basement without special suits and respiratory protection. Almost all the firefighters died within a month, they were buried in lead coffins: the bodies sullied dangerously. Other dirty places in Pripyat are sewers and drains. The rains washed away radioactive dust here for decades.

Test in North Korea that created a 4.9 earthquake

In addition to accidents, there are a couple of thousand nuclear tests all over the world: underground, ground, underwater, atmospheric. There are more than nine hundred in Nevada alone. An emergency with the loss of radioactive parts (for example, in 1987 in Goiania, Brazil, when cretins stole a luminous isotope and rubbed the whole village with it). And also constant emissions from a drying up radioactive reservoir at Mayak in 1960-1985. But even so far there have been no terrorist attacks - nuclear explosions or "dirty bombs" (a conventional explosion that scatters radioactive dirt over the area is easier to make than a nuclear one, and the consequences are not much better). It turns out that at least once every 10 years a nuclear emergency occurs in the world: reactors explode, planes with warheads and satellites with reactors fall, emissions occur. Perhaps you, as a patriot, will be pleased to know that half of all nuclear emergencies occur in our country, in this respect we are ahead of the rest.

Shooting tests in Nevada. USA, April 1952

Disinfection of settlements after the nuclear incident in Goiania. Brazil, 1987

Let's be realistic: no one will refuse nuclear energy (in France, for example, Atom stations give 80% energy). And let's not be naive: accidents can happen in the future, it just makes sense to learn from mistakes. What can you personally do? Only two things.

Get a dosimeter. You live in Russia, where, by the will of fate, dosimeters are of the highest quality and cheapest. By God, you bought so much electronic garbage and gadgets that not buying a dosimeter is just stupid. The cutest of the simple ones is the Togliatti SMG (from $100). Atomists consider the Lviv "Terra" (from $200) to be the most accurate and reliable. And there are all sorts of bluetooth dosimeters.

It is good to understand why radiation is dangerous and what is not dangerous, so as not to succumb to world radiophobia.

What's next for us?

The list of the largest nuclear emergencies looks like this:

1945 - US bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

1957 - USSR, accident at the Mayak plant

1957 - UK, Windscale reactor accident

1961 - USSR, accident on the K-19 submarine

1964 - USSR, the fall of the Transit-5V satellite with a nuclear installation

1966 - Spain, the destruction of three nuclear bombs in the village of Palomares

1968 - USA, destruction of four thermonuclear bombs in a plane crash over Greenland

1970 - USSR, accident at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant

1979 - USA, accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant

1980 - USSR, radioactive contamination in Kramatorsk

1985 - USSR, accident in Chazhma Bay

1986 - USSR, Chernobyl accident

2011 - Japan, accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant

What is commonly called radiation is divided into three types: alpha -

α β γ Gamma radiation and X-ray

Of the same nature as light and radio waves. Gamma rays penetrate through everything long distances. Best of all, γ-radiation is weakened by water, concrete, and lead. The natural cosmic background on the planet's surface is about 0.11 microsievert. For an aircraft that has gained altitude, the atmospheric layer ceases to act as a shield, so the natural space background in the aircraft reaches 3 millisieverts anywhere in the cabin, but this is not dangerous. All radiometers measure γ. Sources of γ-radiation: cesium-137, cobalt-60; x-ray hard radiation - americium-241.

beta radiation

A stream of electrons or positrons that escape from an atom of a radioactive element. They fly not far, so it is possible to fix β only at close range. Breaking into tissue, the particles cause more damage than gamma rays. From β protects a sheet of aluminum a couple of millimeters, window glass, sometimes even clothes. It is believed that not all household radiometers are able to measure β, but they will still whistle when brought close. Sources of β-radiation: potassium-40, cesium-137, strontium-90; neutron - plutonium.

alpha radiation

(uranium, radon, radium, thorium, polonium) - a helium atom flying away. From the point of view of atoms, the thing is quite large and, if it enters the tissue, can do a lot of harm: the harm of α-radiation is 20 times greater than that of γ-radiation. But α flies over a distance of a few millimeters to several centimeters and stops even with a sheet of paper. It is believed that a household dosimeter is not able to detect α-radiation even when brought close. But α rarely walks alone, usually there are always impurities β and γ. Sources of α-radiation: radon, thoron, uranium.

Radiation becomes thousands of times more dangerous if the particles enter the body with air, food, or clog with dust in the skin. From now on, this is a holiday that is always with you. The chance of getting a dangerous dose in some way from the outside is minimal, except to read a book under an X-ray lamp every day.

Gamma background

Naturally, it does no noticeable harm until its dose is exceeded by a thousand, or even a million times.

The alpha and beta particles fly close and are stopped by anything. Therefore, in small doses, they do not pose a threat to the body if they do not get inside. Once inside with food and air, the radioactive isotope remains in the body (sometimes forever) in order to systematically bombard the surrounding tissues with particles. The totality of destruction leads to a variety of diseases, especially often to cancer: at some point, the immune system does not have time to cope with its usual work - to constantly identify and remove damaged cells that have decided to become cancerous and begin endless growth.

History knows cases when in areas that were considered radioactively contaminated, mortality, on the contrary, turned out to be noticeably lower than in ordinary ones. Frightened doctors so often dragged residents to medical examinations that early diagnosis and timely treatment brought more health benefits than the purity of nature.

pioneers

Pierre and Marie Curie in the laboratory, 1896

Radioactivity was discovered by Monsieur Becquerel in 1897, in general, by accident: he studied uranium salts and left the substance in a cabinet on a photographic plate. And later I noticed that the plate lit up by itself through the black wrapper. He shared his discovery with his colleagues - the spouses Pierre and Marie Curie, and they discovered radium and polonium. Becquerel discovered the harm of radiation to health later, but in the same way: he borrowed a test tube with radium from Curie and carried it in his vest pocket, and later noticed reddening in the form of a test tube on his skin. He shared this again with Pierre Curie. He strapped a test tube with a fair amount of radium to his shoulder and wore it for ten hours, earning a serious ulcer for the next couple of months.

Despite the fact that scientists have been working with radiation all their lives, it is wrong to assume that radiation killed them. Becquerel died unexpectedly at the age of 55 (during a trip with his wife), and the cause of death is unknown. Pierre Curie, at the age of 46, slipped and got hit by a horse. Marie Curie certainly died of radiation-induced leukemia - the pages of her laboratory diary are still glowing in the museum in such a way that it is scary to approach them. But Maria died at the age of 66 - for more than 30 years she worked with radiation after receiving the Nobel Prize for her discovery.

What to do if these idiots again something exploded?

During a nuclear reaction nuclear explosion or leakage from the reactor) many different radioactive substances that will harm all survivors. If you heard the roar of an explosion, then there are two good news: first, you are alive; second, all nuclear reactions have already ended. But the air was filled with radioactive volatile aerosols, and in a few hours all the sensors from hundreds and thousands of kilometers away will howl from them.

Almost 30 years ago, the attention of the world was riveted to itself - a Ukrainian city in which a nuclear power plant exploded, which became the worst nuclear disaster in the world.
The world has come a long way since that horrific event in 1986, but one thing hasn't really changed in the polluted Chernobyl: dead trees and leaves. They do not even approximately decompose at the same rate as flora elsewhere in the world.

“We were stepping over all those dead trees on the ground that had been knocked down by the first explosion,” says Tim Musso, professor of biology at the University of South Carolina. - Years later, these trunks are perfectly preserved. If a tree fell in my garden, in 10 years it would turn into dust.
Tim Musso and his colleague Anders Müller of the University of Paris-South have conducted long-term studies on the biology of radioactive regions such as Chernobyl and Fukushima, Japan.
Much of their work took place in the Red Forest, the infamous wooded region around Chernobyl, where the trees turned an ominous reddish-brown color before they died. The scientists noted that the tree trunks appear to have largely remained unchanged, even after two and a half decades have passed.
“With a few exceptions, almost all of the dead tree trunks were intact when we first encountered them,” says Tim Musso, who is also head of the Chernobyl and Fukushima Research Center.
To find out what happened, or rather, NOT happened, the researchers collected hundreds of samples that had not been exposed to radiation and packed them in insect-proof bags. Then they distributed them throughout the Chernobyl area and left them for nine months.
The results were astounding: leaf litter samples left in areas with high levels of pollution showed decay rates 40 percent lower than leaves left in uncontaminated areas. At all sites, the degree of decomposition was proportional to the level of radioactive contamination.
Radiation is known to adversely affect microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. A recent study has shown that radiation therapy can cause serious complications due to a decrease in the population of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Musso and others are concerned that the accumulation of fallen leaves on the ground in the forest is a real danger. “We have growing suspicions that a catastrophic fire will occur in the coming years,” the scientist notes.
In the event of a forest fire, leaves that have not decomposed in 28 years will be an ideal fuel, and the fire will spread radiation throughout the region. “As a result, radiocesium and other pollutants with smoke will enter the settlements", Musso emphasizes.
“Leaf litter, apparently due to reduced microbial activity, is an excellent kindling material,” the scientist added. “They are dry, light and burn great. This proves once again that it can begin

Everyone knows the high danger of radioactive iodine-131, which caused a lot of trouble after the accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima-1. Even minimal doses of this radionuclide cause mutations and cell death in the human body, but the thyroid gland suffers especially from it. The beta and gamma particles formed during its decay are concentrated in its tissues, causing severe radiation and the formation of cancerous tumors.

Radioactive iodine: what is it?

Iodine-131 is a radioactive isotope of ordinary iodine, called "radioiodine". Due to a fairly long half-life (8.04 days), it quickly spreads over large areas, causing radiation contamination of soil and vegetation. I-131 radioiodine was first isolated in 1938 by Seaborg and Livinggood by irradiating tellurium with a stream of deuterons and neutrons. Subsequently, Abelson discovered it among the fission products of the atoms of uranium and thorium-232.

Sources of radioiodine

Radioactive iodine-131 is not found in nature and enters environment from technogenic sources:

1. Nuclear power plants.
2. Pharmaceutical production.
3. Tests of atomic weapons.

The technological cycle of any power or industrial nuclear reactor includes the fission of uranium or plutonium atoms, during which a large amount of iodine isotopes accumulate in the plants. Over 90% of the entire family of nuclides are short-lived isotopes of iodine 132-135, the rest is radioactive iodine-131. During the normal operation of a nuclear power plant, the annual release of radionuclides is small due to filtration, which ensures the decay of nuclides, and is estimated by experts at 130-360 Gbq. If there is a violation of the tightness of a nuclear reactor, radioiodine, having high volatility and mobility, immediately enters the atmosphere along with other inert gases. In the gas-and-solid emission, it is mostly contained in the form of various organic matter. Unlike inorganic compounds iodine, organic derivatives of the radionuclide iodine-131 pose the greatest danger to humans, since they easily penetrate through the lipid membranes of cell walls into the body and are subsequently carried with blood to all organs and tissues.

Major accidents that have become a source of iodine-131 contamination

A total of two are known major accidents at nuclear power plants that have become sources of radioiodine contamination of large areas - Chernobyl and Fukushima-1. During the Chernobyl disaster, all the iodine-131 accumulated in the nuclear reactor was released into the environment along with the explosion, which led to radiation contamination of a zone with a radius of 30 kilometers. Strong winds and rains carried radiation around the world, but the territories of Ukraine, Belarus, the southwestern regions of Russia, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the UK were especially affected.

In Japan, explosions at the first, second, third reactors and the fourth power unit of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant occurred after a strong earthquake. As a result of a violation of the cooling system, several radiation leaks occurred, leading to a 1250-fold increase in the number of iodine-131 isotopes in sea ​​water at a distance of 30 km from the nuclear power plant.

Another source of radioiodine is nuclear weapons testing. So, in the 50-60s of the twentieth century, explosions of nuclear bombs and shells were carried out in the state of Nevada in the United States. Scientists noticed that I-131 formed as a result of explosions fell out in the nearest areas, and it was practically absent in semi-global and global fallouts due to a short half-life. That is, during the migrations, the radionuclide had time to decompose before falling along with precipitation to the Earth's surface.

Biological effects of iodine-131 on humans

Radioiodine has a high migration ability, easily enters the human body with air, food and water, and also enters through the skin, wounds and burns. At the same time, it is quickly absorbed into the blood: after an hour, 80-90% of the radionuclide is absorbed. Most of it is absorbed by the thyroid gland, which does not distinguish stable iodine from its radioactive isotopes, and the smallest part is absorbed by muscles and bones.

By the end of the day, up to 30% of the total incoming radionuclide is fixed in the thyroid gland, and the accumulation process directly depends on the functioning of the organ. If hypothyroidism is observed, then radioiodine is absorbed more intensively and accumulates in the tissues of the thyroid gland in higher concentrations than with reduced gland function.

Basically, iodine-131 is excreted from the human body with the help of the kidneys within 7 days, only a small part of it is removed along with sweat and hair. It is known that it evaporates through the lungs, but it is still not known how much is excreted from the body in this way.

Iodine-131 toxicity

Iodine-131 is a source of dangerous β- and γ-irradiation in a ratio of 9:1, capable of causing both mild and severe radiation injuries. Moreover, the most dangerous is the radionuclide that enters the body with water and food. If the absorbed dose of radioiodine is 55 MBq/kg of body weight, acute exposure of the whole body occurs. This is due to the large area of ​​beta-irradiation, which causes a pathological process in all organs and tissues. The thyroid gland is especially severely damaged, intensively absorbing radioactive isotopes of iodine-131 together with stable iodine.

The problem of the development of thyroid pathology became relevant during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, when the population was exposed to I-131. People received large doses of radiation not only by inhaling contaminated air, but also by drinking fresh cow's milk with a high content of radioiodine. Even the measures taken by the authorities to exclude natural milk from the sale did not solve the problem, since about a third of the population continued to drink milk obtained from their own cows.

It is important to know!
Especially strong irradiation of the thyroid gland occurs when dairy products are contaminated with iodine-131 radionuclide.

As a result of radiation, the function of the thyroid gland decreases, with the subsequent possible development of hypothyroidism. This not only damages the thyroid epithelium, where hormones are synthesized, but also destroys the nerve cells and blood vessels of the thyroid gland. The synthesis of the necessary hormones is sharply reduced, the endocrine status and homeostasis of the whole organism are disturbed, which can serve as the beginning of the development of cancerous tumors of the thyroid gland.

Radioiodine is especially dangerous for children, since their thyroid glands are much smaller than those of an adult. Depending on the age of the child, the weight can be from 1.7 g to 7 g, while in an adult it is about 20 grams. Another feature is that radiation damage to the endocrine gland can be latent for a long time and manifest itself only during intoxication, illness, or during puberty.

A high risk of developing thyroid cancer occurs in children under one year of age who have received a high dose of irradiation with the isotope I-131. Moreover, the high aggressiveness of tumors has been precisely established - within 2-3 months, cancer cells penetrate into the surrounding tissues and blood vessels, metastasize to the lymph nodes of the neck and lungs.

It is important to know!
Thyroid tumors are 2-2.5 times more common in women and children than in men. The latent period of their development, depending on the dose of radioiodine received by a person, can reach 25 years or more, in children this period is much shorter - on average, about 10 years.

"Useful" iodine-131

Radioiodine, as a remedy for toxic goiter and cancerous tumors of the thyroid gland, began to be used as early as 1949. Radiotherapy is considered a relatively safe method of treatment; without it, patients are affected various bodies and tissue, the quality of life deteriorates and its duration decreases. Today, the I-131 isotope is used as an additional tool to combat the recurrence of these diseases after surgery.

Like stable iodine, radioiodine is accumulated and retained for a long time by thyroid cells, which use it for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Since tumors continue to perform a hormone-forming function, they accumulate iodine-131 isotopes. When they decay, they form beta particles with a range of 1-2 mm, which locally irradiate and destroy thyroid cells, and the surrounding healthy tissues are practically not exposed to radiation.