- 著者
- TAKADA JUN HOSHI MASAHARU NAGATOMO TSUNETO YAMAMOTO MASAYOSHI ENDO SATORU TAKATSUJI TOSHIHIRO YOSHIKAWA ISAO GUSEV BORIS I. SAKERBAEV ALEXANDER K. TCHAIJUNUSOVA NAILYA.J.
- 出版者
- 日本放射線影響学会
- 雑誌
- Journal of radiation research (ISSN:04493060)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.40, no.4, pp.337-344, 1999-12
- 被引用文献数
- 13 33 44
Accumulated external radiation doses of residents near the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site of the former USSR are presented as a results of study by the thermoluminescence technique for bricks sampled at several settlements in 1995 and 1996. The external doses that we evaluated from exposed bricks were up to about 100 cGy for resident. The external doses at several points in the center of Semipalatinsk City ranged from a background level to 60 cGy, which was remarkably high compared with the previously reported values based on military data. INTRODUCTION A total of 459 nuclear tests were conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) between 1949 and 1989 at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site (SNTS) of Kazakhstan, including 87 atmospheric, 26 on the ground, and 346 underground explosions1). The total release of the energy equivalent of trinitrotoluene (TNT) of about 18 Mt was eleven hundred times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. However, previous reports concerning the effects of radiation on residents near the SNTS based on data provided by the Defense Department of the former USSR2, 3) did not involve direct experimental data concerning the effective equivalent dose. They just measured some doses for particular settlements after some nuclear explosions. These did not indicate an integrated dose of the residents of all the explosions. The technique of thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD), which had been successfully applied in dosimetry for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs4, 5), enabled us to evaluate the accumulated external gamma ray doses of all the nuclear explosions at specific places in the Semipalatinsk test site. The TLD technique is well-established not only for instantaneous exposure as in A-bombs (Hiroshima and Nagasaki)6) but also in prolonged exposure to natural radiation, which is used in dating7). Moreover, this technique was applicable for dosimetry studies of radioactive fallout as shown in studies of the Chernobyl accident8,9).