Joint Coordinating Committee for Radiation Effects Research (JCCRER)
Projects in the Russian Health Studies Program
Direction 1: Community Health Effects Research
The major goal under this Direction is to analyze the carcinogenic
risk of radiation exposure. For this purpose, 3 projects are
being conducted:
- Project 1.1, Techa River Population Dosimetry;
- Project 1.2b, Techa River Population Morbidity; and
- Project 1.4, Reconstruction of Dose to the Residents of
Ozersk.
Project 1.1: Techa River Population Dosimetry
Principal Investigators:
R.F.: Marina Degteva,
Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine
U.S.: Lynn Anspaugh, University
of Utah
Brief Description: This dose reconstruction project
is to develop improvements in the existing Techa River Dosimetry
System 2000 for the members of the Extended Techa River Cohort
(ETRC) by reducing the uncertainty of the doses, validating
the doses, determining the feasibility of reconstructing doses
from medical exposures, and reconstructing doses from other
sources of radiation exposure, such as the East Urals Radioactive
Trace and resuspension from deposits in Lake Karachai. The
specific goal of this project is to update the reconstruction
of external and internal radiation doses for approximately
30,000 individuals in the ETRC for use in companion epidemiologic
studies of radiogenic leukemia and solid cancers (see below
Project 1.2b, Techa River Population Morbidity).
Results to date: The specific aim of the completed
phase of this project was to enhance reconstruction of doses
for the ETRC cohort members. The database of preliminary village-average
doses was expanded and upgraded to individualized doses and
the uncertainty in the reconstructed doses was evaluated for
the first time.
Projected end date: September 2009.
Project 1.2b: Techa River Population Morbidity
Principal Investigators:
R.F.: Alexander Akleyev,
Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine
U.S.: Faith Davis, University of Illinois at Chicago
Brief Description: This epidemiologic study is designed
to assess carcinogenic effects among populations exposed to
offsite releases of radioactive materials from the Mayak nuclear
facility. Discharges of radioactive wastes into the Techa
River during the period 1950-1956 resulted in radiation exposures
of the inhabitants of the riverside villages for whom the
river was the principal source of water. This is the first
study of cancer morbidity in the extended Techa River cohort
(ETRC). It is a companion study to Project 1.1, Techa River
Population Dosimetry, and to Techa River Population Mortality,
sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute. The aim of
Phase III is to extend the follow-up of cancer incidence among
the members of the ETRC and use new epidemiological and dosimetric
data from Project 1.1 to assess radiogenic cancer risk.
Results to date: Preliminary results from this study
indicate an increased incidence of leukemia and stomach cancer
in the exposed population.
Projected end date: September 2009.
Project 1.4: Reconstruction of Dose to the Residents of
Ozersk
R.F.: Yuri Mokrov, Mayak
U.S.: Lynn Anspaugh, University
of Utah
Brief Description: Phase II of this dose reconstruction
project is to reconstruct time-dependent individual radiation
doses to the residents of the city of Ozersk, Russia, and
the surrounding area from atmospheric releases of radionuclides
from nuclear weapons production activities at Mayak from 1948
to present. Focus will be on the emission of I-131 and dose
to the thyroid glands of children. Data will support the epidemiologic
study of thyroid cancer in children sponsored by the National
Cancer Institute. This should help resolve the dichotomy between
the studies at Hanford (no observed effect) and Chernobyl
(large effect). The data also will determine whether these
emissions are a confounding factor in the evaluation of radiogenic
cancer risk in other groups under study, such as the Extended
Techa River Cohort (Project 1.2b) and the Mayak worker cohort
(Project 2.2).
Results to date: The Phase I feasibility study was
completed on March 31, 2004 and a final report was prepared.
For the first time, an estimate of the atmospheric stack releases
of I-131 was prepared by month from the two fuel-processing
plants.
Projected end date: September 2008.
This page was last updated on February 12, 2008
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