Radiation Dose and Thyroid Disease Prevalence near the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in Kazakhstan

Radioactive fallout from nuclear test explosions in the U.S., the Marshall Islands, the former Soviet Union, Australia, China and elsewhere has affected populations throughout the world to varying extents. Significant fallout is associated with any explosion involving nuclear fission in which the fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiation research 2007-03, Vol.167 (3), p.354-355
Main Authors: Land, C E, Zhumadilov, Z, Gusev, B I, Hartshorne, M H, Wiest, P W, Woodward, P W, Crooks, L A, Luckyanov, N K, Fillmore, C M, Carr, Z, Abisheva, G, Sigurdson, A S, Beck, H L, Bouville, A, Langer, J, Weinstock, R, Gordeev, K I, Simon, S L
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Radioactive fallout from nuclear test explosions in the U.S., the Marshall Islands, the former Soviet Union, Australia, China and elsewhere has affected populations throughout the world to varying extents. Significant fallout is associated with any explosion involving nuclear fission in which the fireball touches the ground. Soil and other particles are drawn up into the fireball, contaminated with radioactive fission products including isotopes of iodine, cesium, strontium and other elements, carried downwind from the explosion site, and deposited on the ground and other surfaces. Radiation exposure is dominated by penetrating -y rays from radionuclides on the ground and less-penetrating 13 particles from radioiodines ingested through the fallout-pasture-dairy animal-milk pathway. Radioiodines (''I and ''I) are taken up by the thyroid gland and are particularly hazardous to children, who have small, active glands.
ISSN:0033-7587