Multiscale Speciation of U and Pu at Chernobyl, Hanford, Los Alamos, McGuire AFB, Mayak, and Rocky Flats
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Batuk, Olga N.↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “Mayak”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Analysis Approach and Data Package for Mayak Public Doses: Data Supporting the Calculation of Representative Doses to Members of the Public from Airborne Releases of 131 I at the Mayak Production Association from 1948 through 1972
Historical activities at facilities producing nuclear materials for weapons released radioactivity into the air and water. Past studies in the United States have evaluated the release, atmospheric transport and environmental accumulation of 131 I from the nuclear facilities at Hanford in Washington State and the resulting dose to members of the public (Farris et al. 1994). A multi-year dose reconstruction effort (Mokrov et al. 2004) is also being conducted to produce representative dose estimates for members of the public living near Mayak, Russia, from atmospheric releases of 131 I at the facilities of the Mayak Production Association. The approach to calculating individual doses to members of the public from historical releases of airborne 131 I has the following general steps: • Construct estimates of releases 131 I to the air from production facilities. • Model the transport of 131 I in the air and subsequent deposition on the ground and vegetation. • Model the accumulation of 131 I in soil, water and food products (environmental media). • Calculate the dose for an individual by matching the appropriate lifestyle and consumption data for the individual to the concentrations of 131 I in environmental media at their residence location. A number of computer codes were developed to facilitate the study of airborne 131 I emissions at Hanford. Of particular interest is DESCARTES code that modeled accumulation of 131 I in environmental media (Miley et al. 1994). In addition, the CIDER computer code estimated annual doses to individuals (Eslinger et al. 1994) using the equations and parameters specific to Hanford (Snyder et al. 1994). Several of the computer codes developed to model 131 I releases from Hanford are general enough to be used for other facilities. Additional codes have been developed, including the new individual dose code CiderF (Eslinger and Napier 2013), and applied to historical releases of 131 I from Mayak. This document provides a data package that identifies computer code runs and associated input and output files prepared for the purpose of calculating doses to members of the public from atmospheric releases of 131 I at the Mayak Production Association for the time period 1948 through 1972.
Mayak↗
MWDS-2016: THE SLOW DISSOLUTION RATE FOR PLUTONIUM NITRATE INTAKES AT THE MAYAK FACILITY
Abstract The slow dissolution rate of material deposited in the lung plays a key role in determining the eventual radiation dose received by the lung. It is therefore of great importance to establish a reliable value for this parameter, to incorporate into the latest Mayak Worker Dosimetry System (MWDS-2016). Disparate values have been obtained for the slow dissolution rate of plutonium nitrate. A volunteer study performed by Public Health England (PHE) and an analysis of United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR) case 0269 have yielded slow dissolution rates in the region of 10–40 × 10−4 d−1. However, autopsies performed on 20 Mayak workers, exposed predominantly to nitrates, have resulted in estimates of slow dissolution rates of around 2.4 × 10−4 d−1. Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain this discrepancy: (1) a slower dissolution rate in the interstitium, (2) a third exponential component in the dissolution function and (3) a small component of oxide in the aerosol to which Mayak ‘nitrate’ workers were exposed. This paper describes tests of these competing hypotheses. Bayesian methods have been applied to the following datasets: PHE volunteer data; Beagle dog data; USTUR cases and Mayak worker data. It is concluded that a mixture of oxide and nitrate material, with the oxide forming ~14% of the intake, best describes the Mayak dissolution rate, without introducing values for other parameters which conflict with other studies.
Bull, R. K.↗
The Mayak Worker Dosimetry System (MWDS-2013): Internal Dosimetry Results
The distribution of calculated internal doses was determined for 8043 Mayak Production Associate (Mayak PA) workers according to the epidemiological cohorts and groups of raw data used as well as the type of industrial compounds of inhaled aerosols. Statistical characteristics of point estimates of accumulated doses to 17 different tissues and organs and the uncertainty ranges were calculated. Under the MWDS-2013 dosimetry system, the mean accumulated lung dose was 185585 mGy, with a median value of 31 mGy and a maximum of 8980 mGy maximum. The ranges of relative standard uncertainty were: from 40 to 2200% for accumulated lung dose, from 25-90% to 2600-3000% for accumulated dose to different regions of respiratory tract, from 13-18% to 2300-2500% for systemic organs and tissues. The Mayak PA workers accumulated internal plutonium lung dose is shown to be close to lognormal. The accumulated internal plutonium dose to systemic organs was close to a log-triangle. The dependency of uncertainty of accumulated absorbed lung and liver doses on the dose estimates itself is also shown. The accumulated absorbed doses to lung, alveolar-interstitial region, liver, bone surface cells and red bone marrow, calculated both with MWDS-2013 and MWDS-2008 have been compared. In general, the accumulated lung doses increased by a factor of 1.8 in median value, while the accumulated doses to systemic organs decreased by factor of 1.3-1.4 in median value. For the cases with identical initial data, accumulated lung doses increased by a factor of 2.1 in median value, while accumulated doses to systemic organs decreased by 8-13% in median value. For the cases with both identical initial data and all of plutonium activity in urine measurements above the decision threshold, accumulated lung doses increased by a factor of 2.8 in median value, while accumulated doses to systemic organs increased by 6-12% in median value.
dose reconstruction↗
THE MAYAK WORKER DOSIMETRY SYSTEM (MWDS-2013) FOR INTERNALLY DEPOSITED PLUTONIUM: AN OVERVIEW
The Mayak Worker Dosimetry System (MWDS-2013) is a system for interpreting measurement data from Mayak workers from both internal and external sources. This paper is concerned with the calculation of annual organ doses for Mayak workers exposed to plutonium aerosols, where the measurement data consists mainly of activity of plutonium in urine samples. The system utilises the latest biokinetic and dosimetric models, and unlike its predecessors, takes explicit account of uncertainties in both the measurement data and model parameters. The aim of this paper is to describe the complete MWDS-2013 system (including model parameter values and their uncertainties) and the methodology used (including all the relevant equations) and the assumptions made. Where necessary, supplementary papers which justify specific assumptions are cited.
Bayesian analysis' retrospective dosimetry↗
Radiation Effects on Mortality from Solid Cancers Other than Lung, Liver, and Bone Cancer in the Mayak Worker Cohort: 1948–2008
Radiation effects on mortality from solid cancers other than lung, liver, and bone cancer in the Mayak worker cohort: 1948–2008. The cohort of Mayak Production Association (PA) workers in Russia offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of prolonged low dose rate external gamma exposures and exposure to plutonium in a working age population. We examined radiation effects on the risk of mortality from solid cancers excluding sites of primary plutonium deposition (lung, liver, and bone surface) among 25,757 workers who were first employed in 1948–1982. During the period 1948–2008, there were 1,825 deaths from cancers other than lung, liver and bone. Using colon dose as a representative external dose, a linear dose response model described the data well. The excess relative risk per Gray for external gamma exposure was 0.16 (95% CI: 0.07 – 0.26) when unadjusted for plutonium exposure and 0.12 (95% CI 0.03 – 0.21) when adjusted for plutonium dose and monitoring status. There was no significant effect modification by sex or attained age. Plutonium exposure was not significantly associated with the group of cancers analyzed after adjusting for monitoring status. Site-specific risks were uncertainly estimated but positive for 13 of the 15 sites evaluated with a statistically significant estimate only for esophageal cancer. Comparison with estimates based on the acute exposures in atomic bomb survivors suggests that the excess relative risk per Gray for prolonged external exposure in Mayak workers may be lower than that for acute exposure but, given the uncertainties, the possibility of equal effects cannot be dismissed.
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
Solid cancer incidence other than lung, liver and bone in Mayak workers: 1948–2004
Background: Cancer incidence in the Mayak Production Association (PA) cohort was analysed to investigate for the first time whether external gamma-ray and internal plutonium exposure are associated with raised incidence of solid cancers other than lung, liver and bone (other solid cancers). Methods: The cohort includes 22 366 workers of both sexes who were first employed between 1948 and 1982. A total of 1447 cases of other solid cancers were registered in the follow-up period until 2004. The Poisson regression was used to estimate the excess relative risk (ERR) per unit of cumulative exposure to plutonium and external gamma-ray. Results: A weak association was found between cumulative exposure to external gamma-ray and the incidence of other solid cancers (ERR/Gy = 0.07; 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 0.01–0.15), but this association lost its significance after adjusting for internal plutonium exposure. There was no indication of any association with plutonium exposure for other solid cancers. Among 16 individual cancer sites, there was a statistically significant association with external exposure for lip cancer (ERR/Gy = 1.74; 95% CI: 0.37; 6.71) and with plutonium exposure for pancreatic cancer (ERR/Gy = 1.58; 95% CI; 0.17; 4.77). Conclusion: This study of Mayak workers does not provide evidence of an increased risk of other solid cancers. The observed increase in the risk of cancer of the lip and pancreas should be treated with caution because of the limited amount of relevant data and because the observations may be simply due to chance.
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
Lung Cancer in the Mayak Workers Cohort: Risk Estimation and Uncertainty Analysis
The workers at the Mayak nuclear facility near Ozyorsk, Russia are a primary source of information about exposure to radiation at low-dose rates, since they were subject to protracted exposures to external gamma rays and to internal exposures from plutonium inhalation. Here we re-examine lung cancer mortality rates and assess the effects of external gamma and internal plutonium exposures using recently developed Monte Carlo dosimetry systems. Using individual lagged mean annual lung doses computed from the dose realizations, we fit excess relative risk (ERR) models to the lung cancer mortality data for the Mayak Workers Cohort using risk-modeling software. We then used the corrected information matrix (CIM) approach to widen the confidence intervals of ERR by taking into account the uncertainty in doses represented by multiple realizations from the Monte Carlo dosimetry systems. Findings of this work revealed that there were 930 lung cancer deaths during follow-up. Plutonium lung doses (but not gamma doses) were generally higher in the new dosimetry systems than those used in the previous analysis. This led to a reduction in the risk per unit dose compared to prior estimates. The estimated ERR/Gy for external gamma-ray exposure was 0.19 (95% CI: 0.07 to 0.31) for both sexes combined, while the ERR/Gy for internal exposures based on mean plutonium doses were 3.5 (95% CI: 2.3 to 4.6) and 8.9 (95% CI: 3.4 to 14) for males and females at attained age 60. Accounting for uncertainty in dose had little effect on the confidence intervals for the ERR associated with gamma-ray exposure, but had a marked impact on confidence intervals, particularly the upper bounds, for the effect of plutonium exposure [adjusted 95% CIs: 1.5 to 8.9 for males and 2.7 to 28 for females]. In conclusion, lung cancer rates increased significantly with both external gamma-ray and internal plutonium exposures. Accounting for the effects of dose uncertainty markedly increased the width of the confidence intervals for the plutonium dose response but had little impact on the external gamma dose effect estimate. Adjusting risk estimate confidence intervals using CIM provides a solution to the important problem of dose uncertainty. This work demonstrates, for the first time, that it is possible and practical to use our recently developed CIM method to make such adjustments in a large cohort study.
uncertainty, radiation risk estimation, Mayak Prod↗
Rosatom's Mayak Production Association Reactor Construction
Mayak is the leading enterprise of the nuclear weapons complex in Russia. It is composed of reactors, radiochemical, chemical-metallurgical, radioisotope and instrument-making industries. In the spring of 2015 Mayak began construction on a new multi-purpose reactor to be completed in 2023. Reactor is being constructed in order to replace current Tritium-producing reactors Ruslan and Lyudmila. Information of Interest: What is the reactor's output? (thermal or electric) What kind of fuel is being used and what surrounds it? What types of moderators are being used, if any? How long the fuel is irradiated? What is the physical location of the reactor?.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
The effects of chronic diseases on plutonium urinary excretion in former workers of the Mayak Production Association
The radiochemical analysis of plutonium activity in urine is the main method for indirect estimation of doses of internal exposure from plutonium incorporation in professional workers. It was previously shown that late-in-life acute diseases, particularly those that affect the liver, can promote accelerated rates of release of plutonium from the liver with enhanced excretion rates. This initial study examines the relationships of some chronic diseases on plutonium excretion as well as the terminal relative distribution of plutonium between the liver and skeleton. Fourteen cases from former workers at the Mayak Production Association (Mayak PA) who provided from 4–9 urine plutonium bioassays for plutonium, had an autopsy conducted after death, and had sufficient clinical records to document their health status were used in this study. Enhanced plutonium excretion was associated with more serious chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and other diseases that involved the liver. These chronic diseases were also associated with relatively less plutonium found in the liver relative to the skeleton determined by analyses conducted after autopsy. These data further document health conditions that affect plutonium biokinetics and organ deposition and retention patterns and suggest that health status should be considered when conducting plutonium bioassays as these may alter subsequent dosimetry and risk models.
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
Representative Doses to Members of the Public from Atmospheric Releases of 131I at the Mayak Production Association Facilities from 1948 through 1972
Scoping epidemiologic studies performed by researchers from the Southern Urals Biophysics Institute revealed an excess prevalence of thyroid nodules and an increased incidence of thyroid cancer among residents of Ozersk, Russia, who were born in the early 1950s. Ozersk is located about 5 km from the facilities where the Mayak Production Association produced nuclear materials for the Russian weapons program. Reactor operations began in June 1948 and chemical separation of plutonium from irradiated fuel began in February 1949. The U.S.–Russia Joint Coordinating Committee on Radiation Effects Research conducted a series of projects over a 10-year period to assess the radiation risks in the Southern Urals. This paper uses data collected under Committee projects to reconstruct individual time-dependent thyroid doses to reference individuals living in Ozersk from 131I released to the atmosphere. Between 3.22×1016 and 4.31×1016 Bq of 131I released may have been released during the 1948–1972 time period, and a best estimate is 3.76×1016 Bq. A child born in 1947 is estimated to have received a cumulative thyroid dose of 2.3 Gy for 1948–1972, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.51–7.3 Gy. Annual doses were the highest in 1949 and a child who was 5 years old in 1949 is estimated to have a received an annual thyroid dose of 0.93 Gy with a 95% confidence interval of 0.19–3.5 Gy.
Mayak↗
Individual doses for super cohort members exposed to atmospheric radioiodine from the Mayak releases with an emphasis on prenatal doses
Time-dependent thyroid doses were reconstructed for 45,837 members of the Southern Urals Population Exposed to Radiation Cohort (SUPER-C) living in the region around the Mayak Production Association facilities in Russia from 131I released to the atmosphere from all relevant exposure pathways. The dose calculations are implemented in a Monte Carlo framework that produces best estimates and stochastic realizations of dose time-histories. The mean thyroid dose from 131I for SUPER-C members was 195 mGy; the median was 65 mGy. Overall, 131I-thyroid doses for about 3.6% of SUPER-C members were larger than 1 Gy. For children born in 1940-1950, the dose was about 10% higher than in previous studies because doses during the prenatal period for 9,117 individuals are included in the current work. Half of the individuals born in the region in 1950–1960 who remained in the study domain through 1972 received 9.4% or more of their total dose during the prenatal period. SUPER-C members residing in areas contaminated by discharges of liquid radioactive releases into the Techa River and the Kyshtym Accident in 1957 received 80% of their thyroid dose from airborne 131I emissions. The uncertainty in the 131I dose estimates is low enough for this approach to be used in regional epidemiological studies.
Dose assessment, 131I, airborne radioactivity, thy↗
URINARY EXCRETION OF PLUTONIUM IN MAYAK WORKERS DURING AND AFTER CA-DTPA ADMINISTRATION
Chelation therapy is sometimes used after potential exposures to plutonium to increase urinary excretion of the radionuclide to improve the accuracy of bioassay measurements. The purpose of this report is to describe the enhancement of urinary excretion of plutonium during and after the administration of the trisodium salt of calcium diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (Ca-DTPA) daily for 3 d to a group of male and female plutonium workers from the Mayak Production Association in Ozyorsk, Russia. One-hundred and two cases (18 females and 84 males) were selected where urinary contents of plutonium, prior to chelation, exceeded the detection threshold. Daily urine collections were obtained during the 3 d of Ca-DTPA treatments. In addition, 58 of these cases had urine bioassays at 1–45 d after chelation. The daily enhancement over baseline values excretion of plutonium was found to be 50.4×/1.4 (geometric mean and geometric standard deviation); 58.9×/1.2; 72.9×/1.4 in the first, second and third days of Ca-DTPA administration. The mean enhancement for the 3-d period was 60.1×/1.7. The rate of plutonium excretion from 1 to 45 d after chelation decreased with a half-period of 3.9 d and the chelation enhancement factor (Кenh-i) is described by the function Кenh-i = (0.79 ± 0.24) + (42.9 ± 1.2) × e-(0.18 ± 0.01) × day.
Environmental Sciences & Ecology↗
THE MAYAK WORKER DOSIMETRY SYSTEM (MWDS-2016): INTERNAL DOSIMETRY RESULTS AND COMPARISON WITH MWDS-2013
Abstract Differences in results from the new Mayak Worker Dosimetry System (MWDS-2016) vs the previous MWDS-2013 are described. Statistical characteristics are shown for the distribution of accumulated absorbed doses to organs for 8340 workers with bioassay data. Differences in mean values of accumulated doses and their relative standard uncertainties calculated by MWDS-2016 and MWDS-2013 were analysed separately for various types of industrial compounds of plutonium, specifically nitrates, mixtures and oxides. Within the range of accumulated doses >1 mGy, lung doses for nitrates and mixtures decreased by 41 and 15%, respectively, and remained at the same level for oxides. Accumulated liver doses within the range >1 mGy increased for nitrates and mixtures by 13 and 8%, respectively, and decreased for oxides by 7%.
Vostrotin, Vadim V.↗
REEVALUATION OF WATERBORNE RELEASES OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS FROM THE MAYAK PRODUCTION ASSOCIATION INTO THE TECHA RIVER IN 1949-1951
The Mayak Production Association was the first site for the production of weapon-grade plutonium in Russia. Early operations led to the waterborne release of large amounts of radioactive materials into the small Techa River. Residents living downstream used river water for drinking and other purposes. The releases and subsequent flooding resulted in the deposition of sediments along the shoreline and on floodplain soil. Primary routes of exposure were external dose from the deposited sediments and the ingestion of 90Sr and other radionuclides. Study of the Techa River Cohort has revealed an increased incidence of leukemia and solid cancers. These epidemiologic studies are supported by extensive dose-reconstruction activities that have led to the creation of various versions of a Techa River Dosimetry System (TRDS). The correctness of the TRDS has been challenged by the allegation that releases of short-lived radionuclides were much larger than those used in the TRDS. Although the dosimetry system depends more upon the measurements of 90Sr in humans and additional measurements of radionuclides and of exposure rates in the environment, a major activity has been undertaken to define more precisely the time-dependent rates of release and radionuclide composition of the releases. The major releases occurred during 1950-1951. In addition to routine releases major accidental releases occurred. The re-evaluated amount of total release is 114 PBq, about half of which was from accidents that occurred in late 1951. The composition of the radionuclides released has also been re-evaluated; this composition changed with time.
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
Reactivity Effects at Mayak Production Association January 2, 1958 Criticality Accident Using Serpent 2 and OpenFOAM
The process nuclear criticality accident that occurred at the Mayak Production Association (Chelyabinsk 40) on January 2, 1958 involving a vessel of uranyl nitrate solution claimed the lives of three workers and left a fourth worker with continuing health problems. There are a myriad of uncertain parameters involved with this accident: What was the molarity of the solution? How much solution was in the vessel at the time of the accident? In what position was the vessel and the solution when it went critical? How important was the impact of reflection due to the workers and/or the floor? These uncertain parameters have made this accident particularly difficult to analyze in the past. This work aims to lower the uncertainty on some of these parameters. A most-probable solution composition is determined by comparing literature on the physical properties of uranyl nitrate solutions to those presented in LA-13638, which describes the accident in question. Using this most-probable solution, the main contributions to the reactivity of the system and hence the eventual accident, are identified through Serpent 2 and OpenFOAM analyses. Serpent 2, a Monte Carlo software tool, is used to perform calculations of the reactivity effects of lowering the vessel toward the floor and the reactivity added by the close proximity of workers. OpenFOAM, a C++ partial differential equation solver toolkit, is used to simulate the fluid inside the vessel as the vessel is tipped. This is done by treating the solution and air inside the vessel as two incompressible, isothermal, and immiscible fluids using a volume of fluid (VoF) approach. The goal of this approach is simply to track the interface between the two fluids, and hence give an accurate description of the geometrical structure of the solution as the vessel is tipped. These two unique tools are then coupled to provide a time-dependent flow simulation to study the effect that the changing geometrical structure had on the criticality of the system, which is novel to the criticality safety field. This work provides a more accurate picture of the accident going forward.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Technology for Treatment of Liquid Radioactive Waste Generated during Uranium and Plutonium Chemical and Metallurgical Manufacturing in FSUE PO Mayak - 13616
Created technological scheme for treatment of liquid radioactive waste generated while uranium and plutonium chemical and metallurgical manufacturing consists of: - Liquid radioactive waste (LRW) purification from radionuclides and its transfer into category of manufacturing waste; - Concentration of suspensions containing alpha-nuclides and their further conversion to safe dry state (calcinate) and moving to long controlled storage. The following technologies are implemented in LRW treatment complex: - Settling and filtering technology for treatment of liquid intermediate-level waste (ILW) with volume about 1500m{sup 3}/year and alpha-activity from 10{sup 6} to 10{sup 8} Bq/dm{sup 3} - Membrane and sorption technology for processing of low-level waste (LLW) of radioactive drain waters with volume about 150 000 m{sup 3}/year and alpha-activity from 10{sup 3} to 10{sup 4} Bq/dm{sup 3}. Settling and filtering technology includes two stages of ILW immobilization accompanied with primary settling of radionuclides on transition metal hydroxides with the following flushing and drying of the pulp generated; secondary deep after settling of radionuclides on transition metal hydroxides with the following solid phase concentration by the method of tangential flow ultrafiltration. Besides, the installation capacity on permeate is not less than 3 m{sup 3}/h. Concentrates generated are sent to calcination on microwave drying (MW drying) unit. Membrane and sorption technology includes processing of averaged sewage flux by the method of tangential flow ultrafiltration with total capacity of installations on permeate not less than 18 m{sup 3}/h and sorption extraction of uranium from permeate on anionite. According to radionuclide contamination level purified solution refers to general industrial waste. Concentrates generated during suspension filtering are evaporated in rotary film evaporator (RFE) in order to remove excess water, thereafter they are dried on infrared heating facility. Solid concentrate produced is sent for long controlled storage. Complex of the procedures carried out makes it possible to solve problems on treatment of LRW generated while uranium and plutonium chemical and metallurgical manufacturing in Federal State Unitary Enterprise (FSUE) Mayak and cease its discharge into open water reservoirs. (authors)
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗