Dose Assessment for Inhabitants Evacuated from the 30-km Zone Soon after the Chernobyl Accident

Introduction The first detailed report about the consequences of the Chernobyl accident was presented to IAEA from the USSR government in August 1986, about 4 months later since the beginning of the accident [1]. According to this report, more than two hundred cases of acute radiation syndrome (ARS) occurred as a result of the accident, among which 29 persons died (besides, two persons died on the day of the accident by other reasons). All cases of ARS were stated to have happened to firemen and workers involved immediately in the accident, while there was no case of ARS among inhabitants around the Chernobyl site. This opinion of the former USSR authorities was succeeded till now in reports of international organization such as IAEA, WHO, OECD/NEA [2-4]. Along with the process of the collapse of the USSR, there appeared several publications that indicate a number of cases of ARS among inhabitant around the Chernobyl site. Our attention should be paid to the following two reports. The first one is the secret protocols of the Operative Group of the Politic Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, disclosed in 1992 by Alla Yaroshinskaya [5, 6]. Many pieces of information can be found in this document about ARS among inhabitants, including those for children. She contributed herewith an article, ′′Impact of Radiation on the Population during First Weeks and Months after the Chernobyl Accident and Health State of the Population 10 Years Later.′′ One sentence is cited here from the protocol on May 10, 1986: ′′The total number of persons in hospitals is 8,695, including 238 persons with diagnosis of radiation syndrome, 26 of which are children.′′ Another important report about ARS was made by Vladimir Lupandin [7]. He investigated in 1992 medical records made in May-June 1986 at the Central District Hospital of the Khoiniki district of the Gomel region of Belarus, located adjacent to the Chernobyl site. Although a theft of the medical archive happened in November 1990, he found 82 medical records of inhabitants who suffered from irradiation. Among them he confirmed 8 cases of ARS. Details of his finding are described in his article ′′Chernobyl 1996: New Materials concerning Acute Radiation Syndrome around Chernobyl” Apparently, findings by Yaroshinskaya and Lupandin are in contradiction to the opinion of the authorities. It seems to be difficult to reconcile the two different opinions about the occurrence of ARS among inhabitants around Chernobyl. So, we can only say, which is true? In order to answer this question, we come up to another question. How much was the level of irradiation for inhabitants? Could it be the level that causes ARS? In this report we try to evaluate irradiation dose of inhabitants around Chernobyl until their evacuation, based on the data which became available recently.