Radiogenic Risk of Malignant Neoplasms for Techa Riverside Residents

As a result of releases of liquid radioactive waste into the Techa River from the Mayak PA in the 1950s, residents of the riverside villages were for decades exposed to external and internal radiation resulting from consumption of locally produced food and river water. Presented in the paper is a brief description of the radiation conditions, organization of medical follow-up of the exposed population, principles for dose estimation, epidemiological analyses of cancer mortality and incidence for residents of the Techa RIverside villages. The estimates of excess relative risk of radiation-related leukemia and solid cancer mortality and incidence obtained for members of the Techa River cohort point to a clear-cut dependence of the rates on radiation exposure. Attributive risk of cancer incidence characterizing the proportion of radiation-related cancer cases among the total cancers was comparable with that for mortality: 3.2% derived for cancer incidence and 2.5% for cancer mortality. Based on the non-CLL leukemia excess relative risk (ERR) estimates calculated using the linear dose-effect model and the nature of the cohort, it was estimated that 31 (60%) out of 49 leukemia death cases (with the exclusion of 12 cases of chronic lymphatic leukemia) can be related to a long-term radiation exposuremore » due to the contamination of the Techa River.« less