Stable Chromosome Aberrations in the Lymphocytes of a Population Living in the Vicinity of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

Abstract Salomaa, S., Lindholm, C., Tankimanova, M. K., Mamyrbaeva, Z. Z., Koivistoinen, A., Hulten, M., Mustonen, R., Dubrova, Y. E. and Bersimbaev, R. I. Stable Chromosome Aberrations in the Lymphocytes of a Population Living in the Vicinity of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site. Radiat. Res. 158, 591–596 (2002). Translocation analysis using FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) chromosome painting was performed to evaluate the magnitude of exposure to ionizing radiation among the human population living close to the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan. We studied two generations of people living in villages that were in the path of the radioactive cloud from the first Soviet surface nuclear test performed in August 1949 and from later tests. The older generation (P0) lived in the area at the time of testing, and the younger generation (F1) was exposed to smaller doses from the residual fallout and later tests. In both P0 and F1 generations, similar translocation frequencies were observed...