Abstract
This paper describes the revision of the thyroid dosimetry system in Ukraine using new, recently available data on (i) revised 131I thyroid activities derived from direct thyroid measurements done in May and June 1986 in 146,425 individuals; (ii) revised estimates of 131I ground deposition density in each Ukrainian settlement; and (iii) estimates of age- and gender-specific thyroid masses for the Ukrainian population. The revised dosimetry system estimates the thyroid doses for the residents of the settlements divided into three levels depending on the availability of measurements of 131I thyroid activity among their residents. Thyroid doses due to 131I intake were estimated in this study for different age and gender groups of residents of 30,353 settlements in 24 oblasts of Ukraine, Autonomous Republic Krym, and cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol. Among them, dose estimates for 835 settlements were based on 131I thyroid activities measured in more than ten residents (the first level), for 690 settlements based on such measurements done in neighboring settlements (the second level), and for 28,828 settlements based on a purely empirical relationship between the thyroid doses due to 131I intake and the cumulative 131I ground deposition densities in settlements (the third level). The arithmetic mean of the thyroid doses due to 131I intake among 146,425 measured individuals was 0.23 Gy (median of 0.094 Gy); about 99.8% of them received doses less than 5 Gy. The highest oblast-average population-weighted thyroid doses were estimated for residents of Chernihiv (0.15 Gy for arithmetic mean and 0.060 Gy for geometric mean), Kyiv (0.13 and 0.051 Gy) and Zhytomyr (0.12 and 0.049 Gy) Oblasts followed by Rivne (0.10 and 0.039 Gy) and Cherkasy (0.088 and 0.032 Gy) Oblasts, and Kyiv City (0.076 and 0.031 Gy). The geometric mean of thyroid doses estimated in this study for the entire Ukraine essentially did not change in comparison with a previous estimate, 0.020 vs. 0.021 Gy, respectively. The ratio of geometric mean of oblast-specific thyroid doses estimated in the present study to previously calculated doses varied from 0.51 to 3.9. The highest increase in thyroid doses was found in areas remote from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant with a low level of radioactive contamination: by 3.9 times for Zakarpatska Oblast, 3.5 times for Luhansk Oblasts and 2.9 times for Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. The developed thyroid dosimetry system is being used to revise the thyroid doses due to 131I intake for the individuals of post-Chornobyl radiation epidemiological studies: the Ukrainian-American cohort of individuals exposed during childhood and adolescence, the Ukrainian in utero cohort, and the Chornobyl Tissue Bank.
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Acknowledgements
This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Ilya Likhtarov, who was the creator of the 131I thyroid dosimetry system for the Ukrainian population during the Chornobyl accident. We would like gratefully to acknowledge the contributions of Lionella Kovgan, André Bouville, and Paul Voillequé at different stages of the development of the thyroid dosimetry system.
Funding
This work was funded by the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, state registrations #0111U000757 and #0114U002845, for A. Kukush by the National Research Fund of Ukraine grant #2020.02/0026, and by the Intramural Research Program of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NCI, NIH) within the framework of the Ukrainian-American Study of Thyroid Cancer and Other Diseases Following the Chernobyl Accident (Protocol #OH95–C–NO20) through contract HHSN261201600298P between the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU).
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Masiuk, S., Chepurny, M., Buderatska, V. et al. Thyroid doses in Ukraine due to 131I intake after the Chornobyl accident. Report II: dose estimates for the Ukrainian population. Radiat Environ Biophys 60, 591–609 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-021-00930-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-021-00930-w