Measurement of soil contamination by radionuclides due to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident and associated estimated cumulative external dose estimation.

Soil sampling was carried out at an early stage of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. Samples were taken from areas around FDNPP, at four locations northwest of FDNPP, at four schools and in four cities, including Fukushima City. Radioactive contaminants in soil samples were identified and measured by using a Ge detector and included (129 m)Te, (129)Te, (131)I, (132)Te, (132)I, (134)Cs, (136)Cs, (137)Cs, (140)Ba and (140)La. The highest soil depositions were measured to the northwest of FDNPP. From this soil deposition data, variations in dose rates over time and the cumulative external doses at the locations for 3 months and 1y after deposition were estimated. At locations northwest of FDNPP, the external dose rate at 3 months after deposition was 4.8-98 µSv/h and the cumulative dose for 1 y was 51 to 1.0 × 10(3)mSv; the highest values were at Futaba Yamada. At the four schools, which were used as evacuation shelters, and in the four urban cities, the external dose rate at 3 months after deposition ranged from 0.03 to 3.8µSv/h and the cumulative doses for 1 y ranged from 3 to 40 mSv. The cumulative dose at Fukushima Niihama Park was estimated as the highest in the four cities. The estimated external dose rates and cumulative doses show that careful countermeasures and remediation will be needed as a result of the accident, and detailed measurements of radionuclide deposition densities in soil will be important input data to conduct these activities.

A preliminary study on the use of (10)Be in forensic radioecology of nuclear explosion sites.

Cosmogenic (10)Be, known for use in dating studies, unexpectedly is also produced in nuclear explosions with an atom yield almost comparable to (e.g.) (137)Cs. There are major production routes via (13)C(n, alpha)(10)Be, from carbon dioxide in the air and the organic explosives, possibly from other bomb components and to a minor extent from the direct fission reaction. Although the detailed bomb components are speculative, carbon was certainly present in the explosives and an order of magnitude calculation is possible. The (n, alpha) cross-section was determined by irradiating graphite in a nuclear reactor, and the resulting (10)Be estimated by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) giving a cross-section of 34.5+/-0.7mb (6-9.3MeV), within error of previous work. (10)Be should have applications in forensic radioecology. Historical environmental samples from Hiroshima, and Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan) showed two to threefold (10)Be excesses compared with the background cosmogenic levels. A sample from Lake Chagan (a Soviet nuclear cratering experiment) contained more (10)Be than previously reported soils. (10)Be may be useful for measuring the fast neutron dose near the Hiroshima bomb hypocenter at neutron energies double those previously available.

High incidence of micronuclei in lymphocytes from residents of the area near the Semipalatinsk nuclear explosion test site.

The Semipalatinsk area is highly contaminated with radioactive fallout from 40 years of continuous nuclear testing. The biological effects on human health in this area have not been studied. Significant remaining radioactivities include long-lived radioisotopes of 238,239,400Pu, 137Cs and 90Sr. To evaluate the long-term biological effects of the radioactive fallout, the incidence of micronuclei in lymphocytes from residents of the area was observed. Blood was obtained from 10 residents (5 females and 5 males, aged 47 to 55 years old) from each of the 3 areas of Znamenka, Dolon and Semipalatinsk, which are about 50-150 km from the nuclear explosion test site. For micronucleus assay, PHA-stimulated lymphocytes were cultured for 72 h and cytochalasin B was added at 44 h for detecting binuclear lymphocytes. Five thousand binuclear lymphocytes in each resident were scored. The means of micronucleus counts in 1,000 lymphocytes in residents of Semipalatinsk, Dolon and Znamenka were 16.3, 12.6, and 7.80, respectively, which were higher than those of the normal Japanese persons (4.66). These values were equivalent to the results obtained from 0.187-0.47 Gy of chronic exposure to gamma-rays at a dose rate of 0.02 cGy/min. The high incidence of micronuclei in residents of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site area was mainly caused by internal exposure rather than external exposure received for the past 40 years.

Relationship between the 137Cs whole-body counting results and soil and food contamination in farms near Chernobyl.

We measured the radioactivity in the soil and child food samples from farms near Mogilev (56-270 GBq km(-2) 137Cs), Gomel (36-810 GBq km(-2) 137Cs), and Klincy (59-270 GBq km(-2) 137Cs), who had whole-body 137Cs counting results measured as part of a health examination in the Chernobyl Sasakawa Health and Medical Cooperation Project. Soil contamination on the family farm seems to be the main source of human contamination because most of the people in the area live on small farms and they and their domestic animals eat crops from the farms. A clear correlation was found between the children's whole-body 137Cs counting results and the radioactivity in their food (correlation coefficient: 0.76; confidence level of correlation: 3.2 x 10(-9)). There were also significant correlations between the whole-body 137Cs counting results and both the radioactivity of the soil samples (correlation coefficient: 0.22; confidence level of correlation: 0.0107) and the average contamination level of their current residence (correlation coefficient: 0.20; confidence level of correlation: 0.0174).

Generalized concept of the LET-RBE relationship of radiation-induced chromosome aberration and cell death.

The frequency of chromosome aberrations per traversal of a nucleus by a charged particle at the low dose limit increases proportionally to the square of the linear energy transfer (LET), peaks at about 100 keV/micron and then decreases with further increase of LET. This has long been interpreted as an excessive energy deposition over the necessary energy required to produce a biologically effective event. Here, we present an alternative interpretation. Cell traversed by a charged particle has certain probability to receive lethal damage leading to direct death. Such events may increase with an increase of LET and the number of charged particles traversing the cell. Assuming that the lethal damage is distributed according to a Poisson distribution, the probability that a cell has no such damage is expressed by e-cLx, where c is a constant, L is LET, and x is the number of charged particles traversing the cell. From these assumptions, the frequency of chromosome aberration in surviving cells can be described by Y = alpha SD + beta S2D2 with the empirical relation Y = alpha D + beta D2 in the low LET region, where S = e-cL, alpha is a value proportional to LET, beta is a constant, and D is the absorbed dose. This model readily explains the empirically established relationship between LET and relative biological effectiveness (RBE). The model can also be applied to clonogenic survival. If cells can survive and they have neither unstable chromosome aberrations nor other lethal damage, the LET-RBE relationship for clonogenic survival forms a humped curve. The relationship between LET and inactivation cross-section becomes proportional to the square of LET in the low LET region when the frequency of a directly lethal events is sufficiently smaller than unity, and the inactivation cross-section saturates to the cell nucleus cross-sectional area with an increase in LET in the high LET region.

RBE-LET relationships of high-LET radiations in Drosophila mutations.

The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 252Cf neutrons and synchrotron-generated high-energy charged particles for mutation induction was evaluated as a function of linear energy transfer (LET), using the loss of heterozygosity for wing-hair mutations and the reversion of the mutant white-ivory eye-color in Drosophila melanogaster. Loss of heterozygosity for wing-hair mutations results predominantly from mitotic crossing over induced in wing anlage cells of larvae, while the reverse mutation of eye-color is due to an intragenic structural change (2.96 kb-DNA excision) in the white locus on the X-chromosome. The measurements were performed in a combined mutation assay system so that induced mutant wing-hair clones as well as revertant eye-color clone can be detected simultaneously in the same individual. Larvae were irradiated at the age of 3 days post oviposition with 252Cf neutrons, carbon beam or neon beam. For the neutron irradiation, the RBE values for wing-hair mutations were larger than that for eye-color mutation by about 7 fold. The RBE of carbon ions for producing the wing-hair mutations increased with increase in LET. The estimated RBE values were found to be in the range 2 to 6.5 for the wing-hair. For neon beam irradiation, the RBE values for wing-hair mutations peak near 150 keV/micron and decrease with further increase in LET. On the other hand, the RBE values for the induction of the eye-color mutation are nearly unity in 252Cf neutrons and both ions throughout the LET range irradiated. We discuss the relationships between the initial DNA damage and LET in considering the mechanism of somatic mutation induction.

External doses of residents near Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.

Accumulated external radiation doses of residents near the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site of the former USSR are presented as a results of study by the thermoluminescence technique for bricks sampled at several settlements in 1995 and 1996. The external doses that we evaluated from exposed bricks were up to about 100 cGy for resident. The external doses at several points in the center of Semipalatinsk City ranged from a background level to 60 cGy, which was remarkably high compared with the previously reported values based on military data.

Failure to complement abnormal phenotypes of simian virus 40-transformed Werner syndrome cells by introduction of a normal human chromosome 8.

The Werner syndrome (WS) gene (WRN) was isolated by positional cloning, based on mapping to chromosome 8p12, and the WRN protein was recently shown to encode an active helicase. To examine functional complementation of WS phenotypes by expression of the WRN gene, we introduced a normal human chromosome 8 into a SV40-transformed WS fibroblastoid cell line (WS780) by microcell fusion and studied several cellular phenotypes associated previously with WS cell lines, including cell growth rate, 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO) sensitivity, and spontaneous mutation rate and type of mutation at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase locus. The WRN gene was expressed in two of three microcell hybrids introduced with chromosome 8. We failed to observe a difference between normal and WS cell lines in terms of growth rates and spontaneous mutation rates. However, we found that the WS cell line was highly sensitive to 4NQO-induced cytotoxicity and showed an unusually high proportion of deletion mutations at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase locus as compared to a control cell line, as shown previously. Here, we report that these phenotypes were not corrected by introduction of the WRN gene, although the WRN protein was expressed. Our results suggest that the hypersensitivity to 4NQO and the extensive deletion mutations observed in the WS cell line are caused by a defect that is secondary to the WRN gene mutation, possibly a repair gene defect that controls the phenotypes of hypersensitivity to carcinogen(s) and/or the extensive deletion mutations.

The F value cannot be ruled out as a chromosomal fingerprint of radiation quality.

The F value, the ratio of inter- to intrachromosomal interchanges, as a biomarker for densely ionizing radiation which was proposed by Brenner and Sachs (Radiat. Res. 140, 134-142, 1994) has been a matter of repeated discussion. We examined our experimental data on radiation-induced chromosome aberrations in human peripheral blood lymphocytes for the F value as measured by the ratio of dicentrics to centric rings. Because of the rarity of aberrations, the F value showed a considerable variability, with a large error range particularly in the low-dose range of low-LET radiation. However, the data showed a general trend that the F value tended to be lower for high-LET than low-LET radiations. The differential F value was more pronounced at low doses and diminished with increasing dose; the F values of all radiations tended to converge toward a similar value at high doses. The limiting F value at the lowest doses, or the F0 value, was dependent on LET for high-energy radiations that can produce an array of DNA double-strand breaks along the track of the charged particle. However, LET and dose dependence were not seen for the low-energy photons, where spatially uncorrelated random breaks were produced by independent photoabsorption events.

The relative biological effectiveness of accelerated carbon ions with different LET for inducing mitotic crossing over and intragenic reversion of the white-ivory allele in Drosophila larvae.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of accelerated carbon ions generated with a synchrotron for inducing mutations as a function of linear energy transfer (LET), using the loss of heterozygosity for wing-hair mutations and the reversion of the mutant white-ivory eye-colour in Drosophila melanogaster. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The measurements were made using a combined mutation assay system so that induced mutant wing-hair clones as well as revertant eye-colour clones can be detected simultaneously in the same fly. Larvae were irradiated at the age of 72+/-6 h post-oviposition with X-rays or carbon ions with LET values of 13, 60 and 95 keV/microm. RESULTS: The RBE of carbon ions for producing wing-hair mosaic spots increased with increasing LET values. The RBE for the induction of eye-colour mutants did not change with LET. The estimated RBE values were found to be in the range 2 to 6.5 for the wing-hair and nearly unity for the eye-colour mosaic spot mutations. CONCLUSIONS: RBE-LET relationships were obtained for the induction of wing-hair and eye-colour mosaic spots. These relationships suggest that more complex types of DNA damage, such as nonrejoinable strand breaks that increase with LET, may be responsible for inducing the wing-hair mutation, while more simple forms of molecular damage induce reversion in the white-ivory allele.

Simultaneous measurement of three orthogonal components of displacement by electronic speckle-pattern interferometry and the Fourier transform method.

The measurement of three-dimensional displacement by electronic speckle-pattern interferometry with three object beams and one reference beam is presented. Multiple interference fringes corresponding to different sensitivity vectors are recorded in a single interferogram and separated by means of the Fourier transform method to give three components of displacement. The relationship between the ratio of the speckle size to the pixel size of a TV camera and the measurement error is investigated experimentally and compared with the research of others. The optimum condition leading to a minimum measurement error occurs when the speckle size is approximately equal to the pixel size. With this condition satisfied, the measurement error varies from 1.5% to 6.0%.

137Cs concentration among children in areas contaminated with radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident: Mogilev and Gomel oblasts, Belarus.

The level of radiation exposure in children in Belarus caused by the Chernobyl accident was investigated on the basis of whole body 137Cs count. The subjects were 10,062 children (4,762 boys and 5,300 girls) in Mogilev and Gomel, Belarus, who received Chernobyl Sasakawa Health and Medical Cooperation Project health examinations from May 1991 to December 1992 and who were 5-16 y old at the time of examination. The median whole body 137Cs count per body weight varied from 21-48 Bq kg-1 and from 28-126 Bq kg-1 in Mogilev oblast and Gomel oblast, respectively. (The "oblast" is the largest administrative district constituting the country. Belarus consists of 6 oblasts). Corresponding annual effective dose equivalents were all less than the public dose limit of 1 mSv y-1, but the observed levels in the children were considerably higher than the average level of 2.3 Bq kg-1 reported in the past for the former Soviet Union.

Fallout radioactivity in soil and food samples in the Ukraine: measurements of iodine, plutonium, cesium, and strontium isotopes.

To estimate the level and distribution of fallout attributable to the 26 April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power station accident in the Ukraine, we sampled several kinds of substances at Korosten, Zhitomir and at Katyuzhanka, Vishgorod, Kiev in the Ukraine, and measured the radioactivity of 137Cs, 134Cs, 90Sr, 129I, 238Pu, 239,240Pu, and the density of 127I (stable). The substances investigated were soil, dry milk, wheat, rye, drinking water, and mushrooms. Except for the mushrooms collected, which were sampled at Katyuzhanka, Vishgorod, and at Kiev, all substances were at Korosten, Zhitomir. The activity of 137Cs, 134Cs, 90Sr, 238Pu, and 239,240Pu were all higher in soil and mushrooms than in the other four substances. The activity of 137Cs was 960 and 1,210 Bq kg-1 in the two soil samples and 6,110 Bq kg-1 in the mushrooms. The activity of 134Cs was approximately 15% of 137Cs in the two soil samples while < 3% of 137Cs in the mushrooms. The activity concentration level of 90Sr as compared to 137Cs concentration was 15-31% in food samples other than mushrooms but only 1.9% in mushrooms and 1.4 and 1.2% in the two soil samples. The radioactivity ratios, 238Pu: 239,240Pu and 239,240Pu: 137Cs, suggested that the proportion of cesium radioisotopes and 239,240Pu in the soil attributable to the Chernobyl accident was approximately 100% and 10-20%, respectively, while approximately 100% of 239,240Pu in the mushrooms was attributable to the accident. The activity of 129I was small but the ratio of 129I: 127I in the two soil samples was 4.3 x 10(-8) and 1.0 x 10(-7), which is approximately 10 times larger than that in the global fallout. These results suggest that the areas where the soil was sampled are iodine-deficient and were contaminated slightly by the Chernobyl accident.

Effect of static magnetic field on the induction of chromosome aberrations by 4.9 MeV protons and 23 MeV alpha particles.

The effect of static magnetic field applied during in vitro exposure to 4.9 MeV protons and 23 MeV alpha particles on the induction of chromosome aberrations in human peripheral blood lymphocytes was studied. The mean frequency of dicentrics in cells irradiated in magnetic field of a magnitude about one Tesla tended to be higher than that irradiated in the absence of magnetic field for both protons and alpha particles, and the analysis of dose-effect relationships indicated that for protons the magnetic field significantly affected the dose-effect relationship. The intercellular distribution of chromosome aberrations, one of the measures of radiation quality, was not significantly influenced by the magnetic field.

Chromosome aberration frequency and radiation dose to lymphocytes by alpha-particles from internal deposit of Thorotrast.

Frequencies of chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 63 Thorotrast patients were analysed basing on the age distribution of lymphocytes. The frequency and distribution of chromosome aberrations among lymphocytes are best explained if we assume that the lymphocytes are renewed as an exponential function of time and spend most of their lifetime in the distributive pool where, while exchange of lymphocytes is taking place, the lymphocytes are hit by alpha-particles from Thorotrast aggregates resulting in the formation of chromosome aberrations and killing at specific rates per hit. The model predicts that the aberration frequency is rather insensitive to the fluence rate because of modulation by cell killing by hit. Fitting the observed data to the model showed that approximately 0.8 dicentrics and rings were produced by a single path of alpha-particle and average fluence rate to lymphocytes in a group of patients with the highest aberration frequency was estimated to be about 1.5 hits or 87 rad/lymphocyte/year.

Dose-effect relationship of chromosome aberrations induced by 23 MeV alpha particles in human lymphocytes.

The dose-effect relationship and intercellular distribution of chromosome aberrations were studied in human peripheral blood lymphocytes irradiated in vitro with 23 MeV alpha particles. The frequency of dicentrics, mu, was best expressed by a linear-quadratic model, mu = 7.55 X 10(-1) D + 2.1 X 10(-2) D2, although the dose-quadratic component was not significantly different from zero giving a fit to a linear model mu = 7.93 X 10(-1) D also (D in Gy). The intercellular distributions of dicentrics were over-dispersed compared with Poisson distribution, and the dispersion index as expressed by the relative variance increased with the increase of mean dicentric yield. Stochastic considerations based on the relative variance indicated the presence of inter-track interaction in the formation of dicentrics by alpha particles. Modification of the dose-response relationship by selective loss of cells with more damage is discussed.

Induction of chromosome aberrations by 4.9 MeV protons in human lymphocytes.

The dose-response relationship and distribution of chromosome aberrations between cells was studied in G0 human peripheral blood lymphocytes following in vitro exposure to 4.9 MeV protons. The dose-response relationship of dicentric yield showed a significant dose-quadratic component and was best expressed by 2.76 X 10(-1) D + 1.36 X 10(-1) D2 (D in Gy). The distribution of dicentrics between cells was over-dispersed compared with a Poisson distribution. Analysis of the data indicated that the over-dispersion was caused by a spatial limitation in the interaction between tracks. The interaction distance was estimated to be around 0.2 microns.