Environmental releases of radioactivity and the incidence of thyroid disease at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.

ABSTRACT

The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant consists of two Russian-made RBMK-1500 reactors. The plant uses Lake Druksiai as a natural reservoir for cooling water. Within the framework of the revised radiation dose limitation system, site-specific routine release conversion factors and maximum annual effective doses for the dominant radionuclides and pathways were evaluated for both atmospheric and aquatic releases. Using calculated release conversion factors, the locations of the highest predicted activity concentrations were determined for air and for the dilution zone of heated effluent water during the period 1984-1998. Committed effective doses for critical group members were less than 0.001 mSv for Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant airborne releases and less than 0.05 mSv for aquatic releases. These dose estimates are lower than the 1 mSv dose limit for the adjacent population. In the case of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, taking into account the uncertainties, a recommendation for the administrative dose constraint is 0.25 mSv y(-1). This dose level may scarcely affect human health. Interestingly, during screening for thyroid disorders, endocrinologists and pediatric-endocrinologists determined a dominance of abnormal thyroids (up to 60%) among school children in the vicinity of Ignalina NPP. The data on neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism and transient hyperthyrotropinemia, however, suggested a possibility that the majority of abnormal thyroid cases were related to stable iodine deficiency. Thus, the influence of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant on thyroid disorders is highly conjectural and unlikely to be associated with the observed levels of childhood thyroid disease.