Radiation and
Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) coordinated a scientific study on
the genetic risk to people living in the vicinity of the
Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons test site. The results of this study
indicated that radiation from nuclear weapons tests significantly
increased genetic mutations in people living in the nearby
area.
Blood samples were collected from members of 40 families in
three generations. The families live in villages within a distance
of 100 km from the nuclear weapons test site, in the area that
received the heaviest radioactive fallout. The population in these
villages was exposed to radiation doses that were in some cases
even thousandfold compared with normal yearly background radiation.
The control group consisted of 28 families living in clean,
uncontaminated area.
The blood samples were used for minisatellite analysis which
reveals genetic mutations in the offspring. Minisatellite mutations
are not linked to malformations but they offer an excellent tool to
examine the frequency of radiation-induced genetic changes at
molecular level.
In 1949–1989 the Soviet Union performed altogether 470 nuclear
weapons tests in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. The most significant
radiation exposure to people living in the Semipalatinsk area was
caused by four nuclear weapons tests performed above ground. These
tests were carried out in 1949–1956.
Until 1963 nuclear weapons tests were conducted both in the
atmosphere and on the ground. In August 1963 a Test Ban Treaty was
signed in Moscow that prohibits nuclear weapons tests in the
atmosphere. Since then only underground tests were performed.
The study results show that radioactive fallout from nuclear
weapons tests made above ground in the late 40s and early 50s
nearly doubled the frequency of genetic mutations. The highest
frequency of mutations occurred in those who were exposed to the
heaviest radioactive fallout. When nuclear weapons tests in the
atmosphere were stopped the fallout decreased and mutations became
more infrequent. This indicates that the 1963 Moscow Test Ban
Treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere has been
an effective action in reducing genetic risks from radiation.
The minisatellite analyses were performed by the research group
of Dr Yuri Dubrova from the University of Leicester, U.K. Other
collaborating parties of this study, which was funded by the
European Union, were the Research Institute of the Kazakhstan
Academy and the University of Warwick, U.K.
The STUK collaborators participating in this study were Research
Director Sisko Salomaa, Head of Laboratory Riitta Mustonen and
Senior Scientist Carita Lindholm from the Department of Research
and Environmental Surveillance.
The results were published in the Science on February 8, 2002.
