Известия Томского политехнического университета: Инжиниринг георесурсов (Mar 2019)

RADIOECOLOGICAL HAZARD FOR THE POPULATION LIVING IN THE REGIONS WITH HIGH RADIOACTIVE GRANITES

  • Anastasiya N. Zlobina,
  • Leonid P. Rikhvanov,
  • Natalia V. Baranovskaya,
  • Iskhak M. Farkhutdinov,
  • Nanping Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.18799/24131830/2019/3/172
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 330, no. 3
pp. 111 – 125

Abstract

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The relevance of the research is caused by the need to explain the high morbidity in the areas of radioactive rocks and soils. The study was carried out in the framework of a new scientific field – Medical Geology. The main aim is to define the volume of radon emission in the area of high-radioactive granite outcrops and evaluate their radiological hazard and medical-biological consequences. Objects: geochemical and mineralogical composition of granite, weathering crusts and soils, the volume of radon emission and incidence in various regions of the world (Zhuhai city in Guangdong Province, China; the town of Échassières in Auvergne region, France; the town of Belokurikha in Altai Krai, Russia; and urban-type settlement Kolyvan, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia). Methods: a wide range of methods including instrumental neutron activation, x-ray phase analysis, gamma spectrometry, fragmentation radiography, electron microscopy, express measurement of radon volume activity, calculation of radon density flux, equivalent effective dose and the frequency of newly detected diseases (incident) were used in the research. Results. The current article provides the summarized data on the effects of ionizing radiation on the human body. According to the results of geochemical, mineralogical, radioecological and medical-statistical studies the authors have revealed that the radionuclides are released from the structural lattices of accessory minerals and sobbed on clay minerals at soil formation. This process contributes to the increase of radon emission and background radiation. The high activity of radon (Rn) and the elevated concentrations of radioactive elements in the underlying rocks and soils lead to the increase in disease rates including some types of cancer, anemias, and congenital defects. The territories of «risk» in the incidence of lung cancer include Belokurikha in the Altai Krai and Kolyvan in the Novosibirsk Oblast; nasopharyngeal cancer – Guangdong province; hematopoietic tissue cancer – Kolyvan; anemia – Guangdong; congenital malformations – Kolyvan.

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