Projects & Programs
Mayak Worker Dose Reconstruction
The U.S. and Russian governments signed an agreement in January 1994 to cooperate in research on Mayak Production Association (MPA) worker radiation effects. PNNL staff support research, coordinated by the Joint Coordinating Committee on Radiation Effects Research (JCCRER) under Project 2.4, to analyze individual worker dose estimates and uncertainty. The cohort dose data are provided for analysis by Project 2.2 and 2.3 U.S. and Russian epidemiologic researchers to evaluate health effects.
PNNL provides external dosimetry team leads and technical support to conduct radiation dose reconstruction of the worker cohort of approximately 18,860 MPA workers beginning in 1948. MPA workers routinely received significantly greater occupational dose than U.S. workers at comparable facilities. Significant sources of internal (i.e., plutonium and fission product nuclides) and external (i.e., beta, photon and neutron dose) exposure of MPA workers have been identified. As such, health effects research for these workers provides a valuable opportunity to assess effects from protracted occupational exposure.