Dose Reconstruction for Epidemiological Studies among Ukrainian Chernobyl Cleanup Workers

The present paper provides an overview of the methods and summarizes the results of estimating radiation doses and their uncertainties for Ukrainian-American epidemiological studies among the Chernobyl (Chornobyl) cleanup workers. After the Chernobyl accident occurred on April 26, 1986, more than 300,000 Ukrainian cleanup workers took part between 1986 and 1990 in decontamination and recovery activities at the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The U.S. National Cancer Institute in collaboration with the Ukrainian National Research Center for Radiation Medicine conducted several epidemiological studies in this population. An important part of these studies was the reconstruction of the study participants’ radiation doses and the assessment of uncertainties in doses. A method called realistic analytical dose reconstruction with uncertainty estimation (RADRUE) was used to calculate the doses from external irradiation during cleanup missions, which was the main exposure pathway for most study participants. At the initial phase of the accident during the atmospheric releases of radioactivity from the destroyed reactor, the cleanup workers also received doses from inhalation of radionuclides. In addition, study participants received doses at their places of residence, especially those who lived in highly contaminated areas. The radiation doses estimated for 2,048 male cleanup workers included in the Ukrainian-American epidemiological studies varied widely: (i) bone-marrow doses from external irradiation in the case-control study of leukemia of 1,000 cleanup workers ranged from 3.7 × 10⁻⁵ mGy to 3.3 Gy (mean = 92 mGy); (ii) thyroid doses in the case-control study of thyroid cancer in 607 persons from all exposure pathways combined were from 0.15 mGy to 9.0 Gy (mean = 199 mGy); (iii) gonadal doses in 183 cleanup workers from all exposure pathways combined in the study of germline mutations in the offspring after parental irradiation (trio study) ranged from 0.58 mGy to 4.1 Gy (mean = 392 mGy); (iv) thyroid doses in the human factor uncertainties study among 47 persons were from 20 mGy to 2.1 Gy (mean = 295 mGy); and (v) lung doses in the study of germline genetic variants associated with host susceptibility to COVID-19 estimated for 211 cleanup workers were from 0.024 mGy to 2.5 Gy (mean = 249 mGy). Doses of female cleanup workers were much lower than those of male cleanup workers: the mean doses for female cleanup workers were 27 mGy for 34 women included in the trio study and 56 mGy for 48 women participated in the study of germline genetic variants associated with host susceptibility to COVID-19. Uncertainties in dose estimates included two components: (i) inherent uncertainties arising from the stochastic random variability of the parameters used in exposure assessment and from a lack of knowledge about the true values of the parameters; and (ii) human factor uncertainties due to poor memory recall resulting in incomplete, inaccurate, or missing responses during personal interviews with cleanup workers conducted long after exposure. This paper also discusses possible developments and improvements in the methods to assess the radiation doses and associated uncertainties for cleanup workers.