Search results for "nuclear accident"
showing 10 items of 21 documents
Signaled and Silenced Aspects of Nuclear Safety: A Critical Evaluation of International Nuclear Safety Thinking
2015
This article provides a critical analysis of safety-related assumptions and practices in international nuclear safety regulation, together with an overview of those aspects of safety that have been either signaled or silenced. The data consist of safety reports from the IAEA, OECD NEA and Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA), as well as from the national stress tests reports of the United Kingdom and Finland. For theoretical tools, we draw on the concept of a dominant co-operative scheme, and on some parts of Luhmann's Theory of Social Systems. The method is content analysis. We argue that the prevailing thoughts on safety by the international nuclear safety organizations…
Exposure to environmental radionuclides associates with tissue-specific impacts on telomerase expression and telomere length
2019
International audience; Telomeres, the protective structures at the ends of chromosomes, can be shortened when individuals are exposed to stress. In some species, the enzyme telomerase is expressed in adult somatic tissues, and potentially protects or lengthens telomeres. Telomeres can be damaged by ionizing radiation and oxidative stress, although the effect of chronic exposure to elevated levels of radiation on telomere maintenance is unknown for natural populations. We quantified telomerase expression and telomere length (TL) in different tissues of the bank vole Myodes glareolus, collected from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, an environment heterogeneously contaminated with radionuclides,…
Fitness costs of increased cataract frequency and cumulative radiation dose in natural mammalian populations from Chernobyl
2015
AbstractA cataract is a clouding of the lens that reduces light transmission to the retina and it decreases the visual acuity of the bearer. The prevalence of cataracts in natural populations of mammals and their potential ecological significance, is poorly known. Cataracts have been reported to arise from high levels of oxidative stress and a major cause of oxidative stress is ionizing radiation. We investigated whether elevated frequencies of cataracts are found in eyes of bank voles Myodes glareolus collected from natural populations in areas with varying levels of background radiation in Chernobyl. We found high frequencies of cataracts in voles collected from different areas in Chernob…
Fibroblasts from bank voles inhabiting Chernobyl have increased resistance against oxidative and DNA stresses
2018
Background Elevated levels of environmental ionizing radiation can be a selective pressure for wildlife by producing reactive oxygen species and DNA damage. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms that are affected are not known. Results We isolated skin fibroblasts from bank voles (Myodes glareolus) inhabiting the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident site where background radiation levels are about 100 times greater than in uncontaminated areas. After a 10 Gy dose of gamma radiation fibroblasts from Chernobyl animals recovered faster than fibroblasts isolated from bank voles living in uncontaminated control area. The Chernobyl fibroblasts were able to sustain significantly higher do…
Frequency of dicentrics and contamination levels in Ukrainian children and adolescents from areas near Chernobyl 20 years after the nuclear plant acc…
2013
International audience; Purpose To survey the possible presence of chromosomal damage and internal contamination in a group of Ukrainian children and adolescents, 20 years after the Chernobyl accident at the Nuclear Power Plant. Materials and methods Cytogenetical procedures were performed according to dicentric assay in 55 Ukrainian children and adolescents (29 boys and 26 girls), living near Chernobyl. In addition, a whole body detector and urinalysis were used to detect internal contamination. Results 36 dicentrics were found in a total of 53,477 metaphases scored in these children, which reflected a frequency of dicentrics below the background level. On the other hand, internal contamin…
Increased radiation from Chernobyl decreases the expression of red colouration in natural populations of bank voles (Myodes glareolus)
2014
AbstractPheomelanin is a pink to red version of melanin pigment deposited in skin and hair. Due to its bright colour, pheomelanin plays a crucial function in signalling, in particular sexual signalling. However, production of pheomelanin, as opposed to its dark alternative, eumelanin, bears costs in terms of consumption of antioxidants important for protection of DNA against naturally produced reactive oxidative species. Therefore, decreased expression of pheomelanin is expected in organisms exposed to severe oxidative stress such as that caused by exposure to chronic ionizing radiation. We tested if variable exposure to radiation among natural populations of bank voles Myodes glareolus in …
Severe Psychological Distress of Evacuees in Evacuation Zone Caused by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident: The Fukushima Health Manag…
2015
Background Following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has continued to affect the mental health status of residents in the evacuation zone. To examine the mental health status of evacuee after the nuclear accident, we conducted the Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey as part of the ongoing Fukushima Health Management Survey. Methods We measured mental health status using the Kessler 6-item psychological distress scale (K6) in a total of 73,569 (response rate: 40.7%) evacuees aged 15 and over who lived in the evacuation zone in Fukushima Prefecture. We then dichotomized responders using a 12/13 cutoff on the K…
The effect of chronic low-dose environmental radiation on organ mass of bank voles in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
2020
Purpose: Animals are exposed to environmental ionizing radiation (IR) externally through proximity to contaminated soil and internally through ingestion and inhalation of radionuclides. Internal organs can respond to radioactive contamination through physiological stress. Chronic stress can compromise the size of physiologically active organs, but studies on wild mammal populations are scarce. The effects of environmental IR contamination on organ masses was studied by using a wild rodent inhabiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Material and Methods: The masses of brain, heart, kidney, spleen, liver and lung were assessed from bank voles (Myodes glareolus) captured from areas across r…
Chernobyl exposure as stressor during pregnancy and hormone levels in adolescent offspring
2008
Background: Animal research suggests a programming effect of prenatal stress in the fetal period, resulting in disruptions in behavioural and neuromotor development. Physiological changes that mediate these effects include alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and in testosterone levels. This human study focuses on changes related to these physiological systems after prenatal stress exposure. Methods: We examined the potential effect of prenatal stress associated with the Chernobyl disaster in an ongoing genetic epidemiological study in Finland. One birth cohort of twins (n = 121 twin pairs) was exposed in utero to maternal stress, and their saliva cortisol and testosterone…
Analysis of the 2011 Japan's triple disaster from a conceptual ontology of the domain of risk and disaster,
2012
International audience; In this paper, we propose to use the factual part of a conceptual ontology realized in 2009 (Provitolo and al. 2009 a) to analyze the disaster that occurred in Japan on 11 March 2011 and which was characterized by a sequence of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. Many papers, reports, videos and press articles were published, each one providing a wide variety of information. Some fo- cused on the massive earthquake that triggered the devastating tsunami waves along the eastern coast of the Tohoku region while others mainly analyzed the nuclear crisis. The aim of this work is to syn- thesize in visual form information from various sources and to produce differen…