The Kramatorsk radiological accident was a radiation accident that happened in

Kramatorsk Kramatorsk ( uk, Краматорськ, translit=Kramatorsk ) is a city and the administrative centre of Kramatorsk Raion in the northern portion of Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, Kramatorsk was a city of oblast significan ...

, in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

from 1980 to 1989. A small capsule containing highly radioactive

caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucle ...

was found inside the concrete wall of an apartment building, with a surface gamma radiation exposure dose rate of 1800 R/year. The capsule was detected only after residents requested that the level of radiation in the apartment be measured by a health physicist. The capsule was originally part of a radiation level gauge and was lost in the Karansky quarry in the late 1970s. The search for the capsule was unsuccessful and ended after a week. The gravel from the quarry was used in construction. The caesium capsule ended up in the concrete panel of apartment 85 of building 7 on Mariyi Pryimachenko Street (at the time under the Soviet name Gvardeytsiv Kantemirovtsiv), between apartments 85 and 52. Over nine years, two families lived in apartment 85. A child's bed was located directly next to the wall containing the capsule. The apartment was fully settled in 1980. A year later, an 18-year-old woman who lived there suddenly died. In 1982, her 16-year-old brother followed, and then their mother. Even after that the flat did not attract much public attention, despite the fact that the residents all died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

. Doctors were unable to determine root-cause of illness and explained the diagnosis by poor heredity. A new family moved into the apartment, and their son died from leukemia as well. His father managed to start a detailed investigation, during which the vial was found in the wall in 1989. By the time the capsule was discovered, four residents of the building had died from it and 17 more had received varying doses of radiation. Part of the wall was removed and sent to the

Institute for Nuclear Research Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INR RAS, russian: Институт ядерных исследований) is a Russian scientific research center "for further development of the experimental base and fundament ...

, where the caesium capsule was removed, identified by serial number and disposed of.

References

{{Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents, state=collapsed 1980s disasters in the Soviet Union 1980s disasters in Ukraine 1989 in Ukraine 1989 industrial disasters Environmental disasters in Ukraine Kramatorsk Radiation accidents and incidents Radioactively contaminated areas Caesium

See also

References