Second Russian National Dialogue On Energy, Society And Security

Second Russian National Dialogue on ENERGY, SOCIETY AND SECURITYbe 140 times higher than the internal exposure rate due to the effects of incorporatinganthropogenic radionuclides (9). This is a kind of opposition to the conclusions thatwere presented in Mr. Korneyev’s dissertation, defended at the Orenburg State MedicalAcademy on March 27, 1997, and which contained unfounded, clearly “commissioned”scare tactics with regard to the “radiation legacy” of the Totskoye nuclear test which, wewould like to repeat once again, took place over 40 years ago.But what really poses a danger to the health of the people of our country, and to thepeople of the Orenburg Oblast in particular?The answer is unequivocal: the low living standards and poor social protection thestate of the environment, and other factors. And no matter how much we want to, we mustadmit that is it not radiation; radiation’s effects on the human body have been studiedin more detail than the impact of other harmful factors, yet it is only in the top thirty ofthese harmful factors (14, 15) — and is the main reason behind the deteriorating healthof the population? Frankly speaking, it is high time that we stop blaming everythingon radiation. We must increase living standards and education among the people of thecountry, improve social provisions, lower the level of pollution caused by toxic chemicalagents in the air, water, food products and the environment in general. We must stampout our bad habits, and so on. In our opinion, people are already beginning to understandthis position.References1. Nuclear Tests in the USSR [ Yaderniye ispytaniya SSSR]. Volume 1. Chapter 6.V. Mikhailov, et al. Sarov, RFYaTs-VNIIEF, 1997, 286: ill.2. Nuclear Tests in the USSR. Modern Radiological Conditions at Test Ranges[Yaderniye ispytaniya SSSR. Sovremennoye radiologicheskoye sostoyaniye poligonov].Chapter 7. V. Logacheva, et al. Moscow: IzdAT, 2002. 639: ill.3. Nuclear Tests. The Totskoye Military Exercises [ Yaderniye ispytaniya.Totskoye voiskovoye ucheniye]. Book 2. S. Zelentsov et al. Moscow: Kartush Publishing,2006. 197: ill.4. Smirnov, Y., Prokofiev, O., Vereschagin, N. and others. A Report on theResults of the Work of the Commission Organized by Decree of the Council of Ministersof the RSFSR in line with requests from A. Chernyshev, People’s Deputy [Spravka porezultatam raboty komissii, organizovannoi po rasporyazheniyu SM RSFSR v sootvetstviis zaprosom narodnogo deputata RSFSR Cherysheva A.A.]. GNTs-IBF Fund, 1990.55. Prokofiev, O.N. A Report on the Radiation Conditions in the Sorochinsk,Totskoye, and Buzuluksk Rayons of the Orenburg Oblast [Spravka o radiatsionnoiobstanovke v Sorochinskom, Totskom i Buzulukskom rayonakh Orenburgskoi oblasti].GNTs-IBF Fund, 1990. 76. Bubliy, S. Meskikh, N., Meshkov, N., and others. A Report on the Results ofan Environmental Examination of the Territory of the Gorno-Ataisk Soviet SocialistRepublic, the Altai Krai and the Orenburg Oblast [Doklad o resultatakh ekologicheskoiekspertizy territoriy Gorno-Altaiskoi SSR, Altaiskogo kraya i Orenburgskoi oblasi].GNTs-IBF Fund, 1992. 187. Logachev, B.A. An Analysis of Data on Medical and Biological Researchand an Assessment of the Health of the High-Risk Population in the Chelyabinsk,Bryansk and Orenburg Oblasts Living in the Areas Affected by Radiation. An AnalyticalOverview [Analyz dannikh o medico-biologicheskikh issledovaniyakh i otsenke zdorovya286