History of radiation injuries

This post chronicles significant incidents of radiation-induced injury.
It was inspired by the high quality new miniseries Chernobyl, produced by HBO.

 

Please refer to:

• Ionising radiation
• Radiation injuries

 

Timeline

• 1903: Marie and Pierre Curie won the Nobel Prize for their research into radiation. Pierre Curie died of a head injury in 1906. In 1934, Marie Curie died of radiation-induced aplastic anaemia.
• 1945: 18 USA citizens were injected with plutonium in a series of experiments without informed consent. They were selected because they had diagnosed terminal illnesses. Each died of their original illness.
• Albert Stevens was injected with 131 kBq plutonium.
• He was never diagnosed with any radiation injuries. He died of apparently unrelated heart failure 21 years later, in 1966, aged 79
• The total dose emitted was 64 Sv, by his time of death.
• The doctor who led the human plutonium experiments, Dr. Joseph Gilbert Hamilton, died of radiation-induced leukaemia in 1957, aged 49.
• 1945: After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the USA, there were 129,000–226,000 estimated casualties.
• Within the first few months, 90,000-166,000 people died in Hiroshima, 60,000-80,000 died in Nagasaki. 
• Early deaths and injuries occured as a result of the explosion itself and ARS. 
• 1978: Russian scientist Anatoli Bugorski was shot in the head by a high energy proton beam. He received a dose of over 8 Sv and the high energy beam burnt a narrow hole through his head. He survived the incident and recovered with minor disabilities. He went on to complete his PhD and he is currently still alive at 77 years old.
• 1986: The disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Pripyat, Ukraine. 
• There was an explosion which breached the core. The ongoing fission reaction maintained open fires for days, which propelled large quantities of highly radioactive materials (including the radioisotope iodine-131) into the atmosphere. The enviroment and local ecosystems were heavily contaminated by these materials.
• Radiation level estimates were over 20,160 roentgens per hour in some areas. This is equivalent to 0.056 Sieverts per second. After 18 seconds the absorbed dose would be over 1 Sv, high enough to cause ARS in a typical patient. After 90 seconds, the absorbed dose would be over 5 Sv, high enough to cause fatal ARS in a typical patient.
• Some servicemen worked in these contaminated areas for many hours.
• 237 of the most exposed individuals developed ARS, of whom 31 died within 3 months. A further 15 later developed fatal thyroid cancer.
• These patients were contaminated with strongly radioactive materials. Their bodies were emitting ionising radiation at typical doses of around 6 Sv per hour.
• The current European death toll from the incident is estimated between 9,000-16,000. 
• It is predicted that the final toll from the disaster will include 41,000 cancer cases and 4,000 cancer deaths.
• 1990: The radiotherapy accident in Zaragoza, Spain. 
• Patients were treated with an unsafe radiotherapy device. 
• This caused 27 cases of ARS and 11 deaths.
• September 1999: The Tokaimura nuclear accident in Ibaraki, Japan.
• 3 technicians were exposed to high doses of radiation. 
• Hisashi Ouchi received a dose of 17 Sv. He developed ARS and aplastic anaemia. None of his chromosomes could be identified by karyotyping. His white blood cell count was 0. Despite this, he was aggressively treated and resuscitated many times. He lived for 83 days and died in December 1999.
• Masato Shinohara received a dose of 10 Sv. He developed ARS and aplastic anaemia. He received skin grafts. He lived for 7 months and died of in April 2000, from an infection.
• Yutaka Yokokawa received a dose of 3 Sv. He developed ARS and remained in a hospital for 3 months. He is not known to have died.
• The former 2 cases are ethically controversial, because both patients were exposed to lethal doses of radiation, with no chance of recovery. Every effort was made to keep them alive, so their suffering was prolonged. It is unclear whether there was a failure in medical decision making or a utilitarian desire to research the biological effects of severe irradiation.
• November 2006: The poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London, UK. 
• On the 1st November 2006, Litvinenko met two former Russian espionage agents. Later that day he developed ARS. Investigations revealed that his body was contaminated with the radioisotope polonium-210. It has been speculated that the radioisotope was sprayed into his teapot by an assassin.
• The estimated initial activity of the ingested material was 4.4Gbq.
• The dose equivalent in his organs was estimated between 20 Gy (alpha radiation) - 100 Gy (alpha radiation). This is equivalent to a dose between 400 Sv - 2000 Sv.
• Litvinenko died on the 23rd of November 2006.