The Chernobyl liquidators: incredible men with incredible stories (Part 3)

This weekend, I will write an analysis of what I've learned so far from the liquidators and about the liquidators. But for now, here are a few more interview summaries:

Liquidator #7 - bus driver and strawberry wine enthusiast

Liquidator #7 was working for a construction organization in 1986. He remembers that it was a religious holiday (probably Orthodox Easter) when he first heard about the accident. His family had gone to church, and on the way back, they saw many buses headed to Chernobyl.

He also remembers that he had a garden full of strawberries. He was told not to eat them after the disaster because they were contaminated, but he had also been told to drink one glass of red wine every day as protection against radiation. So, he picked the strawberries and stored them in the sun until they became like wine. Since strawberry wine is red, he and his family and friends drank it all month, just like the officials said. The wine was very good, and he was very happy about this.

Liquidator #7’s job in Chernobyl was as a bus driver. He transported people to and from the clean part of the Exclusion Zone to the "dirty" part, where the Chernobyl NPP was. In 1986, he did this in Chernobyl for only one day. Then, he did it again from 1988 to 1990. It was one of the best paying jobs in Chernobyl at that time. He could spend 2 weeks at home and 2 weeks at work, and the payment was 4 times as big as it was in Kyiv. He chose to go to Chernobyl for the money.

There was nothing to be scared of, in his opinion. He changed his clothes often, and he cleaned himself a lot. His bus was quite contaminated, so he had to wash it many times.

He has had health problems since 1990, and he is ready for death. He does not know if radiation caused his illnesses – but half of his friends are now dead. They were liquidators, too.

If he could go back, he would make the same decision to go to Chernobyl. This is because he has children and grandchildren, and they have to be saved.

He does not think the Ukrainian government has treated him well at all. In his opinion, the politicians think only about themselves, not about the Ukrainian people. In his own words, “damn the government.”

Liquidator #8 - gas, oil, and kerosene delivery man

Liquidator #8 was born in the Luhansk Oblast in 1951. He heard about the accident at home, from his friends. He had no reaction to the news.

He was called to liquidation by the military department of his city in 1987. He had no choice about going there. His name was put on a special list. Everyone on this list was given a medical exam, and the next day they were all sent to Chernobyl.

Liquidator #8 was a driver in Chernobyl, transporting gas, oil, and kerosene. He was in the Exclusion Zone for 3 months. He had some problems with his health while he was inside the Zone – headaches and a cough – but when he left, everything became okay for a while. He was not informed about the risks of working in Chernobyl. He was only told which roads he was supposed to drive on. He was not scared.

Liquidator #8 has had very big problems with his health since 1987. He has not been able to work since 1990. He has problems talking and writing, and he has very bad headaches. He received an official irradiated dose of 8.149 roentgens; however, he thinks that his actual dose was higher. He thinks radiation caused his health problems.

He is very sad about the situation he is in. In his mind, he was “broken” during his time in Chernobyl, but he has received no benefits for the work he did there.

Given the current level of attention he receives from the Ukrainian government, he would not have agreed to be a liquidator if he could go back in time. The pension he receives for his lost health is too small. He would like to receive more social benefits from the government, such as a bigger pension and a better apartment than he has now.

Liquidator #9 - wall destroyer

Liquidator #9 was born in the Sumy Oblast in 1958. He heard about the Chernobyl disaster on the television. His reaction was negative, but he had no anxiety about it.

The military asked him to go to Chernobyl in 1987. His name was on their “list.” He had no choice in going; in fact, he feared that he would go to prison if he refused.

Liquidator #9’s job was to remove the old, bad layer of matter from the reactor walls. He was not told about the risks. Since he had no choice about going to Chernobyl, it “did not matter whether he was scared or not.” He was called there for 180 days, but he ended up being in Chernobyl for only 42 days.

He received an irradiated dose of 9.1 roentgens. Since 1987, he has had headaches, back pain, and leg and hand pain. It seems to him that his irradiated dose caused these problems.

Even for a lot of money, he would never go back to Chernobyl.

He does not think that the Ukrainian government cares about the liquidators.

The Chernobyl liquidators: incredible men with incredible stories (Part 2)

Hallway in the radiation clinic at RCRM, where liquidators come for medical treatment

I've been working furiously to transcribe the rest of these liquidator interviews. Below are three more. I think you may find them even more interesting than the first three. (Liquidator #6 was especially chatty.)

Liquidator #4 - delivery driver

Liquidator #4 was on vacation in his dacha in 1986. He had no reaction to the news of the Chernobyl disaster. He did not think it was serious.

He was a delivery driver in Chernobyl. He made his first trip to the site on the 5th of May. He took part in the transport of wares, water, and food. He was ordered to Chernobyl by the government. He did not have a choice in going there.

He was aware of the risks of working in an irradiated environment, but he was not scared. He was in Chernobyl until the end of summer, making delivery trips every other day.

Liquidator #4 has had problems with his vessels and thyroid gland recently. He also has had some back pain. He does not know if radiation exposure caused his health problems. However, he recalls that when he was making trips to Chernobyl, he had medical exams every month. The doctors did not find any problems with his health (although they did tell him it would be best for him to stop making trips to Chernobyl).

His car was cleaned many times while he worked in Chernobyl, because it was quite contaminated with radiation. In fact, it was once cleaned so well that the paint was stripped off. He never had to destroy it.

On a scale of 1 to 5, he rates his care from the government at a 2. He has concerns that some of the money that is allocated to Chernobyl liquidators and evacuees is being laundered by politicians.

If he could go back to 1986, he would not be a liquidator.

Liquidator #5 - special structures expert

Liquidator #5 was a military specialist in “special structures” in 1986. The Soviet Army gave him only 30 minutes to report to the Chernobyl site after the accident happened. He did not have a choice in going there.

He was not scared, and he said that he was informed of the risks of working in an irradiated environment. According to him, under the Soviet Union, all children studied radiation in school. It was part of the civil defense program.

Liquidator #5 was in the Chernobyl zone for 75 days, nonstop. He took part in the building of roads to the reactor and to the Chernobyl station. He received an official irradiated dose of 18 roentgens, but he is not sure if this number is accurate.

Liquidator #5 has had many health problems since 1986. In his own words, his “organism” is destroyed. He has ulcers, big problems with the vessels in his legs and head, hypertension, and so on. He thinks that his irradiated dose caused his health problems because he was healthy before the Chernobyl accident.

He cannot even estimate the help that the government has given him, because it is so low.

Knowing what he knows now, he would go to Chernobyl again. This is because the health of his children and his family must come first; his own health comes second in such a situation.

Liquidator #6 - upstanding Communist

Liquidator #6 heard about the Chernobyl accident while traveling to Russia to visit his parents. He was driving through Kharkiv, Ukraine, when the road police stopped his car. They asked him if he knew about the accident. He did not, so they told him the details. At first he thought that the news was not true, because he knew that nuclear reactors had seven levels of defense. But the road police insisted that it had happened, and they went on to measure his car for radiation (which was present).

In 1986, Liquidator #6 was working for the same construction firm that had built the destroyed reactor in Chernobyl. In fact, he was secretary of the Communist Party within this organization. When he and his fellow workers were asked to volunteer to be liquidators, he saw that no one wanted to do it. Because he wanted to set a good “Communist” example for them, he was the first to say, “I will go to Chernobyl.” He was quite surprised by the second person to volunteer: it was a Latin American worker who had been educated at Patris Lumumba University in Moscow. It was funny to him that this Latin American man was so willing to go to Chernobyl for the defense of Ukraine.

Officially, all liquidators were supposed to be 35+ years old and to have had their children already, but his group consisted of three quite young men. He was the oldest. They were taken by car to Vyshhorod. A group of forty people was formed there, and all of them were taken by bus to Chernobyl. His job was to supervise the transport of inert materials such as sand, bitumen, and gravel. In one day, he remembers transferring 20,000 cubic meters of material.

In his opinion, no one was scared to work in Chernobyl because no one knew anything about radiation. He personally was not scared because he had been in Syria in 1973, when it was attacked by Israel. There, he took part in the evacuation of 7,500 people. Driving an Italian bus, he evacuated women and children, and bombs were dropping constantly. In Chernobyl, there was nothing to be scared of – no noises, no smells, no heat. He had no reason to be scared.

Officially, his group of three was supposed to be changed after 7 days because they were working 800 meters from the NPP. However, they were not changed, and they ended up working a full month under the reactor.

He remembers that on May 20th, more than 4,000 people from all over the Soviet Union were in Chernobyl. Almost all of them wore white lab coats lined with 250 mm (EDIT: the translator probably meant µm) of metal. The Soviet government thought that such coats would protect people from the radiation. However, in his opinion, the lab coats were an insufficient defense.

Liquidator #6 has had lots of health problems since 1990. He had prostate surgery in 1999 and a stroke in 2000. Before that, he had a stomach ulcer, hypertension, pancreas problems, blood pressure issues, and so on. He received an official irradiated dose of 26 roentgens, but he thinks that this number is wrong.

He believes that radiation caused his health problems. He was very healthy before the Chernobyl accident; he worked a lot and had a very strong “organism” and immune system. But after the accident, he began to recognize big problems with his health. He has calculated that he has a total of 16 chronic diseases now. In his own words, there are no organs that work well in his body.

He regrets his decision to go to Chernobyl. The “Chernobyl situation” (the liquidator problem) is very bad now. Liquidators need 26 million hryvnas per year to cover the cost of living and receiving health care, but they only receive 10 percent of this sum from the government. He has no money in his family budget to cover his health costs.

He is angry with the Ukrainian government. Since they destroyed his health, he thinks that they should pay for it. He needs 300 or 400 hryvna per month to cover his disease treatments, but he officially receives only 12 hryvnas per month. He has had to ask the president of the Chernobyl Union for money.

The Chernobyl liquidators: incredible men with incredible stories (Part 1)

Memorial to Chernobyl liquidators at Mitino Cemetery, Moscow

The past two days have definitely been the most interesting for me research-wise since I arrived in Ukraine. I've been interviewing Chernobyl liquidators non-stop, and it's amazing to me how brave, how open, and just how damn interesting they all are.

So far, I have finished transcribing three of the interviews from my audio recordings. Thus, without further ado, let me introduce you to Liquidators #1, #2, and #3:

Liquidator #1 - physics teacher

Liquidator #1 was a physics teacher in the Zhytomyr Oblast in 1986. His workplace was 22 km from the Chernobyl NPP. He recalls that the reaction to the accident in his village was not very serious. Most people did not understand what had happened. However, as a physics teacher, he understood the severity of the disaster better than most.

Liquidator #1 voluntarily took part in the evacuation of his region, helping evacuate children in particular. One of the things he did was help children find their parents in the event that they were separated.

He lived in the Zhytomyr Oblast until 1998, at which time he moved to the Carpathian region (in the west). It was a little scary for him to work so close to the NPP after the accident happened. Evacuations were not well organized at all; people were told that they could return later, which was a lie. Old people in particular resisted.

We talked about his many health problems – cardiovascular diseases, pyschological diseases, neurological diseases. Liquidator #1 thinks that his health problems are partially due to radiation exposure, since his parents and grandparents all had unusually clean bills of health. Since 1988, not a year has passed where he wasn’t hospitalized.

Still, Liquidator #1 feels better now than he did 12 years ago. He has quit smoking and drinking, and he has started seeing a neurologist and a psychiatrist. He noted that under the Soviet Union it was frowned upon to see such doctors. People did not want to be categorized as psychologically-ill. Today, there is more freedom to choose the physician you need.

If he could go back in time, he would not change his decision to be a liquidator. He thinks that people need to help each other. He does not consider what he did to be very “special.”

He thinks that the care he receives from the Ukrainian government could be better.

Liquidator #2 - Metrostroy operator

Liquidator #2 was a Metrostroy operator in Kyiv in 1986. Metrostroy was the construction agency that built the Kyiv Metro. He and his colleagues were asked to go to Chernobyl soon after the disaster. In fact, they were the second group of workers to go there. (The first were the firemen.) Their job was to seal the floor of the reactor with metal insulation and concrete so that irradiated matter would not seep into the groundwater.

He agreed to go to Chernobyl out of patriotism. In his own words, if he did not do it, who would? He compared his choice to the choice of Soviet soldiers in WWII.

Liquidator #2 was informed of the risks of working in an irradiated environment. He was not frightened. Still, he received an irradiated dose of 28.2 roentgens over the three days he worked in Chernobyl. After recording this dose, he was forced to stop working at Chernobyl because the legal maximum dosage in 1986 was 25 roentgens. (Today, the official dosage limit is 2 roentgens per year.)

He has had health problems since 1986, which he partially attributes to his irradiated dose.

If he could go back to 1986, he would make the same choice to go to Chernobyl. In his own words, “this is our country, and somebody has to do it.”

We discussed the amount of attention the Ukrainian government gives liquidators. Liquidator #2 thinks that it is not enough, but it is still a little bit more attention than is given to pensioners, children, etc.

Liquidator #3 - mechanic

Liquidator #3 was a mechanic in the Poltova Oblast in 1986. The Soviet Military Office drafted him to Chernobyl, where his job was to remove irradiated matter from the third reactor’s roof. He had no choice about going there; he had to be a liquidator.

He was never officially told about the risks of working in an irradiated environment.

He received an irradiated dose of 25 roentgens over the two and a half months he spent in Chernobyl. Since this was the maximum limit in 1986, he had to leave the site after recording this dosage.

Liquidator #3 thinks that his irradiated dose has caused his many health problems.

He does not think that the Ukrainian government has taken good care of him. He wishes they would give him more “human attention.” He has been forced to figure out his problems for himself, even though he served his country in Chernobyl and in the Afghanistan War.

So, would you like to work on the Ark?

Check out that Ukrainian sky...

Reproduced below is a list of the risks faced by personnel who are working on the Ark:

Potential radiation risks of the "Shelter" personnel are the following:

• Job activities inside the 'hot cell' (the "open" plutonium area);
• External exposure;
• High risk of radionucleotide inhalation;
• High risk of radionucleotide absorption through cuts and/or wounds;
• High risk of a combination of severe injuries and intensive contamination of open tissues or inhalation of radioactive materials;
• Influence of high temperatures, hypoxia, and heat stress; and
  
• Synergism of radiological risk within general industrial risks.

The additional hazardous factors are as follows:

• Aggressive chemical aerosols, including welding aerosols;
• High humidity and uncomfortable temperatures at any time of the year;
• Absence of a forced exchange ventilation system inside the Object Shelter;
• Insufficient and artificial illumination;
• Presence of "confined spaces" in most of Object Shelter's rooms;
• Work at heights;
• Presence of debris and difficult access to workplaces in elevated ionizing radiation fields;
• Influence of personal protective equipment; and
• Probable synergistic effect of numerous hazardous factors.

Also, personnel will be exposed to factors stipulated by a shift type mode of work in the Exclusion Zone - shift in dietary regimen and type, accommodation in hotels, regime-stipulated restrictions in the Exclusion Zone, etc.

Not the most pleasant job, eh? In my interviews, I've been asking ICARR scientists what they thinks motivates the Ark workers to seek jobs in Chernobyl. So far, the answer has always been, "They can't find a job anywhere else."
___________________________________

This week I will be interviewing Chernobyl liquidators. These people were drafted to the Chernobyl site immediately after the disaster and helped to clean up the plant premises and the surrounding area. Generally, they were men aged 20 to 45. They were mostly plant employees, Ukrainian firefighters, plus many soldiers and miners from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other parts of the then Soviet Union.

The exact number of liquidators is unknown as no completely accurate records were kept of the people involved in the clean-up. However, more than 700,000 people who were involved (both on- and off-site) in tackling the accident’s aftermath were eventually granted the status of liquidator, and were provided special government benefits.

Ukraine spends about five percent of its annual budget on benefits for Chernobyl liquidators, which include a housing subsidy and free public transportation use. They come to RCRM for health care.

I'd like to know just how informed they were about risk when they went to work at the Chernobyl site... Also, why did they decide to go there? (or did they even have a choice?) Here are some of the questions I plan to ask them:

1. Where were you when you first heard about the Chernobyl disaster?
2. What was your reaction to it? Did you think it was serious, not serious?
3. Who asked you to be a liquidator?
   
4. Why did you agree?
5. Did you want to go to Chernobyl?
6. Did you have a choice about going there?
7. Were you aware of the risks of working in Chernobyl? Did anyone tell you about the dangers? (If no: Would you have agreed to be a liquidator if you had known about the risks?)
8. Were you scared about going there?
9. What did you do as a liquidator?
   

Etc, etc. I think the liquidator interviews will be very relevant to my project because I should be able to draw parallels between their situation and the situation of the Ark workers today.

Unfortunately, since the men won't speak English, I'm sure the language barrier will be an issue. (It's even an issue with the scientists who speak decent English.) I will have a translator with me - probably one of the RCRM people - but I've noticed that some questions just don't translate well. Here's to hoping the big ideas get through, at least.
___________________________________

On a lighter note - I did some more sightseeing this weekend:

Statue at the Dnipro metro station.


Incredible Chimera building, now used as a presidential administrative office.


A close-up of one of the chimera.


Friendship of Nations Monument, celebrating the 1654 "unification" of Russia and Ukraine.


At the Pyrohovo Museum of Folk Architecture & Everyday Life. It's an open-air, living history museum (think Williamsburg, VA) that is divided into seven "villages" representing different regional areas of Ukraine.


There were lots of windmills on the property.


This was taken in the Carpathian village, I think.

If you'd like to see more pictures, I've posted the links to my online photo albums on the bar to the right.

It's been a week!

(from pizdaus.com/)
Lenin sinks a three.

Tomorrow morning marks my first week in Kyiv, and what a week it's been. I've made some friends, seen some sights,

eaten some real Ukrainan food, and learned a whole lot about ICARR.

I also began conducting interviews with scientists at RCRM. Sometimes the language barrier makes it hard for my interviewees to understand certain questions, but with patience I can usually make myself understood. I've found it useful to give a typed copy of my questions to my interviewees, since many of them are stronger at reading English than at hearing it. I've been recording my interviews with a digital voice recorder, and I plan to spend some time this weekend listening to them and transcribing them.

I am looking forward to talking to Ark workers, hopefully next week. (Since it's summer, check-in controls and special controls happen less frequently, and we didn't have any this week.) I should also know more details about my trip to Chernobyl with RCRM.

I'm absolutely exhausted... research is hard work!

Q & A about ICARR and Chernobyl

Fountain at Maydan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)

Yesterday, I spent the day reading RTI International’s proposal to the Department of Energy regarding the ICARR study. The hefty document was published about a year ago, on June 13, 2006. It answered many of my lingering questions about ICARR, which I have summarized in Q and A format below.

However, before I begin, I would like to introduce some new terms.

• In Ukraine, what I have been calling “the Ark building project” is more commonly known as “the Chernobyl Shelter Implementation Plan,” or “SIP.” I will be using both terms interchangeably from now on.
• Ukrainian scientists have a special name for the old, deteriorating sarcophagus: “Object Shelter” or “Shelter Object.” It sounds a little strange in English, but I will be using the term from this point on when it is convenient for me to do so.
• NSC = New Safe Confinement = “The Ark” (see below)
• The acronym “ICARR” technically refers to the group of institutions who form the International Consortium for Applied Radiation Research (Duke, RTI, RCRM, etc.). The real name for project itself is the “Chernobyl Research and Service Project (CRSP).” However, according to my mentor, people are now just calling CRSP “ICARR,” as I have been.
  
• Up to this point I have been using the Russian transliteration of “Chernobyl” instead of the Ukrainian “Chornobyl.” I generally prefer to use the Ukrainian version (which is why I write Kyiv instead of Kiev), but since I have used “Chernobyl” for over two months (and since it’s the most familiar version for Americans) I’m not going to change it now. But just know that Chernobyl and Chornobyl are one in the same thing!

Q & A

_________________________________

Q: What organization funded the Ark building project (a.k.a. Chernobyl Shelter Implementation Plan [SIP])?

A: The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which is comprised of 28 countries, including the US.

Q: Which engineering firms were hired to design the Ark?

A: Bechtel International Systems (they designed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Athens Metro, and the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State), Battelle Memorial Institute, and Electricite de France.

Q: What are researchers so interested in SIP?

A: There is currently a lack of baseline and longitudinal time series measurements on the health effects of low-level radiation in humans. The ICARR project would solve this problem. By studying workers conducting renewed clean-up efforts at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), researchers may be able to characterize how the human body reacts to low-level radiation before, during, and after exposure.

Q: When did SIP begin, and how many workers are expected to work on it?

A: Hiring of workers began in 2004; 10,000 to 15,000 people will have worked on it by 2010.

Q: What are the roles of the various institutions involved in ICARR?

A: RCRM conducts entry and follow-up medical surveillance and worker safety programs.
RTI International creates and maintains the project’s data coordinating center. It also serves as the main contractor.
Duke University organizes the service and research projects.
UNC-Asheville (and also RCRM) conducts biological and public health oriented research.
Together, these four institutions comprise the International Consortium for Applied Radiation Research, or ICARR.

ChNPP by satellite

Q: What are ICARR’s major activities?

A: 1) Conducting hypothesis driven genomic, biological, and prospective epidemiologic research approved by an external committee, and 2) providing medical care and public health services to improve the quality of life for workers. Bio-specimens are being collected and stored; information is being shared between the four ICARR institutions via a health information exchange system on the Internet; and a time series of measurements on workers is being collected.

Q: So ICARR is not a specific research project in itself, but rather the name of the plan to create a scientific infrastructure in Chernobyl?

A: Correct. ICARR is laying the foundation for researchers to design prospective studies – observational or experimental – as well as for them to provide public health and medical services in Chernobyl.

Q: How does the ICARR project (a.k.a. CRSP) compare to other studies on low-level radiation in humans?

A: ICARR is the largest project ever undertaken to collect and analyze a combination of clinical and genomic information related to low-level human radiation exposure as exposure occurs.

Q: How did the researchers manage to convince the Department of Energy to fund such an expensive project?

A: In their proposal, they repeatedly emphasized that a major health threat to the US and world community is the purposeful misuse of ionizing radiation as a weapon of terrorism. They made it clear that ICARR would help to counteract this threat by generating research.

Q: What hypotheses are ICARR project developers putting forth?

A: That ionizing radiation, even at low doses, can be manifest in changes of molecular profiles obtained from whole blood, and that these profiles can be used to develop predictive models for exposure. Also, that this information can be mechanistically linked to diseases and outcomes of interest, and that specific exposure-response biomarkers can be determined.

Q: How much fuel remains in the Shelter Object?

A: Since the disaster on April 26, 1986, over 95% (or 180 tons) of irradiated nuclear fuel is still inside the Shelter Object.

Q: What were the health effects of the Chernobyl disaster on the community?

A: There has been an increase in leukemia and cardiovascular disease in liquidators, evacuees, and residents. Also, there was an increase in thyroid cancer in children. Interestingly, according to the DoE proposal, there has been no increase in birth defects. (The film Chernobyl Heart begs to differ – see my previous post here.)

Q: What exactly are the risks for workers in Chernobyl?

A: Due to the “unique origination of the Shelter Object,” radiation hygienic conditions cannot be made in compliance with world safety standards. Workers will be exposed to fission and activation products (90Sr and 137Cs) as well as TUE radionucleotides (238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, and 241Am). Employment at SIP is particularly dangerous because these radiological risks are combined with the general industrial risks associated with building a giant steel-and-concrete structure. The job places extreme requirements on workers’ somatic health and psycho-physiological capabilities.

Q: Are the workers reimbursed for participating in ICARR?

A: Not exactly. Participants are informed of the research objectives of the study, and their participation is sought in the spirit of altruism and community health promotion. However, when their blood is first taken, participants are reimbursed 100 UAH (= 20 USD) for their time. 100 UAH is about one-tenth of the average Ukrainian monthly salary.

Q: Can you describe the different medical examinations that workers must undergo?

A: 1. Individual Inspection Control Exam – a periodic medical exam, the timing of which is determined by the medical classification of the worker (i.e. how likely he is to get sick).
2. Special Control Exam – an extensive medical and psychological exam conducted on workers who are found to exceed existing standards for radiation control. It is used to reclassify and reconfirm worker eligibility.
3. Current (Pre-Shift) Exam – a daily exam conducted at the ChNPP.
4. Periodic Control Exam – a general medical exam conducted once yearly.
5. Output Control Exam – an extensive series of medical and psychological exams conducted on all workers leaving employment at SIP.

Q: Can you describe the process for gathering specimen from Ark workers?

A: At each worker’s baseline and follow-up medical exams, a researcher collects blood for DNA genotyping and epigenetic analysis; RNA for gene expression analysis; and serum for protein and metabolite profiling. The process takes about 5 minutes. After collection, the specimens are split into duplicate sets, bar-coded, and then sent one to a Ukrainian facility, and one to the US.

Q: How detailed is the information that ICARR researchers have collected on workers?

A: The combination of longitudinal clinical information and biological data gives researchers an exquisitely detailed molecular phenotype of each worker related to his ionizing radiation dosage.

Q: What’s an example of the types of research that will be conducted within the ICARR infrastructure?

A: One of the start-up projects was designed by a scientist at Duke. He plans to do gene expression analysis of the peripheral blood from Ark workers to develop a molecular signature of human radiation exposure. His goal is to be able to quantify or predict an individual’s susceptibility to disease based on radiation dose.

Q: What’s an example of the types of services that will be provided to workers within the ICARR infrastructure?

A: Stem cell therapy services will be provided to the 200-400 workers at highest risk of exposure who are involved in early structural stabilization. Researchers in Ukraine have stored their hematopoietic progenitors for this specific purpose.

Ukrainian Street Performer Breaks it Down

I made this video of a break dancer performing in a square on Khreshchatyk St, right near my apartment. These guys are out there every evening, and I love watching them.