the history of the natural sources dosimetry laboratory in st. petersburg research institute of radiation hygiene after professor p.v. ramzaev: 1. 1956–1970

In 2016, St. Petersburg Research Institute of Radiation Hygiene after Professor P.V. Ramzaev celebrates 60-th anniversary since its’ foundation. Mindful of the Institute as the research organization 60 years is not too much but it was exactly that time period which spanned radiation hygiene’s origination and development as science. The Institute was established only just 11 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, against the backdrop of nuclear weapons tests when the awareness of ionizing radiation’s disastrous consequences for population and environment was not just confined to a narrow circle of specialists. By that time the famous F-1 reactor had already been in operation and new perspectives of nuclear energy peaceful use were lying ahead. There had been an urgent need for scientific studies on personnel and population safety, for development of research hardware, for special personnel in-service training etc. So the Institute’s creation was necessitated by life itself, by objectives unthinkable without a specialized scientific research organization.

Since the very beginning, the Institute specialists mostly aimed at studying technogenic radiation sources. That was the very purpose of the Institute’s creation. Nevertheless almost simultaneously with that the Institute had initiated studies on natural  radioactivity. New devices had been created in order to identify natural and technogenic radionuclides at such levels which are hardly achievable even these days. It will be demonstrated below that some of the 1970s and 1980s hardware  developments retained their uniqueness.

Mindful of the upcoming jubilee we consider it expedient to think back to the most outstanding scientists who had made a profound contribution into the establishment of the Institute as the contemporary scientific school of radiation hygiene and domestic hygienic science.

This publication describes the infancy of the natural sources dosimetry laboratory. Subsequently it is planned to display the further advancement laboratory’s studies of natural radiation as one of population exposure major sources.

1. Beschetnova O.I., Raevskij B.N., Romanov L.R. [et al.] Kompleks apparatury na tranzistorah dlja peredvizhnoj radiometricheskoj laboratorii [A set of equipment on transistors for mobile radiometric laboratory]. Radioaktivnye izotopy v izmeritel'noj tehnike (Peredovoj nauchnotehnicheskij proizvodstvennyj opyt) – Radioactive isotopes in measurement technique ( best scientific and technical production practices),M., State Research Institute of Scientific and Technical Information, 1963.

2. Belle Ju.S., Shapiro Je.L., Spirin V.D. Bol'shoj zhidkostnoj scintilljacionnyj schetchik dlja izmerenija gamma-aktivnosti zhivotnyh [Big liquid scintillation counter for measuring animal Gamma – radiation]. Trudy po radiacionnoj gigiene – Radiation hygiene proceedings, 1964,Issue 2, pp. 124-130.

3. Lebedev O.V., Spirin I.D., Shamov V.P. [et al.] Prizhiznennye izmerenija radioaktivnosti cheloveka v LNIIRGe v 1961-1966 gg [Intravital measurements of human radiation exposure in Leningrad Research Institute of Radiation Hygiene after Professor P.V. Ramzaev in 1961-1966]. Trudy po radiacionnoj gigiene – Radiation hygiene proceedings, 1967, Issue 3, pp. 206-222.

4. Belle Ju.S., Shapiro Je.L., Ryss E.S. Primenenie schetchika izluchenija cheloveka dlja izuchenija vsasyvanija zheleza [The application of human radiation exposure counter for studying ferrum absorbtion]. Medicinskaja radiologija – Medical radiology,1967, No.8, pp. 3-9.

5. Shapiro Je.L., Kostikov Ju.N., Shamov V.P. Radiometricheskie svojstva bol'shogo zhidkostnogo scintilljacionnogo schetchika [Radiometric properties of big liquid scintillation counter]. Medicinskaja radiologija – Medical radiology, 1965, No.10, pp. 67-70.

6. Lebedev O.V. [et al.] Ustanovka UIS-1 dlja prizhiznennogo izmerenija soderzhanija stroncija -90 v organizme cheloveka [UIS-1 installation for Strontium content intravital measurement in human body]. Medicinskaja radiologija – Medical radiology, 1967, No.4, pp. 76-77.

7. Nevstrueva M.A., Shamov V.P., Belle Ju.S. [et al.] Gigienichesakja ocenka radiacionnogo fona v rajonah s povyshennm soderzhaniem estestvennyh radioaktivnyh veshhestv [Hygienic assessment of radiation background in regions with high concentration of natural radioactive substances]. Trudy po radiacionnoj gigiene – Radiation Hygiene proceedings, Issue 2, P.139.

8. Spirin V.D Radiometrija inkorporirovannogo radija: avtoref. diss. …kand. tehn. nauk [Incorporated Radium radiometry: author’s thesis abstract, PhD in technical sciences], Leningrad, 1965, 17 p.

9. Storozhenko Je.P. Tehnika izmerenija malyh aktivnostej [Low radiations measurement technique]. Medicinskaja radiologija – Medical radiology, 1969,No.10, pp. 85-91.

10. Lisachenko Je.P. Kompleks nizkofonovyh gammaspektrometrov dlja radiaciono-gigienicheskih issledovanij (apparatura i metodiki): avtoref. diss. …kand. tehn. Nauk [The set of low background Gamma-spectrometers for radiation-hygienic studies (instruments and methods): author’s thesis abstract, PhD in technical sciences],Leningrad, 1970, 17 p.11. Litver B.Ja., Ramzaev P.V., Moiseev A.A. Svinec-210 i polonij-210 v priarkticheskih rajonah vostochnogo severa [Plumbum-210 and Polonium- 210 in Subarctic regions of the Eastern North], M.,Atomic Publishers, 1969.

11. Litver B.Ja., Lisachenko Je.P. K metodike opredelenija svinca-210 v jeksperimente [On the methodology of identifying Plumbum-210 in the experiment]. Sanitarija I gigiena – Sanitary and hygiene, 1969,No.12, pp. 59-61.