Luminescence retrospective dosimetry for populations in areas affected by fallout from the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

It is now widely accepted that there exists a major dosimetry problem requiring further investigation within the populated regions adjacent to the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (SNTS). Substantial releases of radioactive fallout from, in particular, the 1949 tests delivered significant doses to inhabitants of certain areas adjacent to the Test Site, notably those in Altai, Russia, and Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. A retrospective assessment of radiation dose is necessary since the application of conventional dosimetry methods is problematic, largely due to the predominance of short-lived radionuclides in the fall-out, which means that they are now absent in contemporary soil assays, and a high degree of heterogeneity in the distribution of fallout. Also, the majority of published dose estimates for this region are based on a very limited quantity of dose-rate measurements that were performed following the tests.