Comparative Assessment of the Effect of Chemical and Radiation Factors on Workers and the General Public Resulting from the Salvaging of Nuclear-Powered Submarines

The results of observations performed over many years are used to make an assessment of the degree to which the concentration of chemical and radioactive substances escaping into the environment during salvaging of nuclear-powered submarines exceeds the admissable norms for workers at the main ship-repair facilities in Russia and for the general public in the surrounding territories. It is shown that the chemical substances are a determining factor in environmental contamination. Their content in the atmosphere and sea water exceeds the admissable norms near sources, on the territory of the enterprises, and (for individual indicators) at populated points. Under these conditions, the concentration of technogenic radionuclides does not exceed the admissable norms and its damaging effect on man is hundreds and thousands of times less than that of chemicals.