Some issues of antiradon protection in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issues of legal enforceability of antiradon protection in Kazakhstan. Compared with developed countries, the problem of radon in Kazakhstan only looms. It is obvious that anti-radon protection should be considered in context with the general issues of ensuring radiation 25 З.М. Бияшева и др. protection of the population. Kazakhstan is among the countries with a tense radioecological situation, which is due to two main reasons. Firstly, the Republic of Kazakhstan has one of the world’s largest raw materials base for natural uranium and, secondly, for 40 years it was the main testing ground of the Soviet Union for conducting nuclear tests, which resulted in negative environmental changes. Kazakhstan is the only country in the world in whose territory, starting in August 1949, 659 atomic explosions were carried out, representing more than 92% of all explosions carried out in the USSR. The total power of all charges blown up in the air at the Semipalatinsk test site (this is not counting underground explosions) is equal to 2.5 thousand Hiroshima bombs. However, the issues of radiation protection, including radon protection, were practically ignored. There was no legislative base aimed at protecting the population from radiation. Only with the acquisition of independence, the country, using international experience, began to create the necessary regulations to ensure radiation protection. Studies have shown that the regulatory framework of Kazakhstan in the field of anti-radon protection meets the requirements of the International Committee on Radiation Protection, but the reality is negative, in general, there is no information on the distribution of radon radiation in Kazakhstan, and fragmentary studies of specialists at obviously dangerous areas near the developed uranium deposits showed that citizens live in areas where doses of radon radiation are many times higher than the permissible, however, the measures have not been taken by state bodies, citizens are not aware of their rights. The purpose of the study is to establish the effectiveness and adequacy of legal enforceability for activities to reduce the risk of exposure of radon and its daughter products to people and the environment, to justify recommendations for improving the legal mechanism for ensuring the radon safety of the population. Key words: radiation, radiation doses, radon, antiradon protection, radiation monitoring, radiation protection, nuclear and radiation safety, laws, regulations, international organizations, International Commission on Radiation Protection.