Infected Apartment in Kramatorsk, Ukraine

One of the most egregious cases of radiation detection occurred in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, which now is known throughout the world. The capsule with the radioactive element cesium-137 was detected within the wall of a residential building. The history of this case goes back to 70s of the last century, when an ampoule with cesium was lost during industrial activities in Karanskyi career. One of the large enterprises mined gravel and crushed stone in this quarry. The vial fell out of a measuring device during the planning stage.

An extraction of gravel had to be stopped immediately. The search for the ampoule lasted a week, but ended in failure. That days, the rubble from the quarry was used extensively for the construction of Olympic facilities in Moscow, as well as for building houses in the surrounding cities. Kramatorsk was among those cities too. In 1980, a building #7 on Gvardeytsiv Kantemirovtsiv Street was put into operation. The dimensions of the ampoule, which was lost in the 70's are only 8x4 mm; it emitted up to 200 roentgen per hour.

Already in 1980, the residence was fully settled. A year later, a 18-year-old girl, who lived in one of the apartments, suddenly died. In 1982, her 16-year-old brother died too, and then his mother followed them. Even after that, the flat with the radioactive ampoule in a wall didn’t attract much of a public attention, despite the fact that all the people died from leukemia. A new family moved into the apartment, and their boy died there too. His father managed to start a detailed investigation, during which the vial was found in the wall. For 9 years, while the ampoule was in the wall, 6 people died and another 17 tenants have been recognized as disabled in the radioactive flat. Next - Church Rock Uranium Mill