I solicited an opinion from someone who is currently a NPP safety consultant. She read the criminal case and responded but does not want her name to be mentioned:
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XX: It is difficult to draw a conclusions. There is not enough information. Did the students have classes and exercises in nuclear physics? In those years, the rules were not very strict and it is possible that they got infected in the laboratories.
It's a pity they didn't do an isotopic analysis. Just beta contamination, more like work/test/experiment contamination. We o not know exactly what the radioactive material is, for example, Cs-137 (cesium) or another substance - strontium.
Teddy: The one the contaminated clothes belong to was a nuclear physics student (Kolevatov).
XX: Perhaps he contaminated the rest.
Teddy: But only his clothes were contaminated, he and one more participant who worked on Chelyabinsk-40 when there was an accident (Krivonischenko).
XX: Most likely, this is the reason. In those years, there were still no such strict rules for safe work with radioactive substances.
Askinadzi answered me in a private mail. He browsed our forum and said that a lot of information needs correction and/or revision. He is still more comfortable giving me his comments in mails and I will post (translate) them for you.
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Да, нам читали курс «Ядерная физика» (для информации – нам читали девять (!!) разных физик), однако никаких практических или лабораторных работ не было.
Следует учитывать, что Кривонищенко был строителем, он не работал на основном производстве. Авария произошла в 1957 году, к 1959 году было проведено несколько актов дезактивации территории «Маяка». Уровень радиации снизили практически до естественного.
Я внимательно прочитал
размышления Игоря Павлова и полностью согласен с ним.
«Поэтому измерить или увидеть что-то на образцах, которые подверглись облучению в принципе невозможно (естественно, пока не начались симптомы лучевой болезни).
Когда говорится о гистологических образцах, я это понимаю, как образцы человеческих органов, подготовленные для гистологического исследования.
Т.е. тонкие срезы для исследования под микроскопом. В УД есть результаты гистологических исследований для последней четверки.
Левашов исследовал не гистологические образцы (в понимании выше), а
золу от образцов человеческих тканей. Т.е формально это не есть образцы для гистологических исследований. Гистологические образцы не передавались на радиометрическую экспертизу.
Исследования Левашова установили факт незначительного радиоактивного загрязнения образцов человеческих тканей. Это значит, что каким-то образом изотопы оказались в образцах = в организме человека».
А теперь моё мнение о проблеме радиоактивности.
Иванов затребовал исследование на радиоактивность, проявив инициативность и не согласовывая это ни с кем. Левашов ответил на его любопытство. Но специалисты, которые тогда понимали результаты лучше Иванова, объяснили ему, что он получил «мыльный пузырь». Этим всё дело и кончилось. Если бы были получены значимые результаты, то дальнейшие исследования, более глубокие, непременно бы были продолжены. А так, зашили результаты в дело, засекретили всё дело…и успокоились на долгие годы. А поисковики в лихом азарте стали сочинять небылицы, что делают и до сих пор!
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Yes, we had "Nuclear Physics" course (for information, we were taught by nine (!!) different physicists), but there was no practical or laboratory work.
It should be taken into account that Krivonischenko was a builder; he did not work in the main production. The accident occurred in 1957; by 1959, several acts of decontamination of the Mayak territory had been carried out. The radiation level was reduced almost to natural levels.
I carefully read
Igor Pavlov’s thoughts and completely agree with him.
"Therefore, it is in principle impossible to measure or see anything on samples that have been exposed to radiation (naturally, until symptoms of radiation sickness begin).
When we refer to histological samples, I understand this as samples of human organs prepared for histological examination. These are thin sections for examination under a microscope. The case files contain the results of histological studies for the last four.
Levashov did not examine histological samples (as understood above), but ash from human tissue samples. That is, formally these are not samples for histological studies. Histological samples were not submitted for radiometric examination.
Levashov's studies established the fact of minor radioactive contamination of human tissue samples. This means that somehow the isotopes ended up in the samples = in the human body."
And now my opinion about the radioactive contamination.
Ivanov requested a radioactivity test, showing initiative and without coordinating this with anyone. Levashov answered his curiosity. But the specialists, who then understood the results better than Ivanov, explained to him that he had received "soap bubble" (meaning nothing of importance). That was the end of the matter. If significant results had been obtained, then further, deeper studies would certainly have been continued. And so, they filed the results into the case, classified the whole matter... and cooled down for many years. And the searchers, in their wild excitement, began to invent fables, which they still do to this day!