Persistence of dicentrics in Chernobyl clean-up workers who suffered from low doses of radiation

Blood samples from 243 clean-up workers who undertook duties at Chernobyl in 1986 were examined in order to study temporal changes of chromosomal aberrations over long periods (6–12 yr) following irradiation. From an analysis of the elapsed time between irradiation and cytogenetic examination, it was found that the frequency of dicentrics and rings did not decrease during the 6 yr period of observation.