http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totskoye_rangeCitácia:
Thousands are believed to have died as a result of radiation, both immediately and in the years following. The pilot flying the Tu-4 developed leukemia and his co-pilot developed bone cancer.[citation needed] According to official figures some 45,000 soldiers and 10,000 civilians have suffered as a result of the test, many of which soon have died.[1] People exposed to radiation during tests were denied medical care, their military records were falsified to show different serving places and the test remained secret.[7] The sick people who sought help in local hospitals later were surprised to find out that their medical cards, containing their histories of sickness, all had disappeared from the regional hospital. That fact was confirmed by the former soldier that participated in the exercise, Alexey Petrovich Vavilov, in the interview[1] to the television news broadcasting program Podrobnosti (Telechannel INTER).[1]
Tamara Zlotnikova, a former member of the Russian Duma, is helping survivors fight for compensation. She believes that the toll from the test was enormous. She is quoted as saying: "Even today, the incidence of some cancers in Orenburg, a city 130 miles from the range, is double that of the people who suffered in Chernobyl. A study carried out by the health ministry on cities with the worst health problems puts Orenburg second out of 88."[4] However, there may be other factors such as high pollution levels in the Ural River which contributed to the health problems in Orenburg.