 The nuclear power plant at Chernobyl prior to the completion of the sarcophagus. - This article is about the effects of the Chernobyl disaster, for the main article on the disaster see: Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster triggered the release of substantial amounts of radiation into the atmosphere in the form of both particle and gaseous radioisotopes, and is the most significant unintentional release of radiation into the environment to date. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) alleges that, while the Chernobyl disaster released as much as 400 times the radioactive contamination of the Hiroshima bomb, it was 100 to 1,000 times less than the contamination caused by atmospheric nuclear weapons testing in the mid-20th century. The effects of this release of radioisotopes are the subject of substantial study, and the full effect of the radiation will not be understood for some time. Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were affected by the radioactive contamination due to the radioactive cloud, as were Germany, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Italy, France and the United Kingdom. Due to the sensitive nature of nuclear-related issues, it has been difficult for the public to appreciate the full extent of the catastrophe. Scientific studies are incomplete in part because of political concerns (for example, in Belarus, Yuri Bandazhevsky, a scientist criticizing the official research being conducted into the Chernobyl disaster was jailed for four years). pic from French wiki This is a recent picture of the plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine--152. ...
pic from French wiki This is a recent picture of the plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine--152. ...
Chernobyl reactor 4 after the disaster, showing the extensive damage to the main reactor hall (image center) and turbine building (image lower left) The early stages of construction of the sarcophagus. ...
Chernobyl reactor 4 after the disaster, showing the extensive damage to the main reactor hall (image center) and turbine building (image lower left) The early stages of construction of the sarcophagus. ...
Radiation hazard symbol. ...
A radionuclide is an atom with an unstable nucleus. ...
Radiation in physics is the process of emitting energy in the form of waves or particles. ...
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957. ...
The Fat Man mushroom cloud resulting from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rises 18 km (11 mi, 60,000 ft) into the air from the hypocenter. ...
A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ...
The radiation warning symbol (trefoil). ...
Yuri Bandazhevsky, born on January 9, 1957 in Belarus, is a scientist working on sanitary consequences of the Chernobyl accident. ...
Short-term health effects and immediate results
 A monument to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster at Moscow's Mitino cemetery, where some of the firefighters that battled the flames and later died of radiation exposure are buried. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev The nuclear meltdown provoked a radioactive cloud which flew over Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, but also Germany, Norway, Sweden, Romania, Austria, Italy, France and the United Kingdom (UK). In fact, the initial evidence in other countries that a major exhaust of radioactive material had occurred came not from Soviet sources, but from Sweden, where on April 27 workers at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant (approximately 1100 km from the Chernobyl site) were found to have radioactive particles on their clothes. It was Sweden's search for the source of radioactivity, after they had determined there was no leak at the Swedish plant, that led to the first hint of a serious nuclear problem in the Western Soviet Union. In France, the government then claimed that the radioactive cloud had stopped at the Italian border. Therefore, while some kind of food were prohibited in Italy because of radioactivity (in particular mushrooms), the French authorities didn't take any such measures, in an attempt to appease the population's fears (See below). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1362, 370 KB) Summary A monument to the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster at Mitino cemetery outside Moscow, where some of the firefighters that battled the flames during the 26 April 1986 disaster and later died of radiation...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1362, 370 KB) Summary A monument to the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster at Mitino cemetery outside Moscow, where some of the firefighters that battled the flames during the 26 April 1986 disaster and later died of radiation...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ...
Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Sweden, and also the site of the Swedish Final repository for radioactive operational waste. ...
The nuclear power plant at Chernobyl prior to the completion of the sarcophagus. ...
Contamination from the Chernobyl disaster was not evenly spread across the surrounding countryside, but scattered irregularly depending on weather conditions. Reports from Soviet and Western scientists indicate that Belarus received about 60% of the contamination that fell on the former Soviet Union. A large area in Russia south of Bryansk was also contaminated, as were parts of northwestern Ukraine. Historic coat of arms of Bryansk (1781). ...
203 people were hospitalized immediately, of whom 31 died (28 of them died from acute radiation exposure).[citation needed] Most of these were fire and rescue workers trying to bring the disaster under control, who were not fully aware of how dangerous the radiation exposure (from the smoke) was (for a discussion of the more important isotopes in fallout see fission products). 135,000 people were evacuated from the area, including 50,000 from the nearby town of Pripyat, Ukraine. Health officials have predicted that over the next 70 years there will be a 2% increase in cancer rates in much of the population which was exposed to the 5-12 (depending on source) EBq of radioactive contamination released from the reactor. An additional 10 individuals have already died of cancer as a result of the disaster.[citation needed] Radiation in physics is the process of emitting energy in the form of waves or particles. ...
Fission products are the residues of fission processes. ...
Pripyat Abandoned village near Pripyat View of Chernobyl from Pripyat The Ukrainian city of Prypyat (ПриÌпÑÑ‚ÑŒ) (in Russian, Pripyat (ПриÌпÑÑ‚ÑŒ), located (51°22′60″ N 30°6′0″ E) in the north of Ukraine near the Belarus border, is an abandoned city. ...
The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of radioactivity, defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. ...
The radiation warning symbol (trefoil). ...
Soviet scientists reported that the Chernobyl Unit 4 reactor contained about 180-190 metric tons of uranium dioxide fuel and fission products. Estimates of the amount of this material that escaped range from 5 to 30 percent, but some liquidators, who have actually been inside the sarcophagus and the reactor shell itself — e.g. Mr. Usatenko and Dr. Karpan[citation needed] — state that not more than 5-10% of the fuel remains inside; indeed, photographs of the reactor shell show that it is completely empty. Because of the intense heat of the fire, much of the ejected fuel was lofted high into the atmosphere (with no containment building to stop it), where it spread. Motto: Пролетарии вÑех Ñтран, ÑоединÑйтеÑÑŒ! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) Translation: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem: The Internationale (1922–1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944–1991) Capital Moscow Language(s) Russian (the de facto official language), 14 other official languages Government Socialist republic Leaders - 1922–1924 Vladimir Lenin - 1924–1953 Joseph Stalin...
UO2 A black, radioactive, crystalline powder, once used in the late 1800s to mid-1900s in ceramic glazes. ...
the central detail of the Liquidators medal Liquidators (Russian: ) is the name given in the former USSR for approximately 600,000 people who were in charge of the removal of the consequences of the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl disaster on the site of the event. ...
A containment building, in its most common usage, is a steel or concrete structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. ...
Workers and liquidators
 Soviet medal awarded to liquidators. The workers involved in the recovery and cleanup after the disaster, called "liquidators", received high doses of radiation. In most cases, these workers were not equipped with individual dosimeters to measure the amount of radiation received, so experts can only estimate their doses. Even where dosimeters were used, dosimetric procedures varied. Some workers are thought to have been given more accurate estimated doses than others. According to Soviet estimates, between 300,000 and 600,000 people were involved in the cleanup of the 30 km evacuation zone around the reactor, but many of them entered the zone two years after the disaster.[1] Estimates of the number of "liquidators"—workers brought into the area for disaster management and recovery work—vary; the World Health Organization, for example, puts the figure at about 800,000; Russia lists as liquidators some people who did not work in contaminated areas. In the first year after the disaster, the number of cleanup workers in the zone was estimated to be 211,000, and these workers received an estimated average dose of 165 millisieverts (16.5 rem). The plume of radioactive debris has been said to be equal to the contamination of 400 Hiroshima bombs. This is correct, but misleading. The main effect of the bomb was the direct radiation from the gamma blast. Compared to that, the contamination was only a minor addition. Furthermore the comparison to bomb fallout is very misleading, as an atomic bomb has a very different isotope signature to a power reactor. In bomb fall out plenty of the very shortlived isotopes are present while the activity in used power reactor fuel tends have a medium to long halflife. The time required for the dose rate to decline by a factor of 10 in an area covered with fallout from an atomic bomb which has detonated an hour ago is much shorter than the time required for the same reduction in dose rate due to chernobyl fallout (one hour after the reactor suffered the steam explosion). Image File history File links To participator of the liquidation of consequence of accident on Chernobyl Nuclear Electric Station Money is the closest tag I could find - as it is minted by the government, and is similar to a coin and conveys a certain currancy backed by the government. ...
Image File history File links To participator of the liquidation of consequence of accident on Chernobyl Nuclear Electric Station Money is the closest tag I could find - as it is minted by the government, and is similar to a coin and conveys a certain currancy backed by the government. ...
the central detail of the Liquidators medal Liquidators (Russian: ) is the name given in the former USSR for approximately 600,000 people who were in charge of the removal of the consequences of the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl disaster on the site of the event. ...
Cross section diagram of dosimeter released by the Federal Civil Defense Authority A dosimeter is any device used to measure an individuals exposure to a hazardous environment, particularly when the hazard is cumulative over long intervals of time, or ones lifetime. ...
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ...
The sievert (symbol: Sv) is the SI derived unit of dose equivalent. ...
The Röntgen equivalent man or rem (symbol rem) is an obsolete unit of radiation dose. ...
Evacuation Soviet authorities started evacuating people from the area around Chernobyl only on the second day after the disaster (within 36 hours). By May 1986, about a month later, all those living within a 30 km (18 mile) radius of the plant—about 116,000 people—had been relocated. This area is often referred to as the zone of alienation. However, radiation affected the area in a much wider scale than this 30 km radius. Download high resolution version (1070x1154, 236 KB)Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. ...
Download high resolution version (1070x1154, 236 KB)Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. ...
Entrance to the Zone of Alienation Abandoned living blocks in the Zone The Zone of Alienation, which is variously referred to as The Chernobyl Zone, The 30 Kilometre Zone, The Zone of Exclusion, or The Fourth Zone (Ukrainian official designation: Зона Ð²Ñ–Ð´Ñ‡ÑƒÐ¶ÐµÐ½Ð½Ñ Ð§Ð¾Ñ€Ð½Ð¾Ð±Ð¸Ð»ÑŒÑької ÐЕС, zona vidchuzhennya Chornobylskoyi AES, colloquially: ЧорнобильÑька зона, Chornobylska...
According to reports from Soviet scientists, 28,000 km² (10,800 mi²) were contaminated by caesium-137 to levels greater than 185 kBq/m². Roughly 830,000 people lived in this area. About 10,500 km ² (4,000 mi²) were contaminated by caesium-137 to levels greater than 555 kBq/m². Of this total, roughly 7,000 km² (2,700 mi²) lie in Belarus, 2,000 km² (800 mi²) in the Russian Federation and 1,500 km² (580 mi²) in Ukraine. About 250,000 people lived in this area. These reported data were corroborated by the International Chernobyl Project. General Name, Symbol, Number caesium, Cs, 55 Chemical series alkali metals Group, Period, Block 1, 6, s Appearance silvery gold Atomic mass 132. ...
Civilians Some children in the contaminated areas were exposed to high radiation doses of up to 50 grays (Gy) because of an intake of radioactive iodine-131, a relatively short-lived isotope with a half-life of 8 days, from contaminated milk produced locally. Several studies have found that the incidence of thyroid cancer among children in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia has risen sharply. The IAEA notes "1800 documented cases of thyroid cancer in children who were between 0 and 14 years of age when the disaster occurred, which is far higher than normal", but fails to note the expected rate. The childhood thyroid cancers that have appeared are of a large and aggressive type but, if detected early, can be treated. Treatment entails surgery followed by iodine-131 therapy for any metastases. To date, such treatment appears to have been successful in the vast majority of cases. The gray (symbol: Gy) is the SI unit of absorbed dose. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number iodine, I, 53 Chemical series halogens Group, Period, Block 17, 5, p Appearance violet-dark gray, lustrous Atomic mass 126. ...
Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ...
Thyroid cancer is cancer of the thyroid gland. ...
IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957, seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. ...
Metastasis (Greek: change of the state) is the spread of cancer from its primary site to other places in the body. ...
Late in 1995, the World Health Organisation (WHO) linked nearly 700 cases of thyroid cancer among children and adolescents to the Chernobyl disaster, and among these some 10 deaths are attributed to radiation. However, the rapid increase in thyroid cancers detected suggests that some of it at least is an artifact of the screening process. Typical latency time of radiation-induced thyroid cancer is about 10 years, but the increase in childhood thyroid cancers in some regions was observed as early as 1987. Presumably either the increase is unrelated to the disaster or the mechanisms behind it are not well understood. For other meanings of the acronym WHO, see WHO (disambiguation) WHO flag Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Health Organization (WHO) is an agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health. ...
Latent period (also known as incubatory period) is the interval between exposure to an infectious organism, toxin or carcinogen and the onset of clinical symptoms of disease. ...
So far, no increase in leukemia is discernible, but this is expected to be evident in the next few years along with a greater, though not statistically discernible, incidence of other cancers. There has been no substantiated increase attributable to Chernobyl in congenital abnormalities, adverse pregnancy outcomes or any other radiation-induced disease in the general population, either in the contaminated areas or further afield.[citation needed] Leukemia or leukaemia (see spelling differences) is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation (production by multiplication) of blood cells, usually white blood cells (leukocytes). ...
Long-term health effects
Science and politics: the problem of epidemiological studies
 An abandoned village near Prypiat, close to Chernobyl The issue of long-term effects of Chernobyl disaster on civilians is very controversial. The number of people whose lives were affected by the disaster is enormous. Over 300,000 people were resettled because of the disaster; millions lived and continue to live in the contaminated area. On the other hand, most of those affected received relatively low doses of radiation; there is little evidence of increased mortality, cancers or birth defects among them; and when such evidence is present, existence of a causal link to radioactive contamination is uncertain. abandoned village near Chernobyl (photo taken by me) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
abandoned village near Chernobyl (photo taken by me) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Prypiat, year 2001 Abandoned village near Prypiat View of the Chernobyl power plant from Prypiat Prypiat (Ukrainian: ; Russian: ; Polish: ; ) is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. ...
An increased incidence of thyroid cancer among children in areas of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia affected by the Chernobyl disaster has been firmly established as a result of screening programs and, in the case of Belarus, an established cancer registry. The findings of most epidemiological studies must be considered interim, say experts, as analysis of the health effects of the disaster is an ongoing process. A cancer registry is a systematic collection of data about cancer and tumor diseases. ...
Epidemiological studies have been hampered in the former Soviet Union by a lack of funds, an infrastructure with little or no experience in chronic disease epidemiology, poor communication facilities and an immediate public health problem with many dimensions. Emphasis has been placed on screening rather than on well-designed epidemiological studies. International efforts to organize epidemiological studies have been slowed by some of the same factors, especially the lack of a suitable scientific infrastructure. Furthermore, the political nature of nuclear energy has heavily affected scientific studies. In Belarus, Yuri Bandazhevsky, a scientist who questioned the official estimates of Chernobyl's consequences and the relevancy of the official maximum limit of 1,000 Bq/kg, has been victim of political repression. He was imprisoned from 2001 to 2005, following his publication of reports critical of the official research being conducted into the Chernobyl incident. Almost all scientists knowledgeable in nuclear-related fields are funded by governmental agencies belonging to the military-industrial complex and the nuclear lobby (in France, to the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA - Atomic Energy Commissariat) and to the EDF electric power company). In France, the authorities thus claimed during years that the radioactive cloud had amazingly stopped at the Italian border. These claims were questioned by independent researchers such as the Commission de recherche et d'information indépendantes sur la radioactivité (CRIIRAD - Commission of Research and Independent Information on Radioactivity). Thus, public and democratic information about this catastrophe has led some to create independent research centers such as the CRIIRAD or the IPPNW, able to conduct scientific investigations without being tied to the nuclear lobby. As with AIDS,[citation needed] science has stopped being ideologically neutral and it has become obvious to most analysts[citation needed] that it carries on political objectives. The September 2005 IAEA report, made in cooperation with the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine, is, according to its critics, an example of such a lack of public information. Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. ...
Nuclear energy is energy released from the atomic nucleus. ...
Yuri Bandazhevsky, born on January 9, 1957 in Belarus, is a scientist working on sanitary consequences of the Chernobyl accident. ...
Political repression is the oppression or persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take part in the political life of society. ...
President Dwight Eisenhower famously referred to the military-industrial complex in his farewell address. ...
It has been suggested that Interest representation: Academic overview be merged into this article or section. ...
The Commissariat à lÉnergie Atomique or CEA, the Atomic Energy Commisson, in English, is a French public establishment of an industrial and commercial character whose mission is to develop all applications of atomic energy, both civilian and military. ...
Électricité de France (EDF) is the main electricity generation and distribution company in France. ...
The Commission de Recherche et dInformation Indépendantes sur la Radioactivité (CRIIRAD - Independent Research and Information Commission on Radioactivity) is a French NGO specialized in radioactivity analysis. ...
This article is about the syndrome. ...
An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ...
The activities undertaken by Belarus and Ukraine in response to the disaster—remediation of the environment, evacuation and resettlement, development of uncontaminated food sources and food distribution channels, and public health measures—have overburdened the governments of those countries. International agencies and foreign governments have provided extensive logistic and humanitarian assistance. In addition, the work of the European Commission and World Health Organization in strengthening the epidemiological research infrastructure in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus is laying the basis for major advances in these countries' ability to carry out epidemiological studies of all kinds. The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...
Cesium radioisotopes - Further information: Fission products
Immediately after the disaster, the main health concern involved radioactive iodine, with a half-life of eight days. Today, there is concern about contamination of the soil with strontium-90 and caesium-137, which have half-lives of about 30 years. The highest levels of caesium-137 are found in the surface layers of the soil where they are absorbed by plants, insects and mushrooms, entering the local food supply. Some scientists fear that radioactivity will affect the local population for the several next generations. Note that cesium is not mobile in most soils because it binds to the clay minerals.[1][2][3] Recent tests (ca. 1997) have shown that caesium-137 levels in trees of the area are continuing to rise. There is some evidence that contamination is migrating into underground aquifers and closed bodies of water such as lakes and ponds (2001, Germenchuk). The main source of elimination is predicted to be natural decay of caesium-137 to stable barium-137, since runoff by rain and groundwater has been demonstrated to be negligible. Fission products are the residues of fission processes. ...
Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number Strontium, Sr, 38 Series Alkaline earth metal Group, Period, Block 2 (IIA), 5, s Density, Hardness 2630 kg/m3, 1. ...
Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope which is formed mainly by nuclear fission. ...
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number barium, Ba, 56 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 6, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 137. ...
Food restrictions Twenty years after the catastrophe, restriction orders remain in place in the production, transportation and consumption of food contaminated by Chernobyl fallout. In the UK, they remain in place on 374 farms covering 750 km² and 200,000 sheep. In parts of Sweden and Finland, restrictions are in place on stock animals, including reindeer, in natural and near-natural environments. "In certain regions of Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania and Poland, wild game (including boar and deer), wild mushrooms, berries and carnivore fish from lakes reach levels of several thousand Bq per kg of caesium-137", while "in Germany, caesium-137 levels in wild boar muscle reached 40,000 Bq/kg. The average level is 6,800 Bq/kg, more than ten times the EU limit of 600 Bq/kg", according to the TORCH 2006 report. The European Commission has stated that "The restrictions on certain foodstuffs from certain Member States must therefore continue to be maintained for many years to come".[2] Basidiocarps (mushrooms) of the fungus Leucocoprinus sp. ...
As of 2006, sheep farmed in some areas of the UK are still subject to inspection which may lead to them being prohibited from entering the human food chain because of contamination arising from the accident: Food chains, food webs and/or food networks describe the feeding relationships between species in a biotic community. ...
"Some of this radioactivity, predominantly radiocaesium-137, was deposited on certain upland areas of the UK, where sheep-farming is the primary land-use. Due to the particular chemical and physical properties of the peaty soil types present in these upland areas, the radiocaesium is still able to pass easily from soil to grass and hence accumulate in sheep. A maximum limit of 1,000 becquerels per kilogramme (Bq/kg) of radiocaesium is applied to sheep meat affected by the accident to protect consumers. This limit was introduced in the UK in 1986, based on advice from the European Commission's Article 31 group of experts. Under power provided under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (FEPA), Emergency Orders have been used since 1986 to impose restrictions on the movement and sale of sheep exceeding the limit in certain parts of Cumbria, North Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland... When the Emergency Orders were introduced in 1986, the Restricted Areas were large, covering almost 9,000 farms, and over 4 million sheeps. Since 1986, the areas covered by restrictions have dramatically decreased and now cover 374 farms, or part farms, and around 200,000 sheep. This represents a reduction of over 95% since 1986, with only limited areas of Cumbria, South Western Scotland and North Wales, covered by restrictions.[3] Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope which is formed mainly by nuclear fission. ...
The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of radioactivity, defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. ...
Cumbria (IPA: ), created in 1974, is a county in the North West region of England. ...
Approximate extent of North Wales North Wales (known in some archaic texts as Northgalis) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales. ...
Motto: (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity(English) Wha daur meddle wi me? (Scots)[1] Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic, Scots[2] Government - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification - by Kenneth I...
Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official languages English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Office...
In Norway, the Sami people were affected by contaminated food (the reindeer had been contaminated by eating lichen, which are very sensitive to radioactivity).[4] The Sami people (also Sámi, Saami, Lapps and Laplanders) are the indigenous people of Sápmi, which encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. ...
Binomial name Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758) Reindeer map The reindeer, known as caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer (Rangifer tarandus). ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the use of images on this page may require cleanup, involving adjustment of image placement, formatting, size, or other adjustments. ...
Effect on the natural world According to reports from Soviet scientists at the First International Conference on the Biological and Radiological Aspects of the Chernobyl Accident (September 1990), fallout levels in the 10 km zone around the plant were as high as 4.81 GBq/m². The so-called "Red Forest" of pine trees [4][5] killed by heavy radioactive fallout lay within the 10 km zone, immediately behind the reactor complex. The forest is so named because in the days following the disaster the trees appeared to have a deep red hue as they died due to extremely heavy radioactive fallout. In the post-disaster cleanup operations, a majority of the 4 km² forest was bulldozed and buried. The site of the Red Forest remains one of the most contaminated areas in the world. However, it has proved to be an astonishingly fertile habitat for many endangered species. In marked contrast to the human cost, the evacuation of the area surrounding the plant has indeed created a lush and unique wildlife refuge. In the 1996 BBC Horizon documentary 'Inside Chernobyl's Sarcophagus', birds are seen flying in and out of large holes in the structure itself. It is unknown whether fallout contamination will have any long-term adverse effect on the flora and fauna of the region, as plants and animals have significantly different and varying radiologic tolerance compared with humans. Some birds are reported with stunted tail feathers (which interferes with breeding). However, it seems that the biodiversity around the massive radiation spill has increased due to the removal of human influence (see the first hand account of the wildlife preserve below). Storks, wolves, beavers, and eagles have been reported in the area. There are reports of mutations in some plants in the area, leading to unsubstantiated tales of a "forest of wonders" containing many strangely mutated plants. Specifically, some trees have weirdly twisted branches that do not reach for the sky.[5] The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of radioactivity, defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. ...
The critically endangered Siberian Tiger, a rare subspecies of tiger. ...
Horizon is a long-running BBC popular science and history documentary programme, notable for coining the term supervolcano. ...
The September 2005 IAEA report and criticisms In September 2005, a controversed report by the Chernobyl Forum, comprising a number of agencies including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations bodies and the Governments of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, put the total predicted number of deaths due to the disaster at 4,000 (of which 2,200 deaths are expected to be in the ranks of 200,000 liquidators). This predicted death toll includes the 47 workers who died of acute radiation syndrome as a direct result of radiation from the disaster, nine children who died from thyroid cancer and an estimated 3,940 people who could die from cancer as a result of exposure to radiation. The report also stated that, apart from a 30 kilometre area around the site and a few restricted lakes and forests, radiation levels had returned to acceptable levels.[6][7] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957. ...
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ...
The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ...
Radiation poisoning, also called radiation sickness, is a form of damage to organic tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. ...
The methodology of the Chernobyl Forum report has been disputed by Greenpeace, the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear Warfare (IPPNW), and Elisabeth Cardis of the International Agency for Research on Cancer [8]. The main criticism has been with regard to the restriction of the Forum's study to Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Furthermore, it only studied the case of 200,000 people involved in the cleanup, and the 400,000 most directly affected by the released radiation. German Green Party Member of the European Parliament Rebecca Harms, commissioned a report on Chernobyl in 2006 (TORCH ,The Other Report on Chernobyl). The 2006 TORCH report claimed that: Greenpeace protest against Esso / Exxon Mobil. ...
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) is a worldwide grouping of national medical organizations. ...
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, or CIRC in its French acronym) is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organisation of the United Nations. ...
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (literally: Alliance 90/The Greens), the German Green Party, is a political party in Germany whose regional predecessors were founded in the late 1970s as part of the new social movements. ...
A Member of the European Parliament (English abbreviation MEP)[1] is a member of the European Unions directly-elected legislative body, the European Parliament. ...
Rebecca Harms (born 7 December 1956 in Hambrock, Uelzen) is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament for Alliance 90/The Greens, part of the European Greens. ...
"In terms of their surface areas, Belarus (22% of its land area) and Austria (13%) were most affected by higher levels of contamination. Other countries were seriously affected; for example, more than 5% of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden were contaminated to high levels (> 40,000 Bq/m2 caesium-137). More than 80% of Moldova, the European part of Turkey, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria and the Slovak Republic were contaminated to lower levels (> 4,000 Bq/m2 caesium-137). And 44% of Germany and 34% of the UK were similarly affected." (See map of radioactive distribution of Caesium-137 in Europe)[2] While the IAEA/WHO and UNSCEAR considered areas with exposure greater than 40,000 Bq/m2, the TORCH report also included areas contaminated with more than 4,000 Bq/m2 of Cs-137.
The TORCH 2006 report "estimated that more than half the iodine-131 from Chernobyl [which increases the risk of thyroid cancer] was deposited outside the former Soviet Union. Possible increases in thyroid cancer have been reported in the Czech Republic and the UK, but more research is needed to evaluate thyroid cancer incidences in Western Europe". It predicted about 30,000 to 60,000 excess cancer deaths, 7 to 15 Times greater than the figure of 4,000 in the IAEA press release; warned that predictions of excess cancer deaths strongly depend on the risk factor used; and predicted excess cases of thyroid cancer range between 18,000 and 66,000 in Belarus alone depending on the risk projection model.[9]
Another study claims possible heightened mortality in Sweden. [10].
Greenpeace quoted a 1998 WHO study, which counted 212 dead from only 72,000 liquidators. The environmental NGO estimated a total death toll of 93,000 but cite in their report that “The most recently published figures indicate that in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine alone the disaster could have resulted in an estimated 200,000 additional deaths in the period between 1990 and 2004.” In its report, Greenpeace suggested there will be 270,000 cases of cancer alone attributable to Chernobyl fallout, and that 93,000 of these will probably be fatal (compare with the IAEA 2005 report which claimed that "99% of thyroid cancers wouldn't be lethal". Blake Lee-Harwood, campaigns director at Greenpeace, declared that cancer was likely to be the cause of less than half of the final fatalities; "intestinal problems, heart and circulation problems, respiratory problems, endocrine problems, and particularly effects on the immune system," are also concerns. Lee-Harwood alleged that the nuclear industry had a "vested interest in playing down Chernobyl because it's an embarrassment to them". Responding to these criticisms, the WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl explained that "the Greenpeace report is looking at all of Europe, whereas our report looks at only the most affected areas of the three most affected countries,".[11]
According to the Union Chernobyl, the main organization of liquidators, 10% of the 600,000 liquidators are now dead, and 165,000 disabled.[12]
According to a April 2006 report by the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear Warfare (IPPNW), entitled "Chernobyl's consequences on health", more than 10,000 people are today affected by thyroid cancer and 50,000 cases are expected. In Europe, the IPPNW claims that 10,000 deformities have been observed in newborns because of Chernobyl's radioactive discharge, with 5,000 deaths among newborn children. They also claim that several hundreds of thousands of the people who worked on the site after the disaster are now sick because of radiation, and tens of thousands are dead.[12] International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) is a worldwide grouping of national medical organizations. ...
Teratology (from the Greek teras (genitive teratos), meaning monster, and logos meaning study) is the medical study of teratogenesis or grossly deformed individuals. ...
References - ^ Chapter IV: Dose estimates, Nuclear Energy Agency, 2002
- ^ a b TORCH report executive summary. European Greens and UK scientists Ian Fairlie PhD and David Sumner (April 2006). Retrieved on April 21, 2006.
- ^ Post-Chernobyl Monitoring and Controls Survey Report. UK Food Standards Agency. Retrieved on April 19, 2006.
- ^ "Chernobyl fallout: internal doses to the Norwegian population and the effect of dietary advice", Strand P, Selnaes TD, Boe E, Harbitz O, Andersson-Sorlie A., National Institute of Radiation Hygiene, Osteras, Norway
- ^ "Wildlife defies Chernobyl radiation", BBC News, April 20, 2006.
- ^ IAEA Report. In Focus: Chernobyl. Retrieved on 2006-03-29.
- ^ For full coverage see the IAEA Focus Page<ref></ref> and joint IAEA/WHO/UNDP press release Chernobyl: The True Scale of the Accident, IAEA/WHO/UNDP, September 5, 2005 (pdf file)
- ^ "Special Report: Counting the dead", 'Nature', April 19, 2006. Retrieved on April 21, 2006.
- ^ TORCH report executive summary, op.cit., p.4
- ^ Chernobyl 'caused Sweden cancers', BBC News, November 20, 2004
- ^ "Greenpeace rejects Chernobyl toll", BBC News, April 18, 2006.
- ^ a b (French) "Selon un rapport indépendant, les chiffres de l'ONU sur les victimes de Tchernobyl ont été sous-estimés (According to an independent report, UN numbers on Chernobyl's victims has been underestimated)", Le Monde, April 7, 2006. and see also "'On n’a pas fini d’entendre parler de Tchernobyl', interview with Angelika Claussen, head of the German section of the IPPNW", Arte, April 13, 2006.
The Nuclear Energy Agency is an intergovernmental multinational agency that is organized under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. ...
European Greens is the name of the European Green Party, a political party at European level. ...
The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. ...
The current BBC News logo BBC News and Current Affairs is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporations newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ...
For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...
March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in leap years). ...
IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957, seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. ...
Who can refer to: WHO, World Health Organization The Who, a British rock band The Guess Who, a Canadian rock band who (pronoun), an English language interrogative pronoun. ...
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the largest multilateral source of grant technical assistance in the world. ...
PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ...
First title page, November 4, 1869 Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ...
The current BBC News logo BBC News and Current Affairs is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporations newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ...
Le Monde is also the name of a song by the Thievery Corporation. ...
Arte is a Franco-German TV network, which aims to promote quality programming related to the world of arts and culture. ...
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