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The Chernobyl Accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel and without proper regard for safety.
The resulting steam explosion and fire released about five percent of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind.
The accident destroyed the Chernobyl-4 reactor and killed 30 people, including 28 from radiation exposure. A further 209 on site were treated for
acute radiation poisoning and among these, 134 cases were confirmed (all of whom recovered). Nobody off-site suffered from acute radiation effects. However, large areas of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and beyond were
contaminated in varying degrees.
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The Chernobyl disaster was a unique event and the only accident in the history of commercial nuclear power where radiation-related
fatalities occurred.
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About 200,000 people ("liquidators") from all over the USSR were involved in the recovery and clean up during 1986 and 1987. They
received high doses of radiation, around 100 millisieverts. Some 20,000 of them received about 250 mSv and a few received 500 mSv. Later, the number of liquidators swelled to over 600,000 but most of these received
only low radiation doses.
The people of Chernobyl were exposed to radiation 300 times greater than that from the Hiroshima bomb.
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Many children in the surrounding areas were exposed to radiation doses sufficient to lead to thyroid cancers (usually not fatal if
diagnosed and treated early). Initial radiation exposure in contaminated areas was due to short-lived iodine-131, later caesium-137 was the main hazard (both are fission products dispersed from the
reactor core). On 2-3 May, some 45,000 residents were evacuated from within a 10 km radius of the plant, notably from the plant operators' town of Pripyat. On 4 May, all those living within a 30
kilometre radius - a further 116 000 people - were evacuated and later relocated. About 1,000 of these have since returned unofficially to live within the contaminated zone. Most of those evacuated
received radiation doses of less than 50 mSv, although a few received 100 mSv or more.
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A United Nations 1995 Report estimated that a total of 9 million people were directly or indirectly affected by the Chernobyl disaster and that 3 -
4 million of those affected were children. Radiation specialist Professor John Gofman's assessment is that the Chernobyl accident will cause 475,000 fatal cancers world-wide, and an equal number of non-fatal
cancers.
Almost 400,000 people have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the nuclear power plant explosion. According to the Belarus Ministry of Health, the
incidence of thyroid cancer, which has already shown marked increase, may rise still further and could peak between the years 2005 - 2010. An area the size of England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined - over
160,000 square kilometres - is estimated to have been contaminated by the disaster. Chiefly affected are Northern Ukraine, Western Russia and the Republic of Belarus.
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Since the accident people have been evacuated and relocated. They have become environmental refugees. The areas they have left have
become a radioactive desert comprised of no-go areas covering thousands of hectares fenced off with barbed wire. Approximately 2,000 towns and villages in Belarus and The Ukraine have been evacuated. In
Belarus, evacuations have been abandoned since new hot spots of contamination are being found daily. During the summer radiation is spread through forest fires. Recontamination through food and water is
a constant problem in Belarus and there is no access to clean food. The people of this traditional farming area still till their fields, herd their cattle and eat their own produce.
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Over 1.8 million people, including 500,000 children, live in radioactive zones in Belarus. Between 3 and 5 million people, including 2 million
children, in The Ukraine live in radioactive zones. In the radioactive zone areas there are bans on children walking in forests or in rain, playing in the parks, and picking wild berries or flowers due to the high
levels of radiation. Parents in these zones must check local radiation levels before allowing their children out to school.
Over 70% of the 100 million curies of radiation released into the atmosphere from Chernobyl fell on to the population of Belarus. 25% of the country's prime
farmland and forest has been subjected to radioactive contamination of varying degrees. 10% of the land is now unusable. Only 1% of the Belarusian land remains uncontaminated by international standards.
In the years following the accident a further 210 000 people were resettled into less contaminated areas, and the initial 30 km radius exclusion zone (2800
km2) was modified and extended to cover 4300 square kilometres.
Subsequent studies in the Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were based on national registers of over 1 million people possibly affected by radiation. These
confirmed a rising incidence of thyroid cancer among exposed children. Late in 1995, the World Health Organisation linked nearly 700 cases of thyroid cancer among children and adolescents to the Chernobyl accident,
and among these some 10 deaths are attributed to radiation.
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There is a 100% increase in childhood leukaemia in Belarus. The United Nations acknowledges a 24 fold rise in thyroid cancer, 100 fold in the worst
affected region in Belarus.
New diseases have been discovered. 'Chernobyl Aids' is an incurable condition where radiation leads to the breakdown of the immune system, loss of hearing and
the build up of fluid in children's heads - 90% of children in the contaminated zones are unhealthy.
800,000 children in the Chernobyl region are at high risk of cancer and leukaemia.
170,000 children under 7 in the Chernobyl area have received radiation doses high enough to cause thyroid cancer.
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Children of Chernobyl
Ten years after the explosion, more and more children that survived the incident are developing cancer. Children who are born from parents exposed
to high radiation levels may be in threat of deformities
There now exists a real threat to the gene pool of Belarus as 90% of children in Belarus have now been contaminated.
In the radiation zones of Belarus the birth rate is down 50% and death rates now exceed the birth rates.
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Psycho-social effects among those affected by the accident are emerging as a major problem, and are similar to those arising from other major
disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires.
There is a 10 - 15% chance of curing childhood leukaemia in Belarus. It is 85% in the western world.
Treatment of disease is difficult due to lack of proper medication and equipment. Even simple medicines like aspirin are difficult to obtain. Food supplies
are restricted for ordinary people as they don't have the money to buy "on the black market". Alcohol abuse, divorce, child abuse and suicide are reaching epidemic proportions as the country battles to
overcome the psychological effects of living in deprived, contaminated environments. Surgical procedures as complex as Appendectomy are carried-out under local anaesthetic.
It has been medically shown that a month out of the contaminated atmosphere, breathing clean air and eating "clean" food, can detoxify the body and
provide a boost to the immune system lasting up to 18 months. This can help to prevent the development of disease and can enrich the lives of children who would otherwise have little hope.
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The Chernobyl Accident - Facts and Figures
Area evacuated in Belarus: 20% of country
Complete exclusion zone: 1,700 square Kilometres
Persons evacuated and resettled within Belarus: 130,000
Numbers of persons affected: 2.2 million, out of a total population of 10.3 million
Children were more seriously affected than adults.
Over 18,000 km2 of agricultural land (22%) received some fallout. Of this, 2,640 km2 totally removed from agricultural production.
Radioactive Iodine fallout fell over 80% of Belarus.
10% of milk contaminated with excessive levels of radioactive Caesium 137.
Thyroid cancer is normally extremely rare among children. The worldwide average is I to 2 cases per million children. In some areas of Belarus, the rate is
125 cases per million children.
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There is scant information about these people. It is understood that up to 100,000 of them have died or been handicapped in the course of the
fourteen years since the accident. A proportion of these deaths can probably be attributed to the radiation they received in connection with the Chernobyl accident.
The cleanup operation after the accident assumed huge proportions. Up to 600,000 workers and military personnel were involved.
These so-called "liquidators" carried out vital tasks just after the accident and took part in cleanup work in the following year. Half of them were
from the Ukraine, while the remainder came from the whole of the former Soviet Union.
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Those that received the largest radiation doses were in the first place the approximately 400 employees at the facility, and the fire crew and
medical personnel that were there when the accident happened and in the following days.
Between 17 and 45 percent of Chernobyl liquidators received doses between 10 and 25 centigrays (10 to 25 rads). (For comparison, in the United States the
annual dose permitted general public is 0.1 rads; nuclear workers are permitted 5 rads.)
- During the night, April 26, 1986, a packed train Moscow - Khmelnytskiy passed close to Chernobyl Atomic Station through the rails still warm from
radioactive dust. Many of the train's passengers later died or became disabled due to this trip.
- Chernobyl disaster turned thousands of acres of fertile land into lifeless desert. Agricultural products grown on these lands turn into lethal poison. On
the photo: a sign Radioactive danger: planting and gathering agricultural products and cattle breeding is forbidden.
- Before 1986, Polissya region was perceived as the most ecologically clean and beautiful region of Ukraine. After the catastrophe, Polissya forests have
absorbed enormous amounts of radiation.
- This unique museum contains copies of signs of cities and villages, which ceased existence after the Chernobyl disaster. The number of people evacuated
from the lethal zone exceeded 100,000 people. On the photo: at one time all these signs showed the entrance to populated towns and villages and people were working and children were playing. Now these
settlements are abandoned.
- The monument to a fireman, V. Pavik, awarded with the Hero of the Soviet Union order. He was a commander of the firemen team which stopped the
radioactive fire from disseminating to other reactors.
- The land will be contaminated for 24,000 years.
- Belarus used to be the bread basket of the ex Soviet Union. It is now bare land contaminated with Caesium 137 and the radioactive Iodine and Strontium.
- The beautiful villages are now deserted lands.
- Since the accident little has changed or improved.
- New spots of radioactive contamination are still being discovered and villages continue to be closed.
- Radiation levels in the soil have hardly changed, so the contamination continues through the food chain.There has been an increase in childhood cancers,
thyroid damage, chest infections, eyesight problems, respiratory problems and anaemia.
- The hospitals are without basic drugs and equipment and the children are not even receiving the most rudimentary treatment.
- Vital care for the increased numbers of premature babies is limited.
- Family life is suffering as a result of the increase in suicides and marriage breakdowns.
- The schools are desperately short of teaching resources and the orphanages, while caring, are almost bereft of any homely touches.
- Bringing groups of children to stay with local families for a four-week recuperative break - fresh air and uncontaminated food can help to boost their
damaged immune systems.
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