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Chernobyl: A 20 Year Catastrophe; A Lesson for the FutureApril
26, 2006
On April 26, 1986, the Number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded. The worst accident in the history of
the nuclear power industry resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of thousands
of people from the contaminated regions around the plant. A plume of radioactivity
settled over large areas of Russia, eastern Europe, western Europe, and even reached
the United States. A 30-mile "exclusion zone" has been maintained around the reactor
site for the past 20 years.
Some 700,000 "liquidators" were drafted to
contain the fires, to cap the reactor core, and to decontaminate the plant and
the surrounding areas. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
28 of the "early liquidators" died from acute radiation sickness within three
months, another 106 were treated and survived, and 19 died over the next eight
years, not necessarily from radiation. An IAEA-sponsored Chernobyl Forum report,
issued in September 2005, projected 4,000 total deaths would ultimately be related
to the catastrophe.
Since no accurate records were kept, determining
the health consequences for the majority of the liquidators and for others exposed
to radiation from the event has been extremely difficult. A number of independent
reviews, however, have challenged the IAEA's contention that there is "no
direct correlation between radiation exposure at Chernobyl and increased cancer
or death rates."
In April 2006, IPPNW-Germany estimated there
are more than 100,000 Chernobyl-related cases of thyroid cancer, and projected
50,000 additional cases in the future. Genetic damage and congenital deformations
may number in the tens or even hundreds of thousands worldwide. More than 90%
of the liquidators are invalids, according to statistics from Russian authorities,
with higher than average incidences of a variety of illnesses.
The long
term health consequences of Chernobyl will be with us for generations to come.
The resources provided on this website, including the Chernobyl Forum report and
the independent studies challenging the IAEA's findings, are essential information
for anyone concerned with the past, the present, and the future of nuclear power.
IPPNW has come to the conclusion that the only responsible course of
action is a global phaseout of nuclear energy, not only because of the unacceptable
consequences of another Chernobyl, but also because nuclear power and nuclear
weapons proliferation are inextricably linked. Only a global investment in safe,
clean, renewable energy sources can provide the world's energy needs without risking
another Hiroshima or Nagasaki, let alone another Chernobyl. More: | |
