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The Chernobyl Disaster
Chernobyl: A 20 Year Catastrophe;
A Lesson for the Future
April 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.
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