Updated June 25, 2014.
By May of 1986, a month after the disaster, more than 116,000 people in the surrounding 18-mile area had been relocated. In coming years, the number of people who were ultimately displaced was estimated to be approximately 230,000, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
We now know that a much wider geographic area was actually exposed to the radiation from Chernobyl. In a 2006 report from GreenPeace called The Chernobyl Catastrophe: Consequences on Human Health, an international panel of scientists, many outstanding experts in their fields and others who were long-time researchers who had been monitoring Chernobyl since 1986, commented:
This truly global event had its greatest impacts on three neighboring former Soviet republics, namely the now independent countries of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The impacts, however, extended far more widely. More than half of the caesium-137 emitted as a result of the explosion was carried in the atmosphere to other European countries. At least fourteen other countries in Europe (Austria, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova and Greece) were contaminated by radiation levels above the limit used to define areas as "contaminated." Lower, but nonetheless substantial quantities of radioactivity linked to the Chernobyl accident were detected all over the European continent, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, and in Asia. (2)Back at Chernobyl itself, teams of what were referred to as "liquidators" were brought in to help contain the radiation, remove debris, and ultimately, to help build a giant concrete structure -- called the "sarcophagus" -- to seal off the reactor.
A team of 250,000 construction workers, who are all said to have been exposed, in several months, to a lifetime limit of radiation, took part in what is considered the largest engineering project in history, and by the end of 1986, they had entombed the Chernobyl reactor in the sarcophagus.
The Health Effects of Chernobyl
How many people suffered health effects from Chernobyl? It is actually quite difficult to quantify the extent of damage to human health and the environment. The information varies, depending on whether it comes from the Soviet government at the time of the accident, current governments, international agencies, or independent groups.According to a United Nations report:
Of the casualties from Chernobyl, 35 people were declared to be in a "serious condition," and six had died. The toll rose to 31 by the summer of 1986, and there it remained. None of the many officially corroborated direct victims of Chernobyl were ever added to this list: their deaths were attributed to other causes. (3)The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reported that studies show residents of the region did not receive doses of radiation strikingly higher than normal, and that no increased rate of cancer has been detected . They have reported that only children have shown an increase in thyroid cancer -- 4,000 additional cases to be specific -- and that 99% of those cases have been "cured." (4)
Both official accounts seem underplayed. A case in point is the report from the UN's Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), which noted that as of 2005, more than 6,000 Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian citizens were diagnosed with thyroid cancer.(5)
In any case, the need to remove a child's thyroid gland due to cancer can hardly be seen as a "cure" in the sense of the word. The children of Chernobyl have been, and will continue to be saddled with health issues as a result of their thyroid "cure" throughout their lifetimes, and some experts believe that the genetic effects may carry on into the next generation. From Harvard University, a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives looked at the incidence of thyroid cancer from radioactive iodine 131 in over 12,000 Ukrainians over 18 who were exposed to radiation during Chernobyl. The population was screened up to four times between 1998 and 2008, and the researchers found the following:
- There was an increased risk of thyroid cancer 20 years after the initial exposure. This risk was not uniform for the whole group, and seemed to be most dependent on the geographical distance from the plant at the time of exposure.
- The increased risk of thyroid cancer was, on average, 1.91 times higher for every additional gray of radiation exposure. (A gray equals the absorption of one joule of ionizing radiation per one kilogram of tissue).
- There is no evidence indicating that this increased cancer risk for those who lived in the area at the time of the accident is decreasing over time.
In 1989, Time Magazine carried a story about the continuing cover-up around Chernobyl, particularly with regard to children who remained in the area, and were exposed to radiation over a prolonged period of time. The story quotes a variety of former politicians and scientists, who accused the Soviet government of downplaying the exposure levels -- they believe it was actually 20 times higher than reported -- as well as the evacuation schedule for those in the radioactive plume's direct path.
Said one official, "the evacuation of children was finished only on June 7. Little wonder that there are so many sick children in our district, especially those with hyperplasia of the thyroid gland." The story went on to note that this and other radiation-related disorders, like leukemia, have allegedly been misreported as more innocent sounding conditions. (7)
The advocates at GreenPeace have a much less optimistic view. In their 2006 Chernobyl Catastrope report, they detailed a much wider extent of destruction, finding that while official reports state that about 4,000 people more than average have died in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia since the accident, the experts involved in compiling the GreenPeace report identified at least 200,000 deaths out of the norm for the same population.
SHARE
