Subcribe to the NFA Email List

Your Email:

DOWNLOAD

"There will be cesium in the silage this winter and there will be cesium in milk & meat next year. I would not like to predict the effect on people."-
UK Radiological Protection Board, 1986.
Chernobyl

26.4.86

and still killing.

Lest we forget.

"At least three million children in Belarus , Ukraine and the Russian Federation require physical treatment (due to the Chernobyl accident). Not until 2016, at the earliest, will we know the full number of those
likely to develop serious medical conditions."

- Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations

"The half-life of our memory of catastrophes such as Chernobyl is only a small fraction of the half-life of those radioactive isotopes that were released by the exploding reactor on 26 April 1986 in Ukraine . With
this in mind, we see the www.chernobyl.info Internet platform as a manifesto against forgetting."

- Walter Fust, Director General, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) "The nuclear accident at Chernobyl will go on forever and will linger in the genetic material of future generations for the rest of time."- Dr Helen Caldicott

 

Chernobyl: The World's Worst Nuclear Power Accident - Background |
Top

In Spring 1986, the world's worst nuclear power accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 80 miles north of Kiev in Ukraine in the former Soviet Union. The accident has been described by the United Nations as "the greatest environmental catastrophe in the history of humanity." On 26 April 1986 , at 1:23 AM , a core meltdown occurred at Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, creating a chemical explosion and a fireball which blew off the reactor's 1,000-ton steel and concrete lid. Some
190 tons of highly radioactive uranium and graphite were expelled, spewing radioactive substances to a height of more than 1kilometer into the earth's atmosphere.

It is estimated that the explosion released more than 200 times the radioactive fallout of the two nuclear weapons used at the end of World War II, spreading a radioactive cloud over large parts of the former
Soviet Union , including Belarus , Ukraine and Russia , across Europe , and reaching as far as Greenland and parts of Asia . The radioactive plume initially travelled in a northwest direction toward Sweden , Finland and Eastern Europe , exposing the unsuspecting public to levels up to 100 times the normal
background radiation.

For maps of the Chernobyl radioactive fall out: see
http://users.owt.com/smsrpm/Chernobyl/glbrad.html   and http://www
worldprocessor.com/53.htm

 

 

 

The After-Effects

The Chernobyl accident killed more than 30 people immediately, and as a result of the high radiation levels in the surrounding 20-mile radius, some 135,000 people were evacuated. However, it was not until the third day after the explosion that the Soviet authorities reported the full scale of the accident, and the people of Ukraine did not learn the truth until 3 May 1986.Early reporting of the accident could have enabled the affected population to escape exposure to some radioactive particles known to cause
thyroid cancer, such as Iodine 131.

As a result of the Chernobyl accident, deadly radioactive material was widely dispersed, affecting a vast area, practically the whole of the northern hemisphere. In fact, today in the UK , hundreds of farms in
Wales are still subject to restrictions due to sheep eating radioactive grass. Based on the official reports by the United Nations, up to 9 million people in Belarus , Ukraine and Russia have been affected directly or indirectly by the radiation fallout. The people of the affected areas have received the highest known exposure to radiation in the history of the Nuclear Age, the full consequences of which will not be seen for at least another 50 years.

While there are no definitive figures of deaths resulting from the Chernobyl accident, reports vary from zero to over 100,000 fatalities. Since 1986, the rate of thyroid cancer in affected areas has increased ten fold. Specifically, there has been a significant increase in the number of thyroid cancer cases among atients age 15 or younger. About 155,000 sq. km in Belarus , Ukraine and Russia were contaminated, which is almost half of the size of Italy . Agricultural areas covering nearly 52 000 sq. km, which is more than the size of Denmark , were contaminated with Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, with 30-year and 29-year half-lives respectively. Despite the resettlement of 404,000 people, millions continue to live in an environment where residual exposure has created a range of adverse effects.

For first hand accounts by those who experienced the Chernobyl
disaster and
now live with the consequences, go to http://www.oneworld
org/index_oc/issue196/babel.html  and http://archive.greenpeace
org/comms/nukes/chernob/read13.html

The Toxic Legacy of Nuclear Power

 

The radioactive byproducts of the Chernobyl plant explosion will remain in affected areas for some 48,000 years. An official exclusion zone around the plant remains in place, extending for 18 miles. It is one of the most dangerous regions on earth.

The Chernobyl accident demonstrated an often overlooked facet of the Nuclear Age: it is not only our warlike technologies that threaten humanity, our so-called "peaceful" technologies can also cause devastation to life and property. "Inherently safe" nuclear power reactors are a myth. A devastating
accident can occur in any nuclear reactor, causing the release of large quantities of deadly radioactive products into the environment. In addition, one of the biggest problems facing the nuclear industry is what to do with the radioactive waste generated in a nuclear reactor. Also, any nuclear power plant capable of producing energy has the capacity to breed weapons- grade materials for nuclear bombs.

For a Nuclear Energy Fact sheet, go to:
http://www.wagingpeace
org/menu/issues/nuclear-energy-&-waste/start/fact-sheet_ne&w.htm

The causes of the Chernobyl accident have been described as a fateful combination of human error and imperfect technology. The blast occurred because of a flawed reactor design and inadequately trained
personnel acting without proper regard for safety. Sadly, although Chernobyl is the largest civil nuclear disaster to date, it may not be the last. There are currently 440 nuclear reactors in 31 countries and there are 32 nuclear reactors now under construction. Almost twenty years after the Chernobyl accident, the
world has yet to significantly invest human and financial resources into developing alternatives to nuclear power, the most dangerous and unsustainable of all energy sources.

Alternatives in Energy Sources

Sixteen percent of the world's electricity now comes from nuclear energy, 85 percent of which is concentrated in industrialized countries. In the US , 21percent of energy sources are derived from nuclear power. The world must decrease its dependence on nuclear energy and advance a global shift to clean, sustainable and environmentally benign sources of energy that do not pose the accident risks inherent in nuclear energy production. These sources include:

. Bioenergy: biomass, such as plant matter and animal waste, can yield power  heat, steam and fuel.
. Geothermal: renewable heat energy can be harnessed from deep within the earth.
. Wind: turbines turning in the air convert kinetic energy in the wind into electricity.
. Solar: the sun's energy can be captured and used to produce heat and electricity.
. Hydrogen: if produced by renewable sources, it can power fuel cells to convert chemical energy directly into electricity, with useful heat and water as the only byproducts.
. Tidal: using the movement of the ocean to power turbines and generate electricity.

For more information on clean and sustainable energy sources, go to
http://www.eere.energy.gov/


Resources For a personal account of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, read " Chernobyl , the Forbidden Truth" by Alla Yaroshinskaya. The book is available for sale at the Foundation, please call 805.965.3443

International Chernobyl Research and Information Network http://www chernobyl.info/en

The History of the United Nations and Chernobyl http://www.un org/ha/chernobyl/

"Optimizing the International Effort to Study, Mitigate and Minimize the Consequences of the Chernobyl Disaster: Report of the Secretary-General"
http://ods-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N03/485/92/PDF/N0348592 pdf?OpenElement

Nuclear Power: Expensive and Deadly
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/view
fpl/7204/article/118.html

Greenpeace "Clean Energy Now!" Campaign
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/