Chernobyl catastrophe

For the inhabitants of the exclusion zone, situated in a forested region without well-developed economic and social infrastructures, it is of interest to estimate the relative contributions to internal exposure of forest food (berries and mushrooms) and conventional agricultural food (potatoes and milk). Some specialist studies have assumed that forest food represents only a small part of the diet of inhabitants of the exclusion zone, but we would suggest that in fact, it plays a major role. Typically, the consumption of forest food contributes 50% of the internal exposure dose, while for some critical population groups, it can exceed 80%. The definition of the spatial variation in pollution, the prevailing ecological conditions, and the diet should allow a scientifically-based prediction to be made of the internal exposure dose to the local population, and will help to identify the major risk factors within a certain time period following the Chernobyl catastrophe. 

Baryakhtar V. G. (1995) Chernobyl Catastrophe. Export Publishing House, Kiev, Russia. 

The Chernobyl catastrophe and the resulting pressure of public opinion prevented the further development of this interesting reactor line in the Federal Republic of Germany. 

Savechenko, V. K. (1995). The Ecology of the Chernobyl Catastrophe Scientific Outlines of an International Programme of Collaborative Research, Parthenon Publishing Groups, Paris. 

Smith, J. T., and Beresford, N. A. (2005). Chernobyl Catastrophe and Consequences, Springer/Praxis, Chichester, West Sussex, England. 

V.K. Savchenko, The Ecology of the Chernobyl Catastrophe, UNESCO and Parthenon Publishing Group, Paris - Canforth, Lancs. - New York, 1995. 

V.G. Baiyakhtar (ed.), Chernobyl Catastrophe, Naukova Dumka, Kiev, Ukraine, 1996. 

Radioactive iodine isotopes are spread as a result of nuclear power plant disasters. Especially important is with a half-life of eight days. When this iodine isotope is taken up by the thyroid gland, it causes cancer. People Kving and working near a nuclear power station are therefore recommended to have iodine tablets available and to use them in an emergency situation. The tablet s content of normal iodine is taken up by the thyroid gland and saturates it This blocks the uptake of radioactive iodine. After the Chernobyl catastrophe, the intake of dairy products enriched with iodine is of particular importance for the population of Ukraine s western regions. 

The consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe (1988) were greatly exacerbated by the decision not to construct a containment building. 

Ten years passed since the biggest radioactive catastrophe in the history of humanity happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The Russian State medical dosimetric Register was founded after this catastrophe At present in the Register they keep a medical and radiation-dosimetric information about 435.276 persons. 

The greatest concern that most members of the general public have about nuclear energy is the possibility of a catastrophic accident such as occurred in 1986 at Chernobyl in the Ukraine. If reactors have... 

Populations of soil mites were reduced in the Chernobyl area, but no population showed a catastrophic drop in numbers. By 1987, soil microfauna — even in the most heavily contaminated plots — were comparable to controls. Flies (Drosophila spp.) from various distances from the accident site and bred in the laboratory had higher incidences of dominant lethal mutations (14.7%, estimated dose of 0.8 mGy/h) at sites nearest the accident than controls (4.3%). Fish populations seemed unaffected in July/August 1987, and no grossly deformed individuals were found. However, 34+ i 37( s levels were elevated in young fishes. The most heavily contaminated teleost in May 1987 was the carp (Carassius carassius). But carp showed no evidence of mutagenesis, as judged by incidence of chromosomal aberrations in cells from the corneal epithelium of carp as far as 60 km from Chernobyl (Sokolov et al. 1990). 

Environmentally hazardous projects are those where the risk of accidents is very high, which can result in a major and sometimes even catastrophic chemical pollution of the environment. Frequently, these disasters take casualties among the plant personnel, as well as among the nearby settlements population, which were the cases with the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Ukraine, or with the pesticide plant accident in Bhopal, India. 

Kenigsberg Y.E., Buglova E.E., 1994. Dose formation of internal exposure according to the peculiarities of casium radionuclides transfer by food chain and efficiency of countermeasures, in Belarus-Japan Symposium Acute and Late Consequences of Nuclear Catastrophes Hirosima-Nagasaki and Chernobyl (Minsk, Belarus, October 3-5, 1994), Proceedings, Minsk, pp. 82-97. 

Besides the input of nuclear fuel material via atomic bomb detonation, reactor accidents also contributed to atmospheric release of anthropogenic radioisotopes, with the Chernobyl reactor catastrophe in the year 1986 as the major source. 

One concern about nuclear power plants, of course, is an echo of the world s first exposure to nuclear power, the atomic bomb blasts. Many people fear that a nuclear power plant may go out of control and explode like a nuclear weapon. In spite of experts insistence that such an event is impossible, a few major disasters have perpetuated the fear of nuclear power plants exploding or failing catastrophically in some other mode. Although commercial nuclear power plants cannot explode, they have a demonstrated potential to pass out of the control of their operators, with unpredictable consequences. By far the most serious of those events was the explosion that occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev in the Ukraine in 1986. 

Human health biomonitoring using biomarkers and chemical analyses are used in the following applications (1) Health surveillance of persons who are known to have high occupational or environmental exposures to potentially toxic chemicals. This may include those who work with chemicals, radioactive materials, or biohazards as part of their occupation. Examples include factory workers, chemical industry employees, farmers, health care professionals, nuclear plant employees, and veterans of the Gulf War I. This may also consist of those who are involuntarily exposed to such hazards in their everyday surroundings. Some examples are people living near land fills, factories, hazardous waste sites, or environmental catastrophes such as the Chernobyl... 

Radiological species can similarly be transported tremendous distances if released in aerosol form. Radioactive material released by the Chernobyl reactor in northern Ukraine in 1986 was deposited in dangerous amounts as far away as Europe, and convective weather patterns lifted some of the radioactive matter to altitudes that enabled it to reach the United States within 10 days (Ellis 2003). A particularly dense initial plume known as the Western Trace traveled over a hundred kilometers to the west of the plant in the initial wake of the catastrophic event (Chesser et al. 2004). To this day, a residential exclusion zone covering an area of 4500 kin- is maintained around the reactor. 

The only type of risk that is unique to nuclear power is the risk of a catastrophe such as the Chernobyl disaster of 1996. The potential third-party liability of such events is so high that such risks are uninsurable in normal markets. The US introduced government insurance of nuclear plants with the Price-Anderson Act of 1957 (Rothwell, 2002). In the UK, nuclear operators liability is capped under the provision of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and the Energy Act 1983, which implement the international convention on third-party liability signed in Paris in 1960 and Brussels in 1966 (OECD, 2003). 

French honeys collected since the Chernobyl accident in May 1986 were subjected to gamma spectrometry to estimate their radioactive contamination. Cs and Cs were used as markers of the artihcial radioactivity. Differences were found according to the date of sampling, the department of samphng, and the type of honey. Ffowever, the results showed conclusively that the French honeys have been contaminated by radionuclides after this catastrophe. 

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