Chernobyl disaster

A much more serious nuclear accident occurred at Chernobyl in the USSR on April 26, 1986, when one of the Chernobyl units experienced a full-core meltdown. The Chernobyl accident has been called the worse disaster of the industrial age. An area comprising more than 60,000 square miles in the Ukraine and Belarus was contaminated, and more than 160,000 people were evacuated. However, wind and water have spread the contamination, and many radiation-related illnesses, birth defects, and miscarriages have been attributed to the Chernobyl disaster. 

Beach, H. 1990. Coping with the Chernobyl disaster a comparison of social effects in two reindeer-herding areas. Rangifer, Spec. Iss. No. 3 25-34. 

Pomerantseva, M.D., L.K. Ramaiya, and A.V. Chekhovich. 1996. Genetic consequences of the Chernobyl disaster for house mice (Mus musculus). Russian Jour. Genet. 32 264-268. 

Lithuania is more dependent on nuclear power than any other country in the world. Its two 1500-megawatt reactors produce more than 80 percent of the country s electricity. The reactors, however, are the same design as the unit that caused the Chernobyl disaster. With both reactors working, Lithuania can produce almost twice as much energy as its domestic demand, allowing the country to sell the excess to other nations. If one unit were shut down, however, the country... 

Chronic ozone exposure decreases lung function (Kunzli et al., 1997) Radioisotopes of iodine from Chernobyl disaster and thyroid carcinoma (Pacini et al., 1997)... 

Harnessing advanced achievements of science, technique and technology, the mankind steadily moves forward in its development. However, the problems associated with ecology and efficient use of regenerated power sources were of secondary importance for a time. Chernobyl disaster is the warning to the World Community. It exposed the need for near-term development, manufacturing and commercial utilization of environmentally friendly types of power. 

Point source and episodic releases of primarily radioisotopes from nuclear fuel reprocessing (e.g., Windscale effluent) and from accidents (e.g., the Chernobyl disaster). 

Medical experience had eliminated the fear that radioiodine causes carcinoma of the thyroid, and led to its use in patients of all ages. However the Chernobyl disaster revived concern about exposure of children and it would be wise again to restrict radioiodine treatment to adults. Pregnant women should not be treated with radioiodine because it crosses the placenta. 

Although the Three Mile Island incident of the 1970s and the Chernobyl disaster increased the awareness of radioactive gases in the atmosphere somewhat, radioactive xenon does not pose a significant health risk compared to other radioisotopes since it does not react with the environment and has a short half-life, hence it does not give the public much dose compared to other reactive radioisotopes such as Cs and Sr even though it is present in the air. 

It should also be remembered that most evolving technologies, whether boilers during the 19th century, airplanes in this century, or nuclear plants, entail some accidents from which lessons are learned. Both the Three Mile Island accident, from which only limited radioactivity escaped to the environment, and the Chernobyl disaster, have led to the introduction of new safety features in nuclear reactors, in plant operating procedures, and in regulations. 

Every country in the Northern Hemisphere contains soil that has tested positive for traces of radioactive deposits from the Chernobyl disaster. No one knows the final number of people who will die as a result of this accident. Scientists and doctors in the area have seen a drastic increase in thyroid cancer, mainly in people who were children or teens at the time of the accident. Fortunately, survival rates are high in the case of this type of cancer. Today, work continues to keep the Chernobyl plant from crumbling. Wild horses, boar, wolves, and birds have returned to the area and are thriving. 

Ellis, J., 2003. Use of atmospheric models in response to the Chernobyl disaster, in Tracking and Predicting the Atmospheric Dispersion of Hazardous Material Releases, National Research Council. National Academies Press, Washington DC... 

Havenaar JM, Rumyantzeva GM, van den Brink W, et al Long-term mental health effects of the Chernobyl disaster an epidemiologic survey in two former Soviet regions. Am J Psychiatry 154 1605-1607,1997... 

Litcher L, Bromet EJ, Carlson G, et al School and neuropsychological performance of evacuated children in Kyiv 11 years after the Chernobyl disaster. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 41 291-299, 2000... 

Havenaar JM, van den Brink W, van den Bout J, et al Mental health problems in the Gomel region (Belarus) an analysis of risk factors in an area affected by the Chernobyl disaster. Psychol Med 26 845-855,1996 Kolominsky Y, Igumnov S, Drozdovitch V The psychological development of children from Belarus exposed in the prenatal period to radiation from the Chernobyl atomic power plant. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 40 299-305, 1999 Koscheyev VS, Martens VK, Kosenkov AA, et al Psychological status of Chernobyl nuclear power plant operators after the nuclear disaster. J Trauma Stress 6 561-568, 1993... 

Weisceth L Reactions in Norway to fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, in Radiation and Cancer Risk. Edited by Brustad T, Langmark F, Reitan JB. New York, Hemisphere Publishing, 1990, pp 149-155... 

Estimates of the total radiation released from the Chernobyl disaster vary but it may have been as great as... 

Although the uptake of by the thyroid gland was a health risk after the Chernobyl disaster (Box 2.2), controlled uptake has medical applications. If a patient ingests l (e.g. as a solution of l-labelled Nal), the isotope is quickly absorbed by the th5Toid gland and the size and state of the gland can be detected by monitoring the radioactivity emitted. For l, ri 8 days, and the dose administered soon decays. 

A considerable fraction of the atmospheric radiocesium release (about 85 x lO Bq) from the Chernobyl accident in April 1986 was deposited in Europe (NEA Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health, 1995). During the first days after the Chernobyl disaster, the meteorological situation in Central Europe with local showers after a period of dryness caused an inhomogenous deposition of radionuclides on a macroscale (landscape) level (SSK, 1987). Schimmack et al. (1997)... 

During the Chernobyl disaster thirty to forty times the radioactivity of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were released. The main radioactive isotopes from the Chernobyl accident were Cs, Cs, Sr, and Sr. The details of zeolite applications at Chernobyl remain rather obscure because of a secrecy problem still remaining after disintegration of the former Soviet Union. About 500,000 tons of zeolite rocks, mainly containing clinoptilolite, were processed at various deposits in Ukraine, Georgia, and Russia specifically for use at Chernobyl [65]. The majority of the zeolites was used for the construction of protective barriers and for agricultural applications in polluted areas. 

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). 

The Chernobyl disaster prompted the government of the then Lithuanian Republic to ask the government of the USSR to abandon the construction of the planned unit 3 RBMK plant. This request was accepted and construction of unit 3 was completely abandoned in 1989 (INPP, 2008). 

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