Evolutionary biologist Timothy Mousseau and his colleagues have published 90 studies that prove beyond all doubt the deleterious genetic and developmental effects on wildlife of exposure to radiation from both the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters, writes Linda Pentz Gunter. But all that peer-reviewed science has done little to dampen the ‘official’ perception of Chernobyl’s silent forests as a thriving nature reserve.
Ecologist 25th April 2016 read more »
30 years since Chernobyl may seem like a long time, but it’s really just the start. Below reactor’s ruins is a 2,000-ton radioactive mass that can’t be removed. How do you protect a site for as long a time as Western civilization has existed? Chernobyl will remain a threat for 3,000 years.
McClatchy DC 24th April 2016 read more »
Ukraine has begun commemorations to mark the 30th anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Sirens were sounded at the same moment as the first explosion at the reactor, in the early hours of 26 April 1986. The meltdown at the plant remains the worst nuclear disaster in history. An uncontrolled reaction blew the roof off, spewing out a cloud of radioactive material which drifted across Ukraine’s borders, into Russia, Belarus and across a swathe of northern Europe. The number of people killed by the disaster remains disputed. It is thought that about 30 people died in the initial meltdown and rescue operation, and a UN report published in 2005 estimated that up to 4,000 people could eventually be killed by related illnesses. But Greenpeace has said the UN figure is a underestimate.
BBC 26th April 2016 read more »
Surrounded by barbed wire, abandoned by man and infamous for a catastrophic nuclear accident, the Chernobyl exclusion zone is a byword for desolation. But climb to the top of an abandoned apartment block in the still contaminated city of Pripyat – and something new and gleaming dominates the horizon. Just to the right of the weather-beaten concrete around reactor four, the devastated site of the meltdown 30 years ago, a silver semi-circle surrounded by cranes soars over the tree line.
Telegraph 26th April 2016 read more »
Ukraine is marking the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which permanently poisoned swathes of eastern Europe and highlighted the shortcomings of the secretive Soviet system. In the early hours of April 26, 1986, a botched test at the nuclear plant in then-Soviet Ukraine triggered a meltdown that spewed deadly clouds of atomic material into the atmosphere, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes. A series of events is being held to commemorate the tragedy, which remains the worst nuclear accident in history.
Guardian 26th April 2016 read more »
For 30 years now, the name Chernobyl has been the synonym of the world’s first major nuclear disaster. The events of April 26, 1986 would precipitate changes in the way nuclear power was viewed. The disaster not only changed the lives of tens of thousands living in the vicinity of the power plant, but also the surrounding landscape, which became unsafe for habitation for thousands of years.
Russia Today 26th April 2016 read more »
Here are some useful factoids from the new TORCH report 40,000 fatal cancers are predicted in Europe over the next 50 years; 6,000 thyroid cancer cases to date, 16,000 more expected; 5 million people in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia still live in highly contaminated areas (>40 kBq/m2); 400 million in less contaminated areas (>4 kBq/m2); 37% of Chernobyl’s fallout was deposited on western Europe; 42% of western Europe’s land area was contaminated; increased radiogenic thyroid cancers expected in West European countries; increased radiogenic leukemias, cardiovascular diseases, breast cancers confirmed; new evidence of radiogenic birth defects, mental health effects and diabetes; new evidence that children living in contaminated areas suffer radiogenic illnesses; The key point is that even after 30 years ….the health effects continue.
Global 2000 (accessed) 26th April 2016 read more »
In 2005, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency /World Health Organisation (IAEA/WHO) had stated “The magnitude and scope of the disaster, the size of the affected population, and the long-term consequences make it, by far, the worst industrial disaster on record. Chernobyl unleashed a complex web of events and long-term difficulties, such as massive relocation, loss of economic stability, and long-term threats to health in current and, possibly, future generations…” This year a new report, commissioned by Friends of the Earth Austria, funded by the Government of Vienna and authored by myself, indicates that the adverse effects from Chernobyl are continuing. This report is an update of The Other Report on Chernobyl, or TORCH, which had provided an assessment of the health evidence up to 2006, independent of the pro-nuclear IAEA. Since then, thousands of scientific articles have been published on these issues, as listed on academic databases such as PubMed, Medline, Science Direct, British Library and Science Citation Index. Hence my new report, known as TORCH-2016, (120 pages, ~200 references) updates the previous edition by drawing on this new evidence.
Scientists for Global Responsibility 25th April 2016 read more »
CND 25th April 2016 read more »
The word nadeshda means hope in Russian. The Nadesha rehabilitation centre was founded to give hope to children living in towns and villages contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster. Thousands of children across Belarus have been robbed of a healthy childhood. Their food and playgrounds are contaminated. Their health weakened by radiation.
Greenpeace 25th April 2016 read more »
30 Years After the Chernobyl Meltdown, Why Is the Ukrainian Government Pushing Nuclear Energy?
The Nation 25th April 2016 read more »