![]() A large number of children and adolescents in Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian regions most affected received substantial radiation doses to the thyroid from drinking milk contaminated with radioactive iodine in the first few months after the accident.īy 2006, more than 5000 cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed among those who were children at the time of the exposure. The health of these residents also has been monitored since 1986, and has focused on investigating the association between exposure caused by radionuclides released in the Chernobyl accident and late effects, in particular, thyroid cancer in children. ![]() In addition to causing radiation exposure, the accident caused long-term changes to the lives of the people living in contaminated districts, since the measures intended to limit radiation doses included resettlement, changes in food supplies and restriction on the activities of individuals and families. These workers are still at potential risk of late consequences such as cancer and other diseases and their health is being closely monitored on an ongoing basis.Īverage doses to Ukrainian and Belarusian evacuees were 17 millisievert (mSv) and 31 mSv, respectively - individual exposures ranged from a low of 0.1 to 380 mSv. By 1990, the number of workers involved in cleanup activities at Chernobyl rose to about 600,000. Of these, twenty eight workers died in the first three months after the accident and another 19 died between 1987 – 2004 of various causes not necessarily associated with radiation exposure.Īnother 200,000 recovery workers involved in the initial cleanup work of 1986-1987 received doses of between 10 and 500 millisievert (mSv). The plume of radioactivity spread over the countries of Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation and to a lesser extent, the countries in the rest of Europe.Īmong the approximately 600 workers present on the site at the time of the accident, 134 received very high radiation doses and suffered from acute radiation sickness. The initial explosion and subsequent fire ejected radioactivity high into the atmosphere which was subsequently spread by the wind. Approximately 115,000 people were evacuated from the most heavily contaminated areas surrounding the reactor in 1986 and a further 220,000 people from Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine were relocated in the following years. Massive amounts of radioactivity were released into the environment.Īfter the accident, access to the area in a 30 km radius around the plant was closed, except for people requiring official access to the plant and to the immediate area for evaluating and dealing with the aftermath of the accident and for operation of the other reactor units at the site. Exposed to the air, the reactor core burned in an intense graphite fire for 10 days. Further violent fuel-steam interactions destroyed the reactor core and severely damaged the reactor building. Inherent design flaws in the reactor led to a sudden power surge, which caused a steam explosion that ruptured the reactor vessel. They switched off important control systems and allowed the reactor to reach unstable low-power conditions. In violation of safety regulations, the operators of the Unit 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were experimentally testing the electrical control system as the reactor was being shut down for routine maintenance. How did the radioactive plume affect Ireland?Īre we still exposed to radiation from Chernobyl today? What were the health effects of the accident? On Apthe most serious accident in the history of nuclear power operation took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |