1. Chernobyl Contamination through Time and Space

Abstract

Radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl meltdown spread over 40% of Europe (including Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Romania, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Greece, Iceland, Slovenia) and wide territories in Asia (including Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Emirates, China), northern Africa, and North America. Nearly 400 million people resided in territories that were contaminated with radioactivity at a level higher than 4 kBq/m(2) (0.11 Ci/km(2)) from April to July 1986. Nearly 5 million people (including, more than 1 million children) still live with dangerous levels of radioactive contamination in Belarus, Ukraine, and European Russia. Claims that the Chernobyl radioactive fallout adds "only 2%" to the global radioactive background overshadows the fact that many affected territories had previously dangerously high levels of radiation. Even if the current level is low, there was high irradiation in the first days and weeks after the Chernobyl catastrophe. There is no reasonable explanation for the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization (Chernobyl Forum, 2005) have completely neglected the consequences of radioactive contamination in other countries, which received more than 50% of the Chernobyl radionuclides, and addressed concerns only in Belarus, Ukraine, and European Russia.

Environmental contamination and external radiation dose rates from radionuclides released from the Fukushima nuclear power plant

“…from April to July 1986 (6) . In 2000, the total inventories of the fuel component radionuclides in the upper 30 cm of the soil layer in the 30-km Chernobyl zone in Ukraine were estimated as 0.4-0.5% of the radionuclide amounts in the CNPP Unit 4 at the moment of the accident (6) .…”

“…In 2000, the total inventories of the fuel component radionuclides in the upper 30 cm of the soil layer in the 30-km Chernobyl zone in Ukraine were estimated as 0.4-0.5% of the radionuclide amounts in the CNPP Unit 4 at the moment of the accident (6) . According to the 2006 IAEA report, the external doses around CNPP during 1986-2005 were about 1.2 times higher, and internal doses were about 1.1-1.5 times higher, than those obtained during 1986-1995 (depending on soil properties and applied countermeasures) (7) .…”

Censuses of breeding birds in a South Norwegian arctic-alpine habitat three decades apart show population declines in the most common species

“…The latter received a massive fallout of radioactive isotopes in spring 1986, when the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant took place (e.g. Medvedev 1986, Møller & Mousseau 2006, Yablokov & Nesterenko 2009. A possibility might exist that Lapland Buntings spending the winter in this area experience a lower fitness.…”

Mushrooms traded as food. Vol II sec. 1

“…The Chernobyl accident is considered the worst nuclear power plant disaster experienced (Yablokov and Nesterenko 2009). The compiled data illustrate some of the problems that food authorities faced and had to consider when formulating advice to consumers and professional mushroom collectors.…”