The accident at the Chernobyl NPP in 1986 was the most severe in the history of the nuclear industry, causing a huge release of radionuclides over large areas of Europe. The recently completed Chernobyl Forum concluded that after a number of years, along with reduction of radiation levels and accumulation of humanitarian consequences, severe social and economic depression of the affected region...

To identify effects of chronic internal and external radiation exposure for components of terrestrial ecosystems, a comprehensive study of Scots pine trees in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was performed. The experimental plan included over 1,100 young trees (up to 20 y old) selected from areas with varying levels of radioactive contamination. These pine trees were planted after the 1986 Chernoby...

Activities of (137)Cs, (241)Am and (239,240)Pu were analyzed with special emphasis on better understanding of radionuclide transport from land via the Neman River estuaries to the Baltic Sea and behavior in the marine environment. Although activity concentrations of (137)Cs in water samples collected the Baltic Sea were almost 100 times higher as compared to the Curonian Lagoon, its activities ...

After the Chernobyl accident massive screening using initially poor equipment, the lack of modern literature and “radiation phobia” contributed to an overdiagnosis of malignancies [1-7]. The “Chernobyl victim syndrome” (i.e. pressure to be registered as a victim) [8] resulted in the registration of patients from noncontaminated areas as having been exposed to radiation. At the time, the exagger...

Sweden received about 5 % of the total release of (137)Cs from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986. The distribution of the fallout mainly affected northern Sweden, where some parts of the population could have received an estimated annual effective dose of 1-2 mSv per year. It is disputed whether an increased incidence of cancer can be detected in epidemiological studies after t...

there may be an argument for a carefully trained and experienced small cadre of specialists to do the work. The existing procedures have many faults, some of which I highlighted earlier this year (21 May, p 1421). The working party has answered criticisms of delay in dealing with HM(61)112 procedures by setting indicative time limits which it hopes will keep cases to a maximum of eight months f...

The Chernobyl disaster on April 26th, 1986, led to the emission of radioactive substances such as iodine-131 and radioactive cesium. As the Soviet Union did not control food distribution and intake, residents were exposed to high levels of internal radiation, leading to the internal radiation exposure of the thyroid gland by iodine-131. As a result, the number of people who had thyroid cancer i...

Background: The earlier Atomic Bomb explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and three worth mentioning nuclear accidents - detonation at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Chernobyl nuclear fallout and an accident at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant have made us more worried about the secure exploitation of nuclear energy. The central focus of this paper is to review radiation-mediated health e...

Results are described of a general health survey (n = 3044) that was conducted 6.5 years after the Chernobyl accident in 1986 in a seriously contaminated region in Belarus and a socioeconomically comparable, but unaffected, region in the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there are differences in the general health status of the inhabitants of the two region...

Mediated risk communication is a highly relevant and rapidly developing field of mass communication research. The role of the mass media is crucial when catastrophes happen, as such incidences show how dependent we are on receiving information from the media. But they also show how complicated the situation is for the authorities, the media and for all of us as common citizens with limited know...