The explosion in one of the four reactors of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP, Chernobyl) caused the worst nuclear environmental disaster ever seen. Currently, 23 years after the accident, the soil in the close vicinity of CNPP is still significantly contaminated with long-living radioisotopes, such as (137)Cs. Despite this contamination, the plants growing in Chernobyl area were able to...

Seventy percent of radionuclides discharged during the Chernobyl disaster were deposited in Belarus. Besides causing radioactive contamination, the tragedy at Chernobyl exposed some of the socio-cultural characteristics, such as mass dependency on strong patronage of the state, that buttress the political institutions of that country. On the basis of a literature review, a specialist on Belarus...

The nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in 1986 is described and a summary of its immediate effects on people and the environment outlined. Then there is a summary of the important parts of the literature on diseases and deaths resulting from radiation and mortalities to date and the way mortality data became increasingly conservative over the years is discussed. Today, there is still uncer...

Previous reports document a short latency of cancer onset in young children exposed to low doses of radioactivity. The standard mortality ratio (SMR) for cancer in children dying before age ten rose in the period 6-10 years after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents in populations most exposed to fallout. SMRs near most nuclear power plants were elevated 6-10 years after startup, parti...

In this document, we will present the results of the long-term monitoring of the condition of the eyes of victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe. The patient examinations were conducted using our system of standard inspection and description of the condition of the eye. We have summarized the development of this system in another paper. Ocular effects in patients as a result of the Chernobyl acci...

The primary goal of this research was to reveal de novo mutations in the liquidators (cleanup personnel) who emigrated to Israel from the Chernobyl disaster area. We used genome fingerprinting simple sequence repeat-anchored polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and random amplified polymorphic DNA PCR (RAPD PCR). The methodology involved a combination of RAPD PCR, polyacrylamide gel el...

The effects of radiation on abundance of common birds in Fukushima can be assessed from the effects of radiation in Chernobyl. Abundance of birds was negatively related to radiation, with a significant difference between Fukushima and Chernobyl. Analysis of 14 species common to the two areas revealed a negative effect of radiation on abundance, differing between areas and species. The relations...

The effects of low-level radiation on the abundance of animals are poorly known, as are the effects on ecosystems and their functioning. Recent conclusions from the UN Chernobyl forum and reports in the popular media concerning the effects of radiation from Chernobyl on animals have left the impression that the Chernobyl exclusion zone is a thriving ecosystem, filled with an increasing number o...