[ RadSafe ] Chernobyl radiation death toll 56 so far - U.N

[George J. Vargo]

Chernobyl radiation death toll 56 so far - U.N
Mon Sep 5, 2005 3:38 PM BST

By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) - The number of people killed by radiation as a result of
the Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst nuclear accident, is so far 56,
far lower than previously thought, the U.N. said on Monday.

A report compiled by the Chernobyl Forum, which includes eight U.N.
agencies, said the final death toll was expected to reach about 4,000 --
much lower than some previous estimates -- and that the greatest damage to
human health caused by the incident was psychological.

The disaster occurred at 1:24 a.m. on April 26, 1986, when an explosion at
Reactor 4 of the Ukrainian power plant spewed a cloud of radioactivity over
Europe and the Soviet Union, particularly contaminating Belarus, Russia and
Ukraine.

Over the years, wildly varying reports have put the death toll as high as
15,000.

"The mental health impact of Chernobyl is the largest public health problem
unleashed by the accident to date," said the Chernobyl Forum report.

The forum includes the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World
Health Organization (WHO), World Bank and U.N. Development Programme (UNDP),
and the governments of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

U.N. officials said to date the death toll was 47 emergency workers, and
nine children who had died of thyroid cancer.

About 4,000 people developed thyroid cancer as a result of the accident,
most of them children and adolescents in 1986. The survival rate, however,
had been almost 99 percent, the report said.

Another group that suffered greatly was the thousands of emergency workers
who helped extinguish the blaze and entomb the reactor in concrete. They and
staff at the plant received very high radiation doses immediately after the
accident.

"By and large, however, we have not found profound negative health impacts
to the rest of the population in surrounding areas, nor have we found
widespread contamination that would continue to pose a substantial threat to
human health, with a few exceptional, restricted areas," said the forum's
Chairman, Burton Bennett. 

THREAT NOT WIDESPREAD

The forum's report "Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and
Socio-Economic Impacts" examines the effects of the disaster as its 20th
anniversary approaches. The report is itself a digest of another, 3-volume,
600-page report by hundreds of scientists, economists and health experts.

Most emergency workers and residents of contaminated areas received
relatively low radiation doses, comparable to background levels, the U.N.
said in a statement.

Apart from thyroid cancer, there was no evidence of any increase in cancer
or leukemia rates among local residents, it said, nor was there evidence of
decreased fertility or of a higher rate of congenital malformations.

For the 350,000 people moved out of contaminated areas, however, relocation
was a "deeply traumatic experience" which often left them unemployed, the
U.N. statement said.

People from areas near Chernobyl were labeled as 'victims' rather than
'survivors', which led them to view themselves as "helpless, weak and
lacking control over their future," it said.

"This, in turn, has led either to over-cautious behavior and exaggerated
health concerns, or to reckless conduct, such as ... overuse of alcohol and
tobacco, and unprotected sexual activity," the statement added.

Many evacuated areas were now safe, and the area of zones classified as
contaminated was too large, the report said.

Apart from the still closed, highly contaminated 30 km (19 mile) area
surrounding the reactor and some closed lakes and restricted forests,
radiation levels had mostly returned to acceptable levels, the statement
said.

Benefits offered to 'victims' were expanded to 7 million people now eligible
for pensions, special allowances and health benefits. These needed to be
scaled down or target only high-risk groups, though it would be unpopular,
it said.

But the statement added that the concrete sarcophagus built to contain the
damaged reactor was also in danger of collapse.
The forum meets for two days in Vienna starting on Tuesday.


George J. Vargo, Ph.D., CHP
Senior Scientist
MJW Corporation
http://www.mjwcorp.com
610-925-3377
610-925-5545 (fax)
vargo at physicist.net