[ RadSafe ] British Study says "Chernobyl 'Not a Wildlife Haven'

[Sewell, Linda]

No comments as to the veracity of the work, although as an avid birder I
do know that birds do serve as somewhat of a sentinel species for
ecological ills.

Linda Sewell
Diablo Canyon Power Plant
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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society


Today's Headlines - August 15, 2007

Chernobyl 'Not a Wildlife Haven'

from BBC News Online

The idea that the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant has created a wildlife haven is not scientifically justified, a
study says.
Recent studies said rare species had thrived despite raised radiation
levels as a result of no human activity.

But scientists who assessed the 1986 disaster's impact on birds said the
ecological effects were "considerably greater than previously assumed."
The findings appear in the Royal Society's journal, Biology Letters.

In April 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
exploded. After the accident, traces of radioactive deposits were found
in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere. The paper's authors,
Anders Moller of University Pierre and Marie Curie, France, and Tim
Mousseau from the University of South Carolina, US, said their research
did not support the idea that low-level radiation was not affecting
animals.

To read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6946210.stm

Or: http://tinyurl.com/24jsbm