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Re: Is Chernobyl really a ghost town?
To answer the title ot your posting, Chernobyl itself is not a ghost town and has in fact been occupied for over 10 years by many of the people working at the site. On the whole the workers who live there (or at least the ones I knew) don't stay there 365 days per year, but about 50% of the time. However, I believe that some people did spend more of their time in Chernobyl. I think Alex Sich once told me that he lived there around 91 for a year or two. There are some stores there (not well stocked, but you could by food drinks and a few other odds and ends) and a few places to eat (I never visited one, I must admit).
Pripyat on the other hand is deserted. Most of the areas inside the exclusion zone are not occupied. There has been some movement back into the zone, however, mostly by older people who have no other place to go. As I understand it, these are mostly people who have no other place to go and who would rather live out their last years in a familiar (albeit contaminated) place. Retirees in the former Soviet Union have it really rough. For instance, their pensions are roughly $40 dollars a month on average. Most of the buiuldings I saw in my travels to and from the reactor were not only deserted, but were also in very poor shape.
As to numbers, the reports I have seen and that appear to have been done by people who knew what they were doing do not report any effects (outside of the thyroid cases). Even here though one has to remember that along with everthing else, medical care in the area was not the best. Some of the private conversations I had would suggest that prior to the accident there was little in the way of good reliable statistics on illness, medical care was often not the best and equipement and medical supplies were difficult to get (for instance, hypodermic needles and anti-biotics were not readily available till the mid-90's).
Finally, I would like to re-iterate what have said in the past, that records of personnel at the site and dose records are not accurate and were not well kept. Workers who were sent to the roof were typically not given dosimeters and were not issued much in the way of respiratory protection. Even when I was there (late 90's), internal dosimetry at the site was questionable (IMVeryHO).
Hope this helps.
"Otto G. Raabe" <ograabe@UCDAVIS.EDU> wrote:
April 16, 2004
Dear Radsafers:
E-mails encouraging visits
to http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/ are making the
rounds. I would like comments from those of you who have visited Chernobyl.
The Chernobyl accident was certainly the worst reactor accident ever, but
this web site seems to take great liberties to exaggerate the truth for
anti-nuclear propaganda purposes.
The World Health Organization has reported no long-term radiation effects
to people living near Chernobyl. I believe that the 31 workers and
fire-fighters who died as an immediate result of the accident are the only
known or expected fatalities (NOT 400,000 deaths). Delayed radiation
effects such as development of leukemia have not been observed, with the
possible exception of some thyroid problems in children.
Comments please.
Thanks,
Otto
**********************************************
Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
Center for Health & the Environment
(Street Address: Bldg. 3792, Old Davis Road)
University of California, Davis, CA 95616
E-Mail: ograabe@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-7754 FAX: (530) 758-6140
***********************************************
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