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Wikipedia - Human Impact section of "Chernobyl disaster" page

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Wikipedia - Human Impact section of "Chernobyl disaster" page

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"In the aftermath of the accident, 237 people suffered from acute radiation sickness (ARS), of whom 31 died within the first three months.

...

On the death toll of the accident, the report states that 28 emergency workers ("liquidators") died from acute radiation syndrome, including beta burns, and 15 patients died from thyroid cancer in the following years, and it roughly estimated that cancer deaths caused by Chernobyl may reach a total of about 4,000 among the 5 million persons residing in the contaminated areas. ..."

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LONDON (Reuters) - Radiation has affected animals living near the site of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear disaster far more than was previously thought, a study showed Wednesday, challenging beliefs that local wildlife was on the rebound.

The study showed that numbers of bumble-bees, butterflies, spiders, grasshoppers and other invertebrates were lower in contaminated sites than other areas because of high levels of radiation left over from the blast more than 20 years ago.

The findings challenge earlier research that suggested animal populations were rebounding around the site of the Chernobyl explosion in Ukraine, which forced thousands to abandon their homes and evacuate the area.

Estimates of the number of deaths directly related to the accident vary. The World Health Organization estimates the figure at 9,000 while the environmental group Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93,000.

"We were amazed to see that there had been no studies on this subject," Anders Moller, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in France, who led the study, said in telephone interview.

"Ours was the first study to focus on the abundance of animal populations."

Researchers said they had compared animal populations in radioactive areas with less contaminated plots and found that some were nearly completed depleted of animal life.

"There are areas with an abundance of 100 animals per square meter," Moller said. "And then there are areas with less than one specimen per square meter on average; the same goes for all groups of species."

The researchers also found that animals living near the Chernobyl reactor - which was covered in a protective shell after it exploded in April 1986 - had more deformities, including discoloration and stunted limbs, than normal.

"Usually (deformed) animals get eaten quickly, as it's hard to escape if your wings are not the same length," Moller said. "In this case we found a high incidence of deformed animals."

The findings challenge the view of Chernobyl as ecologically sound, despite the fact that Ukrainian officials have turned it into a nature reserve, with wolves, bison and bears.

Earlier research into the area ignored the fact that animal populations had grown unimpeded in the absence of humans for many years after the blast, Moller said.

"We wanted to ask the question: Are there more or fewer animals in the contaminated areas? Clearly there were fewer," said Moller, who has worked on Chernobyl since 1991.

While researchers focused on the 30 kilometer radius around the Chernobyl reactor, the fallout from the explosion covered a vast swathe of Eastern Europe, including parts of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

The findings probably apply to those areas as well, Moller said, adding that any decontamination effort was unlikely due to the extent of the fallout.

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Chernobyl animals worse affected than thought: study

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LONDON (Reuters) - Radiation has affected animals living near the site of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear disaster far more than was previously thought, a study showed Wednesday, challenging beliefs that local wildlife was on the rebound.

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Map of the Chernobyl exclusion zone - Google My Maps

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The Chernobyl exclusion zone map with objects https://www.chernobyl-tour.com/english

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A piece from World Health Organization - Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident

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A piece from World Health Organization - Chernobyl: the true scale of the accident

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How contaminated are the aquatic systems?

Contamination of surface waters throughout much of Europe declined quickly through dilution, physical decay, and absorption of radionuclides in bed sediments and catchment soils. Because of bioaccumulation in the aquatic food chain, though, elevated concentrations of radiocaesium were found in fish from lakes as far away as Germany and Scandinavia. Comparable levels of radiostrontium, which concentrates in fish bone, not in muscle, were not significant for humans. Levels in fish and waters are currently low, except in areas with “closed” lakes with no outflowing streams. In those lakes, levels of radiocaesium in fish will remain high for decades and, therefore, restrictions on fishing there should be maintained.

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SCIENTISTS monitoring the shelter encasing the ruins of the Chernobyl meltdown have detected signs that it is leaking highly radioactive water capable eventually of causing a "catastrophe" by poisoning the water supply of Ukraine, a country the size of France.

Tests on bore holes around the giant sarcophagus that encloses the remains of Reactor 4, which exploded in 1986 causing the worst nuclear disaster in history, have detected signs of thritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, in subsoil water.

This has raised fears that it could eventually find its way into the nearby Dneiper River, or into the water table, and - after many years - into the drinking water of Ukraine's 50 million population. The issue underscores the deteriorating condition of the shelter itself, rapidly erected by remote control in the aftermath of the disaster, which sent a radioactive cloud across the northern hemisphere, caused more than 100,000 people to be evacuated, and led to a sharp rise in illnesses.

Despite efforts to patch up the shelter, it is dotted with cracks and holes. Taken together, about 100 square metres is exposed to the atmosphere. Inside the 74m structure, there is a lethal cocktail of fresh nuclear fuel, plutonium, piles of highly radioactive waste and - critically - an estimated 34 tons of lethal dust.

Russian scientists monitoring the shelter know water is inside, and acknowledge that there is a risk that it will react with the contents causing "neutron bursts" - releasing even more radioactivity into the atmosphere. Worse, they believe it could be seeping out from within the reactor core, through holes in its base.

A leak has not finally been confirmed as the culprit for the thritium traces, which are currently below "permissible levels", but it is the "main suspect". Dr Sergei Bogatov, head of the department of radiation at Chernobyl, told The Independent: "If we don't take prevention measures now, there is a real risk that the consequences will one day be catastrophic. This could take dozens, or even hundreds of years, but it could get into the water supply."

He is pressing for a scheme to collect the polluted water in a tank, and pump it off for safe storage. The issue now worrying scientists is what would happen if the shelter's rickety roof, where most of the dust is concentrated, collapses, releasing its deadly payload.

According to Dr Bogatov, estimates of a collapse put the annual odds at one in 10.

n A full report on the continuing hazards of Chernobyl will be featured this week in the Independent on Sunday.

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Chernobyl leak threatens to poison Ukraine water supply

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SCIENTISTS monitoring the shelter encasing the ruins of the Chernobyl meltdown have detected signs that it is leaking highly radioactive water capable eventually of causing a "catastrophe" by poisoning the water supply of Ukraine, a country the size of France.