| Discovery News
Radioactive
rain still falls periodically on Moscow 15 years after the Ukraine's
Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded in what was the world's
worst peacetime nuclear disaster. The blast spewed radiation equivalent
to 500 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World
War II.
Although Moscow
was originally not designated as an affected territory following
the accident, Natalya Shandala of Moscow's Institute of Biophysics
told ITAR-TASS news agency Wednesday that radionuclide levels
in the region had been 250 times above normal following the explosion.
Chernobyl
reactor four, which exploded on April 26, 1986, was encased in
a huge concrete sarcophagus as a stopgap measure to contain the
radiation. Vladimir Asmolov, director of the Institute of Safety
Problems, reported, "The sarcophagus never was an absolutely
safe facility." He said he was uncertain how long it could
stand intact. Approximately 160 tons of radioactive material remain
locked inside the sarcophagus.
The accident
affected at least 3 million people and continues to cause new
elevated incidences of disease, including thyroid cancers and
high levels of stress and suicide, in the contaminated areas.
Government officials have reported that a total of 1,717,822 people
still live in regions contaminated by radiation and that 35 percent
of many foods grown there, including meat, milk, berries and mushroom,
show evidence of radiation.
The results
of an independent scientific study done in France revealed Tuesday
that some French soil is still contaminated by radiation from
the disaster. Officials in France had originally claimed that
the country had not been affected. Scientists from the CRII-RAD
laboratory reported that in some parts of eastern France levels
of the artificial radioactive element caesium 137 were as high
as those in the Ukraine within several miles of the disaster.
On Wednesday,
the 15th anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion, the International
Atomic Energy Agency issued a press release saying the accident
was by far the most devastating in the history of nuclear power.
IAEA Director General Mohammed El Baradei stated in the release,
"The accident had a disastrous impact on life, health and
the environment in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and prompted fear
and concerns in other nations of the world about the effects of
radiation."
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