Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Chernobyl & What We Can Expect

1) Radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl meltdown spread over 40% of Europe.

2) Nearly 5 million people still live with dangerous levels of radioactive contamination.

3) Most of the Chernobyl radionuclides (up to 57%) fell outside the former USSR and caused noticeable radioactive contamination over a large area of the world ­ practically the entire Northern hemisphere.

4) Levels of radioactive contamination in the first days and weeks after the catastrophe were thousands of times higher than those recorded 2 or 3 years later.

5) When the reactor exploded, it expelled not only gases and aerosols but also particles of U fuel melted together with other radionuclides ­ firm hot particles. When absorbed into the body (with water, food or inhaled air), such particles generate high doses of radiation even if an individual is in an area of low contamination.

6) Lastly, the impact of the 2400 tons (some authors estimate 6720 tons) of lead dumped from helicopters onto the reactor to quench the fire has not been adequately evaluated. A significant part of this lead was spewed out into the atmosphere as a result of its fusion, boiling and sublimation in the burning reactor.

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