Chernobyl: what is the history, impact and present risk?

The long-term implications, however, are more bleak. In 2005, UNSCEAR noted a spike in instances of thyroid cancer in nearby regions, and predicted that “a total of 4,000 deaths will eventually be attributable to the Chernobyl accident”.

More than 100,000 people were evacuated from the area immediately after the accident, and the total number of evacuees from severely contaminated areas eventually reached 340,000. These people have never been allowed to return home, and the off-limits areas are known collectively as the “Exclusion Zone”. Access to this zone can only be granted by the government of Ukraine, and only for 12 hours at a time in almost all cases.

Did it destroy the Soviet Union?

It has been argued that the remarkably expensive clean-up operation and elaborate government cover-up may have been the catalyst for the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

“Soviet authorities had long failed to acknowledge domestic catastrophes,” said NBC News. “But this time, as winds carried the radioactive fallout across much of Europe, their delay angered the international community and exposed their pathological secretiveness.” 

Disillusionment with the government’s handling of the disaster within the Soviet Union also reached unprecedented levels, with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets of Kiev and elsewhere, the BBC reported.

According to Mikhail Gorbachev, the then-leader of the USSR, the Chernobyl disaster was a “turning point” that “opened the possibility of much greater freedom of expression, to the point that the system as we knew it could no longer continue”.

 “Chernobyl revealed itself as the symptom of a corrupt and failing system rather than a technological catastrophe,” added the BBC.

What is the current risk?

According to the BBC, there are unconfirmed reports that some of the Russian troops suffering from radiation exposure “are being treated in Belarus”. Reuters also quoted workers at the plant as saying some of the soldiers had “no idea” they were in a radiation zone.

Russia has repeatedly stated that radiation levels at the plant remained the same during their occupation of the site. The IAEA has said it was unable to confirm the reports.

BBC science correspondent Victoria Gill pointed out that decades on from the disaster, there is “no working nuclear reactor on the site” and that experts have “stressed throughout this saga that there was no risk of ‘another Chernobyl’”.

However, the IAEA said in early March that there is no reason for immediate concern after Russian troops turned the power off at the site, which is just 60 miles from Kyiv. The UN agency said it saw “no critical impact on safety” over the loss of power.

The watchdog explained in a statement that there is enough water in Chernobyl’s spent fuel pools to keep the fuel rods cool and avoid an accident.

It also reiterated a statement from 3 March that said that the amount of time since the Chernobyl disaster meant the spent fuel had cooled down enough that “the pool is sufficient to maintain effective heat removal without the need for electrical supply”.

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/93147/what-happened-at-chernobyl