STRALING EN GEZONDHEID
Juni 1996, Hans de Jonge
Dit artikel is verschenen in Ortho nummer 3, juni 1996

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Dit jaar is het tien jaar geleden dat de grootste ramp
uit de geschiedenis van de kernenergie plaatsvond.
De ontplofte kerncentrale in Tsjernobyl legde een deken
van giftige, radioactieve stoffen over grote delen van Europa.
Vooral de bevolking van de Oekraïne en Wit-Rusland zal nog
tot in lengte van dagen te maken hebben met de stoffen
die destijds zijn vrijgekomen. De gemiddelde levensverwachting
is er in de afgelopen tien jaar schrikbarend gedaald.
Tijd voor een evaluatie van de gevolgen van straling op de
gezondheid.                    lees verder


EEN LANDMIJN IN JE LONG
Chernobyl for 14 years
Radioactieve tanden
Hoofdpagina
Valse statistieken + commentaar
Belarus 1 mei 2001
1,3 miljard slachtoffers tot nu
Chernobyl radiation 13/11/2004
Mothersalert
Email
BESCHERMING DOOR
VOEDINGSSTOFFEN:

zeolieten
ginkgo biloba
beta caroteen
Seleniumhoudende aminozuren
ferroferricyanide
Super Oxyde Dismutase
glutathion

VERARMD URANIUM IN BIJLMER EN GOLF

Atoomproeven in de atmosfeer, nucleaire ongevallen, waar Tsjernobyl het
trieste dieptepunt van was, en de talloze radioactieve lekkages van verschil-
lende soorten installaties in de bodem en in het water hebben allerlei radioac-
tieve stoffen in ons leefmilieu gebracht.
Nederland heeft enkele jaren geleden zijn eigen, tot nu toe verzwegen,
radioactief incident gehad. Na het neerstorten van de EI-Al Boeing op de
Bijlmermeer bleken enkele terreinen besmet met het verbrande verarmde
uranium uit de balansgewichten van de staart en de vleugels.
Bewoners, omstanders en reddingswerkers hebben daar uraniumdamp ingeademd. l
Verarmd uranium is dat wat overblijft wanneer uranium wordt verrijkt voor
civiele en militaire doeleinden. Tot nu toe werd dat als afval beschouwd,
totdat het vanwege het hoge soortelijk gewicht en pyrofore eigenschappen
werd toegepast in onder meer de bepantsering van tanks en in anti-tankwapens.
Iemand die in een dergelijk bepantserde tank zit, krijgt binnen een week de
stralingsdosis die een gemiddeld persoon in een jaar zou oplopen.
Na verbranding van verarmd uranium in de vorm
van projectielen of balansgewichten blijft een 'damp' van microscopische
hoogradioactieve deeltjes over die na inademing lokaal in de longen een
alfa-, bèta- en gammastraling uitzenden die vele malen hoger is dan de
z.g. door de ICRP 'maximaal toegestane dosis'.
Tijdens de zogenaamde 'tweede Golfoorlog', de operatie 'Desert Storm' zijn
in Zuid-Irak en Koeweit hele gebieden besmet geraakt met geheel of gedeel-
telijk verbrand verarmd uranium. Het 'Golfoorlogsyndroom' bij de soldaten
die daar zijn geweest is mede veroorzaakt door ingeademde uraniumrook.
In de buurt van Basra is het aantal genetische misvormingen, leukemie en
andere vormen van kanker bij kinderen en volwassenen schrikbarend
gestegen. (600% tot nu toe)
 

RADIOACTIVITEIT IS OVERAL

Maar ook van nature worden we voortdurend blootgesteld aan lage niveaus
radioactieve straling. Tijdens de miljarden jaren dat de aarde bestaat is het
oorspronkelijk hoge radioactieve stralingsniveau afgenomen tot een relatief
lage 'achtergrond'-waarde. Zonder deze afname zou op de aarde nooit leven
mogelijk zijn geworden.
De laatste officiele schatting van de achtergrondstraling in Nederland be-
draagt 170 millirem per jaar.2 Tot deze 'achtergrondstraling' dragen bij: de
straling van de zon en die uit het heelal en de straling van de langlevende ra-
dioactieve stoffen in de aardkorst en in de organismen zelf. In de aardkorst is
van nature een geringe hoeveelheid vervalprodukten van uranium en tho-
rium aanwezig. De hoeveelheid varieert per gebied. In sommige streken van
de wereld is deze hoeveelheid extreem hoog, bijvoorbeeld in Zuid-India
(Kerala), waar het aantal geboorteafwijkingen en straling gerelateerde ziekten
significant verhoogd is door het hoge thoriumgehalte van de grond.3
Als gevolg van de activiteiten van de mens in de afgelopen decennia wordt
die lage achtergrondstraling van 170 millirem per jaar stapsgewijs verhoogd.
De grond en het oppervlakte water worden 'verrijkt' met nieuwe radioactieve
elementen die uiteenlopende chemische en radiologische eigenschappen
bezitten. Deze stoffen zijn de splijtings- en vervalprodukten van uranium en
plutonium. In officiële publikaties worden deze stoffen vaak op één hoop
gegooid onder de noemer 'straling' die dan gemeten wordt met zoveel Rem,
Becquerel, Sieverts per jaar, dag of uur, terwijl het in werkelijkheid om een
reeks met soms zeer uitéénlopende eigenschappen gaat, die via het voedsel,
het drinkwater en de lucht in het lichaam kunnen komen.4
 

TSJERNOBYL EN DE BEVOLKING

Tientallen miljoenen mensen in de Oekraïne, in Wit-Rusland en in Rusland
zijn sinds april 1986 besmet door de radioactieve stoffen uit de ontplofte
kernreactor in Tsjernobyl.5,6 De snelle expressie van allerlei soorten kanker
in de ernstigst besmette gebieden, waaronder schildklierkanker bij kinderen,
wijst op een veel hogere uitstoot van radioactieve stoffen dan officieel wordt
toegegeven.6,7
De gevolgen van deze ramp zijn onvergelijkbaar veel ernstiger voor de Oek-
ra‹ene en Wit-Rusland dan voor Nederland. Volgens sommige berichten is
het totale aantal doden als gevolg van de radioactieve straling van Tsjernobyl
in Rusland, Wit-Rusland, de Oekraïene en bij de schoonmakers,
'liquidatoren' genoemd, opgelopen tot 125.000. Drie en een half miljoen
kinderen is of wordt klinisch aantoonbaar ziek 8: de gevolgen
variëren van schildklierkanker en leukemie tot een sterk verhoogde infec-
tiegevoeligheid (Tsjernobyl-AIDS) .6,8
De geheimhoudingspolitiek van de voormalige USSR en de tegenwoordige
Oekraïene maakt deze berichten moeilijk te bewijzen.
Volgens de Oekraïense biologe Prebrastsjenskaja en het parlementslid
Vladimir Oesatenko is momenteel 98% van alle officiële informatie gelogen
'als gevolg van de macht van de atoommafia'.8 De regering van Wit-Rusland
(Belarus) trekt echter wel 25% van haar totale begroting uit voor de bestrij-
ding van de catastrofe.
 

DE GEVOLGEN VOOR NEDERLAND

In praktisch geheel Europa is de radioactiviteit gestegen na 1986. Ook in
Nederland is de radioactiviteit als gevolg van de toename van langlevende
radionucle‹den zoals cesium en strontium toegenomen.9 Voedsel wordt
bovendien door heel Europa verhandeld en een exacte analyse van elke partij
is niet mogelijk. Zwendel is al frequent aangetoond.10 Niemand kan garande-
ren dat melkpoeder uit de Oekraiene niet via 'derde landen' in ons ijsje
belandt. Als de handelaren en fabrikanten controle vrezen: na 'verdunning' ,
ofwel mengen met minder radioactief voedsel' voldoet men weer aan de op 1
april 1987 aan de EG 'aangepaste', soms met een factor 60 verhoogde,
stralingsnorm.11 Die norm is eind maart 1996 opnieuw anderhalf keer ver-
hoogd.12 Dit is ook de gangbare praktijk bij dioxine in melk, dus waarom
niet met radioactieve stoffen? Het in Nederland verbouwde voedsel bevat alle
stoffen uit Tsjernobyl tot plutonium aan toe. Bovendien komen door het
gebruik van kunstmest (natuurlijk fosfaat) natuurlijke radioactieve
stoffen in de grond. Deze stoffen blijven soms vele duizenden jaren circule-
ren in onze voedselketen. Het zou goed zijn als wettelijk verplicht wordt om
op de verpakking van allerlei 'stralingsgevoelige' produkten ook een radioac-
tiviteitsanalyse te vermelden.
 

OPPORTUNISTISCHE STRALINGSNORMEN

In de vijftiger en zestiger jaren van deze eeuw dacht men nog dat het geen
kwaad kon om röntgenfoto's te maken van een zich ontwikkelend kind in de
baarmoeder. Door het werk van Alice M. Steward van de universiteit van
Birmingham in Groot Brittannie is aangetoond dat elke röntgenfoto van een
ongeboren kind het kankerrisico voor het kind verhoogt met ten minste 25%
13 Zo zijn in de loop van enkele tientallen jaren de maximaal toegestane
stralingsdoses soms een factor 100 verminderd. Na het ongeval met de
kerncentrale van Tsjernobyl is die lage stralingsnorm weer verhoogd door de
Nederlandse overheid in EG verband. Deze verhoging is niet gebaseerd op
wetenschappelijke feiten, maar komt puur voort uit opportunisme: er kon niet
meer worden voldaan aan de oude normen.11 Een voorbeeld is de norm voor
cesium-137: vóór de ontploffing van Tsjernobyl was de norm maximaal 10
Becquerel per kilogram voedsel, na Tsjernobyl werd die norm in allerijl op-
geschroefd tot 600 Becquerel per kilogram. Een voorstel van Frankrijk om
de EG-norm voor cesium te verhogen tot 4000 Becquerel per kilogram heeft
het niet gehaald.9
 

OPHOPING IN VOEDSELKETEN

Door de menselijke bezigheden met radioactiviteit gaat onontkoombaar de
'achtergrondstraling' omhoog en wordt onze gezondheid en onze genetische
integriteit aangetast. Onderzoek wijst uit dat die 'lage stralingsdoses' veel
gevaarlijker blijken te zijn dan oorspronkelijk werd gedacht. 16 Dit
laatste is onder andere het geval omdat biosystemen in staat zijn radioactieve
stoffen op te hopen.
Een duidelijk voorbeeld is zink-65 dat zich concentreert in algen in rivieren.
Water-insekten hopen dit element nog meer op en de vogels die de insekten
eten bevatten uiteindelijk wel tot 500.000 maal de normale concentratie
zink-65 in het rivierwater. Zink is een belangrijk spoorelement voor de pro-
duktie van enzymen. 17
 

RADIOACTIVITEIT IN HET LICHAAM

Radioactiviteit belast mensen op verschillende manieren.
a. Het lichaam kan uitwendig worden bestraald door aanwezigheid van
radioactieve stoffen in de lucht (alfa-, beta- en gammastraling) of in de
bodem (voornamelijk gammastraling).
b. Veel sterker wordt het lichaam echter belast door het binnenkrijgen van
radionucleiden. Dit kan zijn door inademen, waardoor de longen worden
belast, of via het voedsel. Wanneer genoemde stoffen dan ook nog in de
bloedsomloop worden opgenomen, worden alle lichaamsdelen bestraald
(alfa-, -beta- en gammastraling).

Vaak lijken splijtingsprodukten en radionucle‹den chemisch en fysisch op de
stoffen die nodig zijn voor de opbouw van het lichaam: tritium is bijvoor-
beeld door het lichaam niet te onderscheiden van waterstof. Het betekent dat
deze stoffen gewoon in de lichaamscellen worden opgenomen en ingebouwd,
en daar plaatselijk alfa- beta- en gammastraling uitzenden. Als de immuniteit
van het lichaam door onder andere deze radioactieve stoffen ernstig is
aangetast kan kanker (o.a. leukemie) ontstaan, omdat het lichaam de over-
maat aan beschadigde en gemuteerde cellen niet kan verwijderen en vervan-
gen. Veel radioactieve stoffen hebben bovendien een cumulatief effect: dat
betekent dat zij zich ophopen in bepaalde organen of weefsels.
 

VRIJE RADICAALBELASTING

Radioactieve belasting van het lichaam geeft een voortdurende belasting met
vrije radicalen, die in een kettingreactie andere vrije radicalen blijven aan-
maken, totdat ze worden weggevangen door anti-oxydanten. Het grootste deel
van het lichaam bestaat uit water, waaruit het zeer schadelijke hydroxyl-
radicaal kan ontstaan, maar in principe kunnen alle moleculen in het li-
chaam getroffen en veranderd worden. Een belangrijk onderzoek uit 1972
met radioactief natrium toont aan dat lipoproteïnemembranen (de celwanden
van zoogdiercellen) buitengewoon gevoelig zijn voor minieme stralingdoses.
De celmembraan bezwijkt snel onder de door radioactiviteit gevormde vrije
radicalen 18. Lipiden die van bestraalde proefdieren afkomstig zijn, blijken
symptomen op te kunnen roepen die overeenkomen met die van de bestraling
zelfl 9. Ook daarom is voedselbestraling zeer dubieus door de vorming van
vrije radicalen in het voedsel 20.
Een grote belasting van het lichaam met vrije radicalen leidt tot vroegtijdige
veroudering en allerlei degeneratieve ziekten als kanker, reuma en hart- en
vaatziekten. Beschadiging van het DNA door vrije radicalen kan leiden tot
kanker en effecten op de ongeboren vrucht. In de vijftiger jaren zijn in de vs
bij wijze van experimentele therapie een aantal mensen ingespoten met
geringe doses langlevende radionucleiden, zoals radium en plutonium 21. Als
gevolg daarvan ontwikkelden zich bij die mensen allerlei bottumoren en
waarschijnlijk ook leucemie. Men gebruikt tegenwoordig nog wel radium-226
als lokale tijdelijke kankertherapie. 22
 

RADIOACTIEVE STOFFEN EN EFFECTEN.

Strontium-90 wordt net als kalk in de botten opgenomen en veroorzaakt
plaatselijk een sterke beta-straling. Strontium-90 splitst zich gedeeltelijk in
Yttrium-90 dat zich ophoopt in de spermakoppen waardoor als gevolg van
beta en gamma-straling mutaties worden veroorzaakt die tot uitdrukking
komen in evt. nageslacht.
]odium-131 komt bij voorkeur terecht in de schildklier en wordt de belang-
rijkste veroorzaker van schildklierkanker genoemd door de lokale beta- en
gammastraling. Jodium-131 kwam in grote hoeveelheden vrij na het reacto-
rongeval in Tsjernobyl.
]odium-129 kwam veel minder vrij maar heeft een halfwaardetijd van 17
milioen jaar.
De grote hoeveelheid cesium-137 (relatief en absoluut) in de fall-out van de
reactor betekent dat de brandstofstaven verbrand zijn, waardoor onontkoom-
baar ook veel plutonium is vrijgekomen. Cesium-137 hoopt zich op in het
spierweefsel, komt via vlees, eieren, vis en via de lucht in de mens terecht.
Het gedraagt zich in het lichaam als kalium en veroorzaakt door de beta-stra-
ling onder andere leukemie. Besmette vleesprodukten bevatten vrijwel altijd
cesium-137.
Uranium-238 wordt niet vaak genoemd als fall-out-produkt van Tsjernobyl.
Toch kan het niet anders dan dat het ook aanwezig is in de cocktail die op
Nederland is terechtgekomen. Behalve radioactief, gedraagt het zich ook als
een zwaar metaal. Het is alleen moeilijk te detecteren.
Plutonium 239 is ook moeilijk te detecteren doordat het uitsluitend a-stra-
ling afgeeft. Daardoor wordt het in officiële rapporten niet genoemd, terwijl
diverse kranten berichtten dat plutonium is gevonden in Polen, Zweden en
Frankrijk. Als plutonium eenmaal in het lichaam terechtkomt veroorzaakt een
minieme hoeveelheid al kanker door de sterke alfa-straling.23 De half-
waardetijd is 24.000 jaar waardoor het nog lang in de voedselketen aanwezig
zal zijn.
 

JODIUMTABLETTEN

In de tijd waarin men is blootgesteld aan radioactieve
stoffen zou men door inname van grote hoeveelheden van de niet-radioactieve
variant van de stof kunnen proberen de opname van de radioactieve variant te
beperken. De niet- radioactieve stoffen concurreren dan met de radioactieve
voor inbouw in lichaamscellen. Een dergelijk mechanisme is alleen aange-
toond voor jodium, dat snel wordt opgenomen. Ten tijde van nucleaire
rampen worden om die reden dan ook jodiumtabletten uitgedeeld, die zo snel
mogelijk na de blootstelling moeten worden ingenomen.
 

BESCHERMING DOOR VOEDINGSSTOFFEN

Gezien het feit dat radioactieve straling een krachtige producent is van vrije
radicalen, is het logisch te veronderstellen dat anti-oxydanten een zekere
mate van bescherming tegen radioactiviteit kunnen geven. Dat wordt beves-
tigd door onderzoek met Ginkgo Biloba, een sterk anti-oxydant, bij reddings-
werkers die in Tsjernobyl hebben gewerkt (zie kader). De laatste jaren (sinds
2000) wordt op grote schaal aan de bevolking in Belarus en Ukraïne
appel-pectine gegeven om de cesium-besmetting omlaag te brengen. 33.

Verbindingen die thiol-groepen bevatten (-SR) , zoals glutathion, cysteïne en
N-acetyl-cysteïne hebben ook beschermende effecten laten zien tegen radio-
actieve straling 19. Ook deze verbindingen zijn effectief in het wegvangen van
vrije radicalen. Seleniumhoudende aminozuren blijken ook een krachtige
beschermende werking te vertonen tegen straling24.
Een micro-organisme dat hoge doses straling kan verdragen, blijkt grote
hoeveelheden van het anti-oxydatieve enzym Super Oxyde Dismutase (SOD)
te kunnen aanmaken. SOD wordt ook in het menselijk lichaam aangemaakt.
Oraal ingenomen SOD wordt echter nauwelijks of niet in het lichaam opge-
nomen. Wanneer het echter geinjecteerd wordt, is er wel een stijging van de
anti-oxydatieve activiteit te bespeuren25,26.
Er is helaas nog weinig onderzoek verricht naar de beschermende werking
van anti-oxydanten op straling bij mensen. Uit dieronderzoek is al wel be-
kend dat vitamine A en beta-caroteen de overlevingstijd van muizen na
bestraling verlengt 27 en dat muizen die vitamine E deficiënt waren, gevoeli-
ger waren voor bestraling. 28 32
Tevens zijn uit de literatuur dierexperimenten bekend waarbij poreuze mine-
ralen, de zeolieten (mordeniet, clinoptiloniet en chabaziet), worden gebruikt
om cesium te absorberen. Pruisisch blauw (ferroferricyanide) blijkt ook ce-
sium te binden. 29,30 Het is gebruikt na de tragedie in Goyania in Brazilië.
Een ander mogelijk interessante stof is het aminozuur histidine. In het kader
van het Russische ruimtevaartprogramma zijn meer dan 25.000 verschillende
verbindingen onderzocht op hun mogelijk beschermende werking tegen
kosmische straling. Histidine maakt (naast tryptofaan) deel uit van een
standaardpreparaat dat nu aan kosmonauten wordt verstrekt 31.
Hoewel er nog veel onduidelijk is over de effecten van straling en bescher-
ming ertegen, lijkt het innemen van anti-oxydanten door mensen die be-
roepsmatig of in hun leefomgeving (Wit-Rusland Belarus, Ukraïne) aan radioac-
tieve stoffen worden blootgesteld, aan te raden.

GINKGO BILOBA-EXTRACT EFFECTIEF BIJ STRALINGSZIEKTE

Blootstelling aan radioactieve straling geeft afwijkingen in het plasma.
Radiobiologen hanteren het begrip clastogene factoren, CF's, afgeleid van
het Grieks clastos (=breuk) en gennan (=voortbrengen), het veroorzaken van
breuken (in chromosomen) dus. Het aanwezig zijn van CF's in het bloed van
patiënten met stralingsziekten is altijd verbonden met chromosoombeschadi-
ging en een permanente verhoging van vrije radicalen.
In het Institut Biomedical des Cordelliers, Universit‚ de Paris VI, hebben
professor dr I. Emerit en haar medewerkers CF's gevonden in het plasma
van patiënten met chronische ontstekingsziekten. CF's in het plasma van
patiënten met HIV - infectie, Blooms syndroom, Fanconi anemie en met
stralingsziekte, zijn altijd sterk verhoogd en verbonden met verhoogde
oxydatieve stress. De vorming van superoxyde-anion radicalen is altijd boven
normaal. Proeven met ge‹soleerde cellen die werden blootgesteld aan super-
oxyde liet verhoogde vorming van CF's zien. Toevoeging van het enzym
superoxyde-dismutase, SOD, aan de celkweken voorkomt de vorming van
CF's. De onderzoekers bestudeerden een groep reddingswerkers, die tussen
1986 en 1989 actief waren in of rond de geëxplodeerde atoomreactor van
Tsjernobyl. Alle reddingswerkers hadden permanent verhoogde niveaus CF in
het plasma.
Toediening van een SOD-preparaat per injectie werd overwogen als behande-
lingsmethode. De te verwachten bijwerkingen deden de onderzoekers uitzien
naar een alternatief. Uit eerder gepubliceerd onderzoek was reeds bekend dat
extract van Ginkgo bilobablad superoxyde-anion radicaal kan inactiveren.
Uitgebreide laboratoriumproeven met het gestandaardiseerde extract EGb761
toonde een anti-clastogeen effect. Daarnaast werd het superoxyde-anion
radicaal geïnactiveerd in monsters plasma afkomstig van de reddingswerkers
uit Tsjernobyl, die aan stralingsziekte leden.
Inmiddels werden hoopgevende resultaten geboekt met een kleine groep
reddingswerkers uit Tsjernobyl. Negen van hen namen dagelijks drie capsules
met 40 milligram droog extract EGb761, gedurende een periode van twee
maanden. In alle gevallen was er sprake van een afname van of totaal
verdwijnen van clastogene factoren in het plasma.
(Bron: Emerit I et al. Radiation induced clastogenic factors: anticlastogenic
effect of ginkgo biloba extract. Free Rad Bloi Med 1995; 18: 985-991)JvD


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Gonarthrose Rheuma 1982; 2. 11
27. Selfter E. et al. Morbidity and mortality reduction by supplemental
vitamin A or beta-carotene in CBA mice given total body radiation.JNCI
1984; 73. 1167
28. Konings AWT. , Drijver EB., Radiation effects on membranes. Vitamin
E deficiency and lipid peroxydation. Rad Research 1979; 80: 494.
29 Forberg S. Porous minerals soak up Chernobyl's fall-out, The New
Scientist, 2 juni 1988
30. van Dongen J. Ontgifting radioactief caesium. ortho- moleculair 1988; 6.
252-254.
3l Brekham II. Man and biologically active substances. Pergamon Press,
1980.
32.  Shannon S. Diet for the atomic age "How To Protect Yourself From
Low-Level Radiation" Avery Publishing Group Inc. 1987.
33.
Nesterenko is een pleitbezorger van de toepassing van de stof pectine.
Dit is een bekende stof die o.a. in appels voorkomt en als gelatine bij het maken
van jam gebruikt wordt. Het voert versneld zware metalen af uit het lichaam,
en ook radioactief cesium.
Er zijn veel verhalen dat het kinderen echt helpt, maar hoe is niet zo duidelijk.

Dit artikel is verschenen in Ortho nummer 3, juni 1996


Hans de Jonge
werktuigbouwkunde, weg- en waterbouwkunde en geneeskunde

specialistatie
medische gevolgen van lage stralingsdoses, chronische 
vergiftiging door zware metalen,
radioactieve stoffen en de ontgifting

Medewerker van 1993 tot 1999 van het Landelijk Anti Kernenergie Archief (LAKA)
en World Information Service on Energy (WISE)

Correspondentie:
Dacostakade 158
1053 XC Amsterdam
Stichting Visie

MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

Published Sunday, May 7, 2000

Chernobyl: For 14 years, the industry has
downplayed the damage to humans and the planet
John M. LaForge

With a heavy dose of half-truth, the commercial

press works overtime to reduce the results of the
April 26, 1986, Chernobyl catastrophe to a
"nervous disorder" confined to the former Soviet
Union and Europe. Understated anniversary reports
of the worldwide radiation disaster help the
nuclear industry hold on against overwhelming
opposition, in spite of what should have been the
final insult from nuclear power.

Efforts at psychological "cleanup" often sound
like Peter Crane, a lawyer at the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC), who says that "the
explosion . . . sent a radioactive cloud into the
atmosphere of Eastern Europe." This is a true
statement. It merely neglects to mention the rest
of planet Earth.

Journalist Michael Specter reports, "The fire,
which burned out of control for five days, spewed
more than 50 tons of radioactive fallout across
Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia." This loaded
sentence is true, in a limited sense. That the
fire burned uncontrolled for two weeks after a
series of three explosions; that perhaps 190 tons
of reactor fuel was catapulted into the
atmosphere; or that the radioactive fallout spread
worldwide, reaching Minnesota's milk, for example,
doesn't make Specter a liar, only a miser with the
truth.

The Associated Press' Dave Carpenter's description
that "deadly reactor fuel shot into the
atmosphere, contaminating some 10,000 square miles
and reaching as far as Western Europe" is likewise
"correct," but Reuters reported on Nov. 28, 1995,
that the contaminated areas include about 61,780
square miles. What is it to understate the total
of irradiated territory by a factor of six? It
isn't the pot calling the kettle black; it's the
cesium calling the strontium a cancer agent.

Carpenter's AP lullaby was published widely and
included the comment that "those living in the
shadow of Chernobyl will be living with its deadly
health and environmental legacy for years."

For years? The word "centuries" would have been
more accurate, if conservative, since radiation's
health effects are multigenerational and not
limited in time. Indeed, some genetic effects
appear to be increasing with each successive
generation.

The AP's Angela Charlson reported that the
explosions sent "a radioactive cloud across parts
of Europe." Understatement was practiced as well
by the New York Times, which said the disaster
"spewed radiation across much of Europe" and that
"a plume of toxic gases and dust . . . spread
across the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe
and Scandinavia." While this uncomfortable fact is
nowadays passe, the contamination of the whole
world was hinted at when the Times reported that
the radiation spread across western Russia "and
beyond."

'Irrational fears'?

While Chernobyl's long-lived carcinogens --
primarily cesium, plutonium, strontium and
iodine -- are well known to be deadly for decades
or centuries, Soviet officials, the United
Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
and U.S. editors have all ridiculed the
common-sense fear of Chernobyl's radioactive
fallout.

The official Soviet paper Izvestia said in 1988
that doctors in the Ukraine were "spending more
time on trying to dispel irrational fears than on
treating the effects of radiation."

The IAEA, which at first refused to conduct a
post-Chernobyl health study, claiming that all the
accident's effects were confined within Soviet
borders, dared to say in a 1991 study that
Chernobyl's health effects were mainly
"psychological." The heavily criticized report did
not consider the health of the emergency-response
workers or of the evacuees from the 18-mile
exclusion zone, 8,000 of whom are now known to
have died from radiation-related diseases.

The IAEA study failed to mention the lengthy
latency period for observed cancer incidence. This
cavalier whitewash of the disaster's inevitable
results came from a nominal nuclear watchdog.
"After all, the IAEA is in the business of
promoting nuclear energy, not discouraging it. For
10 years the agency has attempted to downplay the
consequences of the accident," wrote Alexander R.
Sich in a cover story for the Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists. The IAEA, still downplaying in 1995,
said any increase in cancer caused by Chernobyl
would be "undetectable."

Editors across the country have embraced the
IAEA's dismissive attitude, distracting readers
with headlines like "Citizens still suffering
radiation phobia" and "The legacy of Chernobyl:
Fear is the deeper wound." A dread of radiation
doesn't appear irrational in view of 1995's report
that "A second catastrophic explosion at the
Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine could happen
'at any time,' Western scientists have warned."

A short review of Chernobyl's fallout pattern
shows how irresponsible the reporting has become.

AP, May 15, 1986: "Airborne radioactivity from the
Chernobyl nuclear accident is now so widespread
that it is likely to fall to the ground wherever
it rains in the United States, the EPA said."

AP, May 14, 1986: "An invisible cloud of
radioactivity spewed over the Soviet Union and
Europe, and has worked its way gradually around
the world."

AP, May 15, 1986: "State authorities in Oregon
have warned residents dependent solely on
rainwater for drinking that they should arrange
other supplies for the time being."

Star Tribune, May 17, 1986: "Since radiation from
the Chernobyl nuclear accident began floating over
Minnesota last week, low levels of radiation have
been discovered in . . . the raw milk from a
Minnesota dairy."

AP, April 4, 1996: "Plutonium and other dangerous
particles released in the accident . . . have now
found their way to Ukraine's major waterways . . .
. 'We have billions of tons of radiated earth that
can't be dumped anywhere, and which will pour
plutonium, cesium and strontium into Europe for
decades,' the chief consultant to the Ukrainian
Parliament's Chernobyl commission said."

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 1996:
"radiation contamination was detectable over the
entire Northern Hemisphere."

Well beyond "Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia,"
and further than "parts of Europe," Chernobyl's
contamination doused at least half the world. But
with so much disparity among estimates, we may
never know the true biological, ecological,
psychological and economic dimensions of
Chernobyl's radiation bomb.

-- John M. LaForge is codirector of Nukewatch, a
peace group based in Wisconsin, and editor of its
quarterly newsletter, the Pathfinder.

© Copyright 2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved

_______________________________

Chernobyl at Ten:

Half-lives and Half Truths

(Part one of two)
 

By John M. LaForgeã
 

With a heavy dose of half-truth, the commercial
press worked over-time to reduce the results of
the Chernobyl catastrophe to a "nervous disorder"
confined to the C.I.S. and Europe. Understated
reports on the 10th anniversary of the world-wide
radiation disaster help the nuclear reactor
industry hold on against overwhelming opposition,
in spite of what should have been the final insult
from nuclear power.

The latest psychological "clean up" often went
like this. Peter Crane, a lawyer at the U. S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), said that
"...the explosion... sent a radioactive cloud into
the atmosphere of Eastern Europe." (1) This is a
true statement. It merely neglects to mention the
rest of planet Earth.

Reporter Michael Specter wrote that, "The fire
which burned out of control for five days, spewed
more than 50 tons of radioactive fallout across
Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia." (2) This
loaded sentence is also literally true. The fact
that the fire burned uncontrolled for two weeks,
after a series of three explosions; that perhaps
190 tons of reactor fuel was catapulted into the
atmosphere; or that the radioactive fallout spread
world-wide ¾ reaching Minnesota's milk for example
¾ doesn't make of Mr. Specter a liar, only a miser
with the truth.

Associated Press (AP) correspondent Dave Carpenter
's description ¾ that "deadly reactor fuel shot
into the atmosphere, contaminating some 10,000
square miles and reaching as far as Western
Europe" (3) is likewise "correct," but Reuters
News Service reported on 28 Nov. 1995 that the
contaminated areas include about 61,780 square
miles.

Carpenter practiced perfect obfuscation in his
dispatch, saying of the reckless nuclearists over
there: "In a big lie, Soviet officials. . . first
hushed up the disaster then played down its
severity." What is it to understate the sum of
irradiated territory by a factor of six? It isn't
the pot calling the kettle black; it's the cesium
calling the strontium a cancer agent.

Carpenter's AP lullaby was published widely and
included the comment that, ". . .those living in
the shadow of Chernobyl will be living with its
deadly health and environmental legacy for years."
(4)

For years? The word centuries would have been more
accurate, if conservative, since radiation's
health affects are multi-generational and not
limited in time. Indeed, some genetic effects
appear to be increasing with each successive
generation.

The AP's Angela Charlson went so far as to say the
reactor sent "a radioactive cloud across parts of
Europe ..." (5) Understatement of the overwhelming
facts was practiced as well by the editors of The
New York Times, who said on April 21 that the
disaster "spewed radiation across much or Europe"
(6) and on the anniversary, that "...a plume of
toxic gases & dust...spread across the western
Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia." (7)
Although the contamination of the rest of the
world was hinted at as lately as 6 Oct. 1995, when
the Times reported that the radiation spread
across western Russia "and beyond," this
uncomfortable fact is nowadays passé.
 

The Disaster's in Your Head

While the explosions' long-lived carcinogens ¾
primarily cesium, plutonium, strontium and iodine
¾ are well known to be deadly for decades and even
centuries, Soviet officials, the U. N's
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and
U.S. editors have all ridiculed the common sense
fear of Chernobyl's radioactive fallout.

The official Soviet paper Izvestia said in 1988
that doctors in the Ukraine were, ". . .spending
more time on trying to dispel irrational fears
than on treating the effects of radiation." (8)

The IAEA which at first refused to conduct a
post-Chernobyl health study, claiming that all the
accident's effects were confined within Soviet
borders (9), dared to say in a 1991 study that
Chernobyl's health effects were mainly
"psychological." This heavily criticized report
didn't even consider the health of the
"liquidators," or the evacuees from the 18-mile
exclusion zone, 8,000 of whom are now known to
have died from radiation related diseases. (10)

The IAEA study failed to mention the lengthy
latency period for observed cancer incidence. This
cavalier white-wash of the disaster's inevitable
results came from a nominal nuclear watchdog,
which in fact is only the most prestigious booster
of nuclear power. "After all the IAEA is in the
business of promoting nuclear energy not
discouraging it. For ten years the agency has
attempted to downplay the consequences of the
accident," wrote Dr. Alexander R. Sich in a cover
story for the May/June Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists. (11) The IAEA, still sticking in its
vacuum, said in 1995 that any increase in cancer
caused by Chernobyl would be "undetectable."
(11.1)

Editors across the country have embraced the IAEA'
s dismissive attitude, distracting readers with
headlines like, "Area Frozen In Fear," "Citizens
Still Suffering Radiation Phobia," and "The Legacy
of Chernobyl: Fear is the Deeper Wound." A dread
of radiation doesn't appear irrational in view of
last year's report that "A second catastrophic
explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in
Ukraine could happen "at any time," Western
scientists have warned." (12)
 

Reality Officially Forgotten

A short review of Chernobyl's fallout pattern
shows how irresponsible the late reporting has
become. AP, 15 May 1986: "Airborne radioactivity
from the Chernobyl nuclear accident is now so
widespread that it is likely to fall to the ground
wherever it rains in the United States, the EPA
said." AP, 14 May 1986: "An invisible cloud of
radioactivity spewed over the Soviet Union and
Europe, and has worked its way gradually around
the world." AP, 15 May 1986: "State authorities in
Oregon have warned residents dependent solely on
rainwater for drinking that they should arrange
other supplies for the time being." Minneapolis
Star Tribune, 17 May 1986: "Since radiation from
the Chernobyl nuclear accident began floating over
Minnesota last week, low levels of radiation have
been discovered in... the raw milk from a
Minnesota dairy." AP, 4 April 1996: "Plutonium and
other dangerous particles released in the
accident...have now found their way to Ukraine's
major waterways. ... 'We have billions of tons of
radiated earth that can't be dumped anywhere, and
which will pour plutonium, cesium and strontium
into Europe for decades,' [the chief consultant to
the Ukrainian parliament's Chernobyl commission]
said." Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, May 1996, p.
38: "...radiation contamination was detectable
over the entire northern hemisphere."

With so much disparity among so many figures, we
may never know the true dimensions of Chernobyl's
radiation bomb.
 

Notes:

(1) NYT, Op-Ed, 5 April 1996.

(2) International Herald Tribune, 2 April 1996.

(3) Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 14 April 1996.
 

(4) Minneapolis Star Tribune, 21 April 1996.

(5) St. Paul Pioneer, 27 April 1996.

(6) NYT, 21 April 1996, The Week In Review.

(7) NYT, 26 April 1996, signed editorial by Philip
Taubman

(8) Los Angeles Times, 11 Feb. 1988.

(9) In These Times, 22 April 1987.

(10) AP, 23 April 1992; WISE News Communiqué,
(Amsterdam) No. 449, 10 April 1996.

(11) Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, May 1996, p.
38.

(11.1) Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June
1996, p. 8.

(12) The London Observer, 26 March 1995; Milwaukee
Journal, 27 March 1995.
 

Half Lives and Half Truths: Chernobyl Ten Years On
 

By John M. LaForge ã

(Second of two parts)
 

The 10th anniversary was no party.

"I have seen the beginning of the end of the
world," is how Michael Mariotte, editor of The
Nuclear Monitor, put it after visiting Chernobyl's
doomed landscape, everything dead or dying for
miles around. "The end of the world begins in
Pripyat, Ukraine, a once-thriving city of 45,000.
Now it sits crumbling, abandoned, a mute but
overwhelming testament to technological arrogance
gone amok."1

Pripyat was the city nearest Chernobyl's Unit 4,
the reactor that exploded on April 26, 1986 and
burned dangerously until October, spewing tons of
cancer-causing isotopes around the world.2

Mr. Mariotte is not known for emotional writing in
The Monitor, but anyone who can stand to
investigate the unfolding human consequences of
the world's worst industrial catastrophe can
understand his choice of words. Izvestia called it
"the greatest technological catastrophe in world
history."3

Cancers and other disease caused by Chernobyl's
radioactive poisons are being recorded thousands
of kilometers from the reactor site. The ninety
million people who lived in the path of the very
worst fallout are learning the hard way that
damage done by ionizing radiation is unrelenting,
cumulative and irreversible.

In the first part of this article (Spring 1996
Pathfinder) I compared the recent trivialization
of Chernobyl's consequences to news accounts that
appeared soon after the explosions and fire. For
example, while the commercial press now tell us
that the disaster "spread radiation across parts
of Europe," the fact is that the federal EPA
announced in mid-May 1986 that, "Airborne
radioactivity from the Chernobyl nuclear accident
is now so widespread that it is likely to fall to
the ground wherever it rains in the United
States."4

In this part I look at how much radiation
Chernobyl evidently dumped added to the
"background," at official skewing of the its
inevitable long-term effects, and at recent
reports of its human health consequences.
 

Answers are Blowin' in the Wind

How much radiation was released? What percentage
of which isotopes were thrown into the atmosphere.
Was it mostly iodine-131? How much of the total
was made up of the far more dangerous cesium-137,
strontium-90 and plutonium?

Piecing together the truth is a dizzying job of
ferreting out bias and vested interest. The
pro-nuclear Time magazine reported in 1989 that
perhaps "one billion or more" curies were
released, rather than the 50 to 80 million
estimated by Russian authorities.5 One curie is
the amount of radiation equal to the
disintegration of 37 billion atoms ¾ 37 billion
becquerels ¾ per second. It is a very large amount
of radiation.

The U.S. government's Argonne Nat. Lab has said
that 30 percent of the reactor's total
radioactivity ¾ 3 billion of an estimated 9
billion curies ¾ was released.6 And scientists at
the U.S. Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab suggested
that one-half of the core's radioactivity was
spewed ¾ 4.5 billion curies, according the World
Information Service on Energy, quoting Science,
6-13-86.

Vladimir Chernousenko, the chief scientific
supervisor of the "clean up" team responsible for
a 10-kilometer zone around the exploded reactor,
says that 80 percent of the reactor's
radioactivity escaped, something like seven
billion curies.7 At the Union of Concerned
Scientists, senior energy analyst Kennedy Maize,
concluded that "the core vaporized" ¾ all 190 tons
of fuel, and all 9 billion curies.8

Former Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Joseph Hendrie, concluded likewise,
saying "They have dumped the full inventory of
volatile fission products from a large power
reactor into the environment. You can't do any
worse than that."9

The Russians and the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) claimed in a 1986 report, that 50
million curies of radioactive debris, plus another
50 million curies of rare and inert gasses were
discharged. However, the rocketing incidence of
cancers, leukemias and other radiation-induced
illnesses, leads scientists to suspect that the
higher radioactive fallout estimates are likely.
Pandemic numbers of thyroid cancers led even the
cautious Dr. Alexander Sich, in his Chernobyl
cover story for the May 1996 Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists to conclude that the "higher
[radiation] release estimates support the
conclusions drawn by medical experts."

Geneticist Valery N. Soyfer, founder of the former
Soviet Union's first molecular biology laboratory,
analyzed the 1986 report to the IAEA, which has
since been condemned as a cover-up. Dr. Soyfer
says that if only 100 million curies were vented,
then world "background radiation doubled at
once."10 This claim was unsupported by
accompanying evidence, but if "background" was
doubled by 100 million curies, then it was
multiplied 180 times by the release of Chernobyl's
"full inventory." Nineteen months after the
disaster, in Nov. 1987, the U.S. government
officially doubled its estimate of the
"background" radiation to which we are exposed
every year.11
 

Thyroid Cancers: More, Sooner, Untreatable

Dr. Soyfer further discovered that the Soviets
focused on and publicized the fallout's
radioactive iodine content, but understated the
amounts of other far more dangerous isotopes.
While 10 to 15 percent of the fallout was
iodine-131, the long-lived radionuclides
strontium-90 and cesium-137 made up more than two
thirds of the total contamination.12

Furthermore, the Soviet's 1986 estimate of future
cancer deaths was based only on the impact of
iodine-131, and then only on external doses. As a
result, the IAEA misled the world about Chernobyl'
s cancer threat. People contaminated with
iodine-131 ingested it, first by breathing, then
by drinking contaminated milk for six weeks.
Thyroid cancer is caused by the iodine-131. Its
rates are today ten times higher than the increase
any scientist had anticipated. The U. N. has said
that the number of thyroid cancers among children
in Belarus ¾ where 70 percent of the fallout
landed ¾ are 285 times pre-Chernobyl levels.13

The British Medical Journal reported in 1995 that
the rate of thyroid cancer in the region north of
Chernobyl¾ Ukraine and Belarus¾ is 200 times
higher than normal, and the (British) Imperial
Cancer Research Fund found a 500 percent increase
in thyroid cancers among Ukrainian children
between 1986 and 1993.14

Fear is growing among physicians treating the
young radiation victims, because the thyroid
cancers are appearing sooner than expected and
growing quicker than usual. Dr. Andrei Butenko, at
Kiev Hospital No. 1 in Ukraine, says of his
patients, "Routine chemotherapy seems to have lost
its effectiveness; something has changed in the
immune system."15
 

Cesium's Genetic Assault: the 300 Years War

Cesium-137 contamination is probably Chernobyl's
most devastating and ominous consequence. The body
can't distinguish cesium from potassium, so it's
taken up by our cells and becomes an internal
source of radiation. Cesium-137 is a gamma emitter
and its half-life of 30 years means that it stays
in the soil, to concentrate in the food chain, for
over 300 years. While iodine-131 remains
radioactive for six weeks, cesium-137 stays in the
body for decades, concentrating in muscle where it
irradiates muscle cells and nearby organs.16

Strontium-90 is also long-lived and, because it
resembles calcium, is permanently incorporated
into bone tissue where it may lead to leukemia.

The Soviet's acknowledged in 1986 that the
influence of cesium-137 on cancer death rates
would be nine times that of iodine-131. They said
that the effects of strontium-90 would "perhaps
have, along with cesium-137, the most important
meaning."17
 

Early Findings Go from Bad to Worse

Exposure to radiation more often results in
genetic and reproductive damage than cancer. These
hereditary disorders are unlimited in time, since
they pass from generation to generation in the
sperm and ovum. So, as geneticist Soyfer points
out, Chernobyl's enduring biological legacy will
be that of inherited diseases, deformities,
developmental abnormalities, spontaneous abortions
and premature births.

Some recent epidemiological studies confirm the
worst of these inevitable effects. The June 25,
1995 Washington Post reported that birth defects
in the areas most heavily poisoned have doubled
since 1986.

In a long page one story, the Aug. 2, 1995 New
York Times reported that life expectancy has
plummeted in Russia, making it the first nation in
history to ever experience such a public health
status reversal. Male life expectancy is now the
lowest in the world (below even India or Bolivia)
and, at the same time, infant mortality rose 15
percent in both 1993 and 1994, and there are now
epidemic rates of heart disease and cancer. dr.
David Hoel, an epidemiologist at the Medical
University of S. Carolina, is studying whether
Chernobyl's radiation is a major factor in the
spread in cancers and birth defects. "Everyone
assumes the connection," he said.

The journal Nature has published a study of
children born in 1994 to mothers exposed to
Chernobyl's fallout in 1986. Researchers studied
79 families 186 miles from Chernobyl and found
never-before-observed "germ-line" mutations:
changes in DNA of the sperm and ovum. Such
mutations are passed on from generation to
generation.18

Nature has also reported that in Greece, 2,800
kilometers from Chernobyl, where radiation
exposures were far lower than in areas close to
the reactor, leukemia has been diagnosed at rates
2.6 times the norm in young people who were in the
womb when the reactor exploded. The British
epidemiologist Dr. Alice Stewart found long ago
that only one diagnostic X-ray to the pregnant
abdomen increases the risk of leukemia in the
offspring by 40 percent.19 However, the report
from Greece is the first to link Chernobyl's
wreckage to increased leukemia incidence in
children exposed in utero.20 The report has moved
some experts to again warn that the low levels of
radiation to which people are exposed every day
"could contribute to cancer."

Even the stodgy New York Times has reported that
"cancers are now believed to be the result of
smaller [radiation] doses, and the amount of
damage inflicted by a given dose is now believed
to be larger."21

In a related study, two U.S. geneticists analyzing
animals inside Chernobyl's 6-mile radius found
that small rodents known as voles "sustain an
extraordinary amount of genetic damage." The study
found that "the mutation rate in these animals
is...probably thousands of times greater than
normal." Two findings called "ominous" were,
first, that one-third of the mutations that the
scientists expected to see were not even detected
¾ probably because they were lethal. "It could be
that the animals were never born," said Dr. Robert
Becker of Texas Technical Univ. Second, "the vole
mutations were cumulative, increasing with each
succeeding generation." Both researchers doubted
that any species could sustain such a mutation
rate indefinitely.22
 

Acceptable Whole-Earth Poisoning

The extent of Chernobyl's radioactive, biological
and ecological damage, and the depth its
psychological and economic devastation are
incalculable.

What everyone does know about nuclear reactors is
that they have a record of whole-earth poisoning,
and that their potential for more of the same is
considered acceptable ¾ authorized in advance.
This potential, for unlimited and uncontrollable
radiation "accidents," has been deliberately
developed, promoted, protected, ignored and then
denied, or forgotten.

Sadly, denial and forgetfulness only make another
Chernobyl inevitable.

Notes:

1 The Nuclear Monitor, newsletter of Nuclear
Information Resource Service (NIRS), April 1996.

2 St. Louis Post Dispatch (SLPD), 7-23-90.

3 SLPD, 4-26-90.

4 Associated Press, 5-15-86.

5 Time, 11-13-89.

6 The Chicago Tribune, 6-22-86.

7 "The Truth About Chernobyl," Critical Mass:
Voices for a Nuclear-Free Future, Ruggiero and
Sahulka, Eds., 1996 by Open Media, p. 127.

8 Not Man Apart, the journal of Friends of the
Earth, March 1987.

9 The Minneapolis Star Tribune, 5-19-86.

10 SLPD, 4-24-87.

11 The New York Times, 11-20-87.

12 SLPD, 4-24-87.

13 The New York Times, 11-29-96.

14 The Washington Post, 3-25-95.

15 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 12-12-94.

16 Caldicott, H., Nuclear Madness, 1994, Norton,
p. 137.

17 SLPD, 4-24-87.

18 The New York Times, 4-25-96.

19 Caldicott, Ibid., p. 43.

20 St. Paul Pioneer, 7-25-96.

21 The New York Times, 6-23-96.

22 The New York Times, 5-7-96, B6. --end--

[Part One ran in NUKEWATCH The Pathfinder, Summer
1996, part Two in Winter 1996/1997 EDITION; an
edited compilation of both parts is published in
Earth Island Journal, Summer 1997, EIJ, 300
Broadway, No. 28, San Francisco, CA 94133].


 
Donbass, Ukraine     1980          68       coal mine methane explosion
Kuzbass, Siberia     1982          39       coal mine methane explosion
Mexico City            1984         500+          LPG explosion
Italy                         1985         250            dam failure
Chernobyl, Ukraine   1986          31+  (een leugen)  nuclear reactor accident
Offshore, North Sea  1988         167    explosion of offshore oil rig
Asha-ufa, Siberia    1989         600    LPG pipeline leak and fire
Turkey                   1992              270    coal mine methane explosion
Egypt                     1994               460    fuel depot hit by lightning
Taegu, S.Korea       1995         100+    gas explosion
Henan, China         1996          84    coal mine methane explosion
Datong, China        1996         114    coal mine methane explosion
Henan, China         1997          89    coal mine methane explosion
Fushun, China        1997          68    coal mine methane explosion
Kuzbass, Siberia     1997          67    coal mine methane explosion
Huainan, China       1997          89    coal mine methane explosion
Huainan, China       1997          45    coal mine methane explosion
Shanxi, China        1997          28    coal mine methane explosion
Guizhou, China       1997          43    coal mine methane explosion
Donbass, Ukraine     1998          63    coal mine methane explosion
Liaoning, China      1998          71    coal mine methane explosion
Warri, Nigeria       1998         500+  oil pipeline leak and fire
Donbass, Ukraine     1999          50+  coal mine methane explosion
Donbass, Ukraine     2000          80   coal mine methane explosion
Shanxi, China        2000          40   coal mine methane explosion
Yunnan, China        2000          13   coal mine methane explosion
Guizhou, China       2000         150   coal mine methane explosion
Appin, Australia     1979          14   coal mine methane explosion
Moura, Australia     1986          12   coal mine methane explosion
Moura, Australia     1994          11   coal mine methane explosion
And here are 21 deaths attributed to wind power 


Met de bovenstaande statistiek willen de voorstanders van kernenergie 
aantonen dat atoomenergie de veiligste energiebron is 
lees het onderstaande commentaar

This is almost to ridiculous to answer. All these explosions, regrettable
as they are were LOCAL disasters. 30 days after Chernobyl the mothers in
Wilmington Delaware, where I live fed their babies contaminated milk . In
Austria which is my home, 14 years after the accident they still can not
eat the mushrooms which they enjoyed for generation. Just this year Japan
returned and refused further import of mushrooms from Italy.  How
contaminated is the soil of Europe? And how many generations will be
affected?
Nuclear Power was concieved in secret (The Joint Committee on Atomic
Energy) promoted with lies and perpetuated through the "revolving door"
which made the NRC  as "protector" the laughing stock for years.
Nothing has changed so far , the roosters are still in charge of the hen
house.
Spare me your statistics in  my years of opposing this technology i have
heard them all.
2002  Frieda A Berryhill <frieda302@juno.com>

Chernobyl Radiation Lingers  November 13, 2004

``We must now worry about the children of the
children of Chernobyl,'' said Gennady Groushevoy,
head of Children of Chernobyl. ``The health danger
is reaching into a second generation ... but the
government has retreated into a Soviet-era
attitude of silence.''

In all, 7 million people in the former Soviet
republics of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are
believed to have suffered medical problems as a
result of the April 25, 1986, accident. In
Ukraine, more than 2.32 million people, including
452,000 children, have been treated for
radiation-linked illnesses, including thyroid and
blood cancer and cancerous growths, according to
Ukrainian health officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Living-With-Chernobyl.html?oref=login

Activists: Chernobyl Radiation Lingers
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 13, 2004
Filed at 8:34 p.m. ET

SVETILOVICHI, Belarus (AP) -- The signs say ``KEEP
OUT'' and warn of radiation contamination, but the
mushroom-pickers trudge right past them carrying
their pails. Eighteen years after the reactor at
Chernobyl in neighboring Ukraine exploded, spewing
a cloud of radiation that blew north and
contaminated 22 percent of this ex-Soviet
republic, activists warn of a new threat facing
Belarusians: the longing to return to normal life.

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The government -- and many Belarusians -- are
eager to put the world's worst nuclear accident
behind them. President Alexander Lukashenko,
branded Europe's last dictator, has made it a
priority to repopulate much of the
Chernobyl-infected region beyond the hardest hit
areas.

But opposition parties and advocacy groups such as
the Belarus-based Children of Chernobyl accuse the
government of overriding warnings that radiation
continues to contaminate this region of pine
forests and mud-splattered farming villages.

Belarusians, many of them poor and ill-informed
about radiation, are returning home to villages
that still require permanent monitoring because of
higher than average radiation levels. Tractors
till farmland, cows graze and residents fill their
yards with vegetable gardens. Others are venturing
into the ``exclusion zones'' -- the worst hit
areas -- to forage in the forests for berries and
wild mushrooms, which are then sold throughout the
region.

The critics claim that the government of this
tightly controlled nation of 10 million is
capitalizing on the plight of desperate jobseekers
to repopulate still dangerous areas and boost
agricultural production.

In the last five years, Belarus has struck 1,000
population centers from the danger list. It has
boosted regional farm production by 30 percent,
cut Chernobyl-related welfare funding from 14
percent of the approximately $3 billion annual
budget to 4 percent, and censored health
statistics of rising death and cancer rates, the
opponents say.

``We must now worry about the children of the
children of Chernobyl,'' said Gennady Groushevoy,
head of Children of Chernobyl. ``The health danger
is reaching into a second generation ... but the
government has retreated into a Soviet-era
attitude of silence.''

In all, 7 million people in the former Soviet
republics of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are
believed to have suffered medical problems as a
result of the April 25, 1986, accident. In
Ukraine, more than 2.32 million people, including
452,000 children, have been treated for
radiation-linked illnesses, including thyroid and
blood cancer and cancerous growths, according to
Ukrainian health officials.

Most villages around the plant remain off-limits
today, though some Ukrainians are moving back
despite government warnings.

Sixty percent of the fallout landed over Belarus,
contaminating a region that was home to more than
1.5 million people. Some 125,000 families were
evacuated, and large swaths of forest and farmland
were declared ``exclusion zones,'' sealed by
checkpoints.

Many of the evacuees still complain bitterly that
household belongings, left behind during their
hurried retreat, later turned up for sale in
regional markets, while they lived in limbo in
shabbily constructed apartment blocks.

Nikolai Nagorny, director of the International
Committee of the Red Cross' Chernobyl program,
said that cases of thyroid cancer -- one of the
few radiation-related illnesses that has been well
studied around Chernobyl -- have skyrocketed among
children in Belarus' affected regions, from just
two cases of thyroid cancer before the accident to
at least 1,000 in the 10 years after.

``I don't feel any danger, and even if I did --
what would it matter?'' said Raisa Stradayeva, 62,
as she and her grandson, Andrusha, trudged home
through the rain in Svetilovichi, a village just
outside the highly contaminated exclusion zone.

``I have to live somewhere and this is my home,''
she said.

Besides, she said, the health risks can't be that
severe because ``People are returning all the
time.''

Not only Belarusians; foreigners are coming too,
mostly from poorer ex-Soviet republics, seeking
jobs and housing.




Yuri Kuzmich, head of Belarus' Chernobyl exclusion
and monitoring zone, rejects accusations that the
government is intentionally sending anyone into
danger. In his office in Gomel, a city of 500,000
that has suffered increased radiation-related
illnesses, Kuzmich said his staff does all it can
to keep people out of the worst-hit areas and
provide information to those living in the
surrounding region.

But, he admits, not everyone is on the same page.
State-run farms ``have plans to fulfill ... and
they want to fulfill these no matter what,'' he
said. Those farms need workers, and farm workers
come.

``The passage of time and economic necessity take
their toll,'' he said, sitting beneath a portrait
of Lukashenko. ``Human memory is short. Eighteen
years might as well be 100.''

Kuzmich's team oversees the exclusion zone,
manning checkpoints, escorting visitors into the
region and collecting scientific and medical data.
Some employees are also assigned to oversee the
villages under radiation monitoring.

However, a reporter visiting recently was never
questioned when entering the exclusion zone,
checkpoints appeared deserted and the mushroom-
and berry-pickers walk through on the main road,
via forest paths or on buses that still pass
through the zone.

Margarita Artemyeva, who moved here from
Kazakhstan, was helping her 25-year-old daughter,
Natasha, wallpaper her new home -- a damp bungalow
identical to its neighbors.

``I don't even think about it. I'm not scared at
all. If there was a real danger, we'd know it,
wouldn't we?'' said Artemyeva, 44. She rejected
the claim that the poor are being used to
repopulate the area.

Critics claim vegetables, milk and meat from
Chernobyl-contaminated regions such as
Svetilovichi are being sold throughout Belarus.
But in a nation where the average monthly salary
is about $150, few have the option of putting
health concerns first and buying imports.

Besides, the berries and wild mushrooms supplement
meager diets and also sell well.

After Artemyeva mentioned she loved mushrooms, one
of Kuzmich's employees took her aside and gently
warned her against collecting them in the
exclusion zone.

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