The Aftermath of Chernobyl
...rom the Soviet Union numbers are reported to be around 7 million, while numbers from the United States are as high as 9 million dividing up the effected people with 3.5 million in Ukraine, 3 million in the Soviet Union, and 2.5 million in Belarus (Chernobyl). One would suspect that the higher numbers are more accurate since there are five different ways one could be exposed to the radiation. The five main pathways of exposure were external irradiation from the cloud, inhalation of radioactive material, beta radiation contamination of the skin, external irradiation by material in the ground, and ingestion of contaminated foods (Mould 181). The morning of the Chernobyl accident the weather on the ground was stable with no winds, however when looking at a higher altitude 1500 m the winds were about 10 m per second (Mould 53). The radioactive cloud traveled towards Sweden, Finland, stopping and covering the Ukraine, Belarus and North East Europe. Within the first week of the accident rainfall patterns spread the radionuclide far into the atmosphere. There were mass evacuations about 400,000 people were forced to leave their homes. This was devastating and caused severe problems in the places where people moved to. Some areas were impoverished many people were unable to find jobs because they were farmers and peasants, and had been moved into blocks of flats in cities (Chernobyl’s). The initial worries the people and government was the contaminations of Iodine 131 and Caesius 137 in the milk, vegetables and fruit. The Soviet’s first concern was to address the issue of milk, since the cows had been exposed through the beta radiation, inhalation of radioactive material, and ingestion of the soiled ground. It took one whole month before anything was actually done. The World Health Organization held meetings in different countries with various government officials who circulated a document that listed information for 35 different countries and the World Health Organizations recommendations of what to do with drinking milk and the cattle producing it. In the book Chernobyl Record a Definite History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe a chart illustrates the diverse contamination of Iodine 131 in cow milk measured in Bq/1 Czechoslovakia 500, Italy 55-550, Turkey 360, it is important to notice that in this chart the USSR is listed, however a side note states, “there was no data given to anyone in 1986 by this country regarding the contamination of milk or other food products” (Mould 185). The Soviet Government could have not wanted to share any of its contamination numbers because they were so high and they did not want the public to realize how high these numbers were in comparison to other countries. Most of the publications within the USSR focused on the dropping rates of the contamination, when in actuality were not that significant. The Government officials seemed more concerned about the political consequences than about the public. The officials let the people plow their radioactive crops, eat radioactive fruit and vegetables (Weisman). The public had no knowledge of the contamination for weeks. The collective and state farmers outside the exclusion zone were told to continue their normal spring work of planting. “Pastures and meadows were used as if nothing had happened” (Medvedev 105). To reassure the public that everything was safe and working normally the Soviet transmitted special programs on television about agricultural work. These programs showed farmers working in the fields and reaping the benefits from their crops. The Soviet Union was not a wealthy country by any means and these farmers could not afford to loss out on a whole year of farming. Later in 1994 three men Larsen, Hulse, and Baldwin colleagues form Moscow State University created a computer program to help rural Russians “confront the inescapable prospect of a radioactive future” (Weisman). This program helps farmers understand what had happened to their land and gives helpful techniques to increase farm production. This program also gives information about the radiation in the ground that the governments had routinely kept secret. The pathway of ecological contamination depends on soil type, cropping system, season, and climate. Individuals in the countryside were at greater risk of higher exposure to radiation because they were more likely to eat locally grown food. Also, those of lower income most of which lived in the countryside, would go out and gather berries and nuts in the forest; in addition they would catch fish in local rivers and lakes which were contaminated. Moreover, people in the countryside owned private farms and the land was of lesser quality than those of collective farms. Land that is not tilled often has a higher transfer rate of radioactivity (Mould 182-7). There was an initially a high level of contamination in many crops, radiocasesium was absorbed in the soil and roots of plants, even some of the next years new crops would continue to be contaminated. The total ground contamination was 146,000 km squared with 57,900 km squared in Russia, 46,500 km squared in Belarus, and 41,900 km squared in Ukraine, about 36.14 million acres total contaminated. 200 km squared of agricultural land was taken out of production The trees that were exposed to smaller doses of radiation survived and found ways of tolerating the radiation. Scientists in 2003 reported that there is now evidence that Pine trees near the Chernobyl nuclear plant are altering their DNA (Edwards 2003). This change is due to the radioactive fall out from the explosion. Many of the trees first response to the exposure of radioactive isotopes were to turn brown; the forest after the accident was called “the red forest” (Edwards 2003). This change in DNA is believed to come from the methylation doses. Surviving Trees from the accident report having thirty percent more methylation than trees grown in clean soil. Scientists convey that excess methylation in these trees is a response to stress and allows survival in extremely hostile environments (Edwards 2003). Plants and animals within 10 km of the power plant received lethal doses of radiation. Direct radiation damage occurred within the local areas of 30 km. It is believed that fertility of some animal species many have been reduced, and there are numerous reports of birth defects in farm animals (Ten 14). In May 1986, 86,000 head of cattle were moved out of the contaminated area. However, some cattle contained so much radiation that it was more convent to slaughter them than wait for the decline in radioactivity (Medvedev 110). Drinking water of nearby lakes, rivers, and reservoirs were contaminated with caesium and strontium radionuclides. The water contamination in the Kiev region rose a hundredfold, These levels stayed high for about a month then fell rapidly, constant monitoring since the explosion has showed that the banks and bottoms deposits contain caesium, strontium, plutonium and a few other radioactive elements (Ten Years 15). Another area of water contamination after the explosion was the Baltic Sea changing from a few Bq/m to 2,400 Bq/m. As time has progressed levels have dropped. The Black Sea shows this drop in contamination starting with a level of 500 Bq/m in 1986 and in 1990 the levels have dropped to 5.2 Bq/m (Mould 205). It is important that the government monitor the water contamination levels since the water is used for drinking and the watering of crops. The authorities actually lowered their criteria for measuring the contamination (Jezierski). This could explain why reports showed such drastic drops in levels of contamination so soon after the explosion. In some areas when the land was cleaned and then tested it seemed that the radioactive elements migrated back to the cleaned areas. The main reason for this recontamination is believed to be due to the movement of worms, fish and other animals in these waters (Jezierski). The largest question of many farmers was “how do we get rid of this radiation in our land?” There were two main ways to reduce the amount of radiation in the land. One was to follow a crop rotation system planting fields of wheat, barley, or lupine which would suck up the radiation. The only problem with this system is that the farmers had to dispose these contaminated stalks. Burning them would return the radioactive elements to the environment, so land was set aside for organic toxic-waste dumps. The other way to reduce the amount of radiation in the land was to plant apple and peach trees which store its radiation in its trunk. In two centuries the radioactive elements would have decayed and the people could harvest the trees for wood (Weisman). The Chernobyl accident was the most expensive industrial accident in history. The cost to the Soviet budget is already acknowledged to be about 11 billion rubles in 1986-8. But the cost of Chernobyl extends also to the loss of life, land, agriculture, and pollution of the environment. It is estimated that the total cost of compensation paid to farmers is $12 million dollars. Other countries such as Germany and Austria were affected also. The Federal Government of Germany paid $307 million while Austria’s government paid compensation for agricultural losses totaling $94 million. The Belarus Government estimated from 1986-2015 Belarus and Ukraine together will have spent a total of $300 million dollars (Chernobyl). In 1994 it was reported that about 13 percent of Ukraine’s annual budget is paying for the ongoing cleanup and compensation to Chernobyl’s accident victims (Weisman). This accident was not only the most expensive but much of the money that was given to help the clean up and for the investigation of the different health effects was spent inappropriately. In 1990 Japan gave the World Health Organization twenty million dollars to do these investigations. All of the money was given to one official to control and this particular money was not spent on research of the health effects (Williams). After this international disaster occurred the health research that was needed afterwards was handled improperly. The European Union and the United States conducted their own research separate from each other. Most of these research organizations were governmentally funded and it is crucial that organizations report their findings to the government so that they can keep track of these reports. Originally the European Union and the World Health Organization had done the most accurate research on Thyroid cancer in children, but then these groups set up separate studies and information got mixed up. Other organizations such as Memorial Health Foundation of Japan, Unesco, and the International Red Cross all set up their own research studies and did not correlate information with each other. Often these groups acquire thyroid tissue for study and did not get government approval. Several groups unknowingly published results on the same tumors (Williams). Every government is responsible for its performance of all its enterprises and the source of all its information. The Soviet’s nuclear technology may not be superior to other countries around the world but their ability to keep accidents or mishaps i...