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A preliminary assessment of radiological impact of the Chernobyl reactor accident on the population of the European Community (1987)

AuthorNRPB
Date1987
Classification 2.34.8.31/04 (CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT - CONSEQUENCES EUROPE - MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES)
Front

From the publication:

1. INTRODUCTION

The accident at the Chernobyl Unit 4 reactor in the USSR, in April 1986, resulted in 
large quantities of radioactive materials being released into the atmosphere over a 
period of several days. During this time a complex set of meteorological conditions 
occurred which dispersed and deposited these materials over large areas of Europe. 
Levels of radioactivity in the environment were monitored by national authorities, 
and in some countries countermeasures were introduced in order to reduce the 
radiation exposure of individuals in the population.
Several papers have already been published in the scientific literature reporting 
environmental measurements made by various institutions and assessing the 
implications of these measurements in terms of predicted radiation doses to exposed 
individuals. These studies have tended to be for specific countries and are, by their 
very nature, only first estimates. The aim of the study described in this report is to 
review the environmental contamination measured in member states of the European 
Community (EC); to make a preliminary assessment of individual and population 
doses for each country; to make an estimate of the resulting health impact and to 
indicate the effects of the various preventive measures instigated by member states 
in terms of the reductions in both individual and population exposure which they 
produced.
This report summarises the main conclusions of the study. The detailed scientific 
and technical information that support these conclusions are presented in a separate 
volume of appendices to the main report. The uncertainties in some parts of the 
assessment are large, and the authors therefore wish to stress the preliminary nature 
of the results.

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