Stichting Laka

Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
The implications of Chernobyl for human health (1986)

Auteur	E.J.Sternglass
Datum	1986
Classificatie	2.34.8.25/02 (TSJERNOBYL - GEVOLGEN REST WERELD - ALGEMEEN)
Voorkant

Introduction

The explosion of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, U.S.S.R., in the early morning 
hours of Saturday, April 26, 1986, led to the widespread contamination of large parts 
of the Soviet Union and Europe with radioactive fission products, comparable in 
amount to the total radioactivity released by the detonation of some 200 to 400 
Hiroshima-sized weapons. This is roughly the equivalent of some 10 years of 
atmospheric testing of atomic bombs at the Nevada test-site in the south-western 
corner of the United States at the highest annual rate that occurred in 1957, all 
compressed into a single tragic event.
For decades there has been a world-wide debate as to whether the testing of nuclear 
weapons and accidental releases from nuclear reactors and other facilities has had a 
detectable affect on human health. The answer bears directly on the question as to 
just how serious the consequences of the accident in Chernobyl is likely to be, and 
thus on the future of all commercial nuclear power generation. It also has important 
implications for what the effects of a nuclear war might be on populations not in the 
immediate target areas who would be exposed to the drifting clouds of fallout 
hundreds or even thousands of miles away. It is the purpose of the present paper to 
summarize what is already known about the fallout from Chernobyl, and to suggest 
what should be studied in the aftermath of the accident. Because the observed levels 
of iodine- 131 all over Europe were some 100-1000 limes larger than those observed 
during any previous period of nuclear bomb testing, such studies will permit a clear 
resolution of the controversy that has existed over the health effects of low dose, 
low dose-rate exposures from environmental sources. Accordingly, the present paper 
will summarize what has already been learned from existing epidemiological 
investigations and the latest laboratory studies of the biological mechanisms involved 
in the action of low-level radiation, particularly on the physical and mental health 
of the newborn.

Deze publicatie is alleen op papier bij Laka beschikbaar, niet als pdf.
Publicaties zijn te leen of informeer of we een kopie kunnen maken. Soms, als we tijd hebben, lukt dat tegen kostprijs van de kopieën.