A total of up to four thousand people could eventually die of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident nearly 20 years ago, an international team of more than 100 scientists has concluded. The new analysis has been released in a new report, "Chernobyl’s Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts" just released by the UN sponsored Chernobyl Forum.
The report finds that the number of deaths attributable to the Chernobyl accident over the lifetime of emergency workers and residents of most contaminated areas is estimated to be around ,4000.This total includes some 50 emergency workers who died of acute radiation syndrome (ARS) in 1986 and other causes in later years, nine children who died of thyroid cancer and an estimated 3,940 people that could die from cancer contracted as a result of radiation exposure.
The latter number accounts for the 200,000 emergency and recovery operation workers from 1986 –1987, 116,000 evacuees, and 270,000 residents of most contaminated areas.
Confusion about the impact of Chernobyl has arisen, says the report, owing to the fact that, in the years since 1986, thousands of emergency and recovery operation workers as well as people who lived in contaminated territories have died of diverse natural causes that cannot be attributed to radiation. However, widespread expectations of ill health and a tendency to attribute all health problems to exposure to radiation have led local residents to assume that Chernobyl-related fatalities were much higher. Claims have been made that tens or even hundreds of thousands of persons have died as a result of the accident. Around 5,000 people are killed every year on California’s roads.
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