On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl began its legacy with an explosion that spewed deadly radiation across the Ukraine, Belarus, eastern and western Europe, and ultimately the entire globe. The release contained more than 200 times the combined contamination of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United Nations estimates that over 9 million people in the Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, alone, have been affected by the accident. The government of the Ukraine announced in 1995 that it believes that 125,000 Ukrainians have died so far, more than 39,000 in 1994.
Farmland as far away as Wales and Sweden was contaminated. Today more than 1,067 kilometers of the United Kingdom still have restrictions on the sale of sheep.
Worldwide we have built 586 reactors, each a ticking time bomb with the potential for destruction. All reactors have victims - the economic, environmental, and health costs are damaging us all. And even without an accident, each reactor is producing wastes which will be lethal for hundreds of generations to come.
Consider these facts regarding the Chernobyl disaster (from a November 28, 1995 REUTERS article):
* The contaminated area of Ukraine and Belarus is about 61,780 sq. miles - the size of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
* Several million still live in contaminated zones.
* Birth rates in Belarus have fallen 50%
* Thyroid cancer, particularly among children, is up 285% in Belarus.
* About 7,000 people in Russia alone are believed to have died from the accident.
* Belarus spends 20% of its annual budget coping with Chernobyl's aftermath; Ukraine 4%: Russia, 1%.
* The United Nations trust fund for Chernobyl victims is "virtually empty." The World Health Organization estimated it alone needs $200 million over the next 20 years, but only a fraction of that is likely to be made available.
During April 1996. citizens across the world will remember the Chernobyl accident, and will take action to expose its full impact, help relieve the suffering, and hasten the end of the nuclear age.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited