![]() ![]() Photo by: Artur Korneyev, 1996ĭuring the first four years after the Chernobyl accident, the Soviet authorities decided to largely deal with the consequences of the explosion at a national level. It is still an extremely radioactive object. The Elephant’s Foot is the nickname given to a large mass of corium formed underneath the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Early evacuation would have helped people avoid the area during the period when iodine 131 is most dangerous, 8-16 days after release. No established legitimate authority was able to immediately address the situation and provide answers to questions such as: Is it safe to leave the house? Is it safe to drink water? Is it safe to eat local produce? Communicating protective measures early would also have most likely enabled the population to escape exposure to some radionuclides, such as iodine 131, which are known to cause thyroid cancer. Before Sweden’s announcement, the Soviet authorities were conducting emergency fire-fighting and clean-up operations but had chosen not to report the accident or its scale in full. Then, Swedish authorities correlated a map of enhanced radiation levels in Europe with wind direction and announced to the world that a nuclear accident had occurred somewhere in the Soviet Union. No reports were released until the third day after the Chernobyl explosion. ![]() Nearly 404,000 people were resettled, but millions continued to live in an environment where continued residual exposure created a range of adverse effects. km, which is more than the size of Denmark, were contaminated with cesium-137 and strontium-90, with 30-year and 28-year half-lives respectively. Agricultural areas covering nearly 52,000 sq. km of territories in the three countries were contaminated, almost half of the total territory of Italy. Based on the official reports, nearly 8,400,000 people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were exposed to radiation, which is more than the population of Austria. According to official reports, thirty-one people died immediately and 600,000 “liquidators,” involved in fire-fighting and clean-up operations, were exposed to high doses of radiation. The force of the explosion spread contamination over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. But seven seconds later, a surge created a chemical explosion that released nearly 520 dangerous radionuclides into the atmosphere. The General Assembly invites all Member States, relevant agencies of the United Nations system and other international organizations, as well as civil society, to observe the day.Ĭhernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 26 April 1986 – A routine 20-second shut down of the system seemed to be another test of the electrical equipment. In its resolution, the General Assembly recognized that three decades after the disaster there remain persistent serious long-term consequences and that the affected communities and territories are experiencing continuing related needs. On 8 December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 26 April as International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day. Since 1986, the UN family of organizations and major NGOs have launched more than 230 different research and assistance projects in the fields of health, nuclear safety, rehabilitation, environment, production of clean foods and information. In 1991 the UN created the Chernobyl Trust Fund – currently under the management of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA). An Inter-Agency Task Force was established to coordinate the Chernobyl cooperation. That same year the General Assembly adopted resolution 45/190, calling for “international cooperation to address and mitigate the consequences at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.” That was the start of the United Nations’ involvement in the Chernobyl recovery. The Soviet Government acknowledged the need for international assistance in 1990. Nearly 8.4 million people in the three countries were exposed to radiation. The explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in April 1986 spread a radioactive cloud over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
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