Mutations chernobyl aftermath8/18/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() The majority either lived inside the plant itself, the nearby railway station or in the largely-abandoned Chernobyl City about nine miles (15 km) away.Ī handful lived in Slavutych, and were less exposed to radiation. Squads were sent in to kill them to prevent them spreading radioactive contamination, but some managed to evade death by hiding in the woods.īetween 20, scientists went back to visit the remaining canine residents, which have somehow been able to find food, breed and survive. They were only permitted to take what they could carry, meaning they had to leave their beloved pets behind. More than 160,000 residents of the town and surrounding areas had to be evacuated, leaving the former Soviet site as a radioactive ghost town. Thirty workers were killed in the immediate aftermath while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is estimated to eventually number in the thousands. On April 26 1986, one of the reactors at a power station on the outskirts of Pripyat caught fire and exploded, spreading radioactive material into the surroundings. They say that the populations could increase 'understanding the biological underpinnings of animals and, ultimately, human survival in regions of high and continuous environmental assault.' Researchers and medical doctors have so far denied that the accident at Fukushima would cause an elevated incidence of cancer or leukaemia, diseases that are often associated with radiation exposure.īut they also noted that long-term medical examination is needed especially due to concerns over thyroid cancer among young people - a particular problem for people following the Chernobyl catastrophe.As these groups exist at different distances from the site of the explosion, the scientists could determine a dog's level of radiation exposure from its DNA. ![]() ![]() Scientists, including a researcher who found mutations of Fukushima butterflies, have warned, however, that more data are needed to determine the ultimate impact of the Fukushima accident on animals in general. “In the interest of human rights - especially for victims of the disaster - it is ever more urgent to ensure accurate and complete information is publicly available and the misleading rhetoric of these entities challenged," she said. The Japanese government’s push to resettle contaminated areas and also restart nuclear reactors in Japan that had been shut down in the aftermath of the crisis are a cause for concern, Ulrich said, stressing it and the IAEA are using the opportunity of the anniversary to play down radiation impacts. The conservation group said its report relies largely on research published in peer-reviewed international journals.īut “most of the findings in it have never been covered outside of the close circles of academia", report author Kendra Ulrich told AFP. The report came as the government intends to lift many evacuation orders in villages around the Fukushima plant by March 2017, if its massive decontamination effort progresses as it hopes.įor now, only residential areas are being cleaned in the short-term, and the worst-hit parts of the countryside are being omitted, a recommendation made by the International Atomic Energy Agency.īut such selective efforts will confine returnees to a relatively small area of their old hometowns, while the strategy could lead to re-contamination as woodlands will act as a radiation reservoir, with pollutants washed out by rains, Greenpeace warned. heritable mutations in pale blue grass butterfly populations" as well as “DNA-damaged worms in highly contaminated areas", it said. In a report, Greenpeace cited “apparent increases in growth mutations of fir trees. As the fifth anniversary of the disaster approaches, Greenpeace said signs of mutations in trees and DNA-damaged worms were beginning to appear, while “vast stocks of radiation" mean that forests cannot be decontaminated. ![]()
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