Chernobyl Trace in Belarus

On April 26, 1986, in the Kiev region, Ukraine, 12 kilometers from the Belarusian border, a catastrophe occurred -- the major breakdown of a power unit at the Chernobyl nuclear power station. By its scale, complexity, and long-term consequences, it is the most severe catastrophe in the entire world history of atomic energy use. As the result of the explosion of the failed reactor, a huge amount of radioactive substances were emitted into the atmosphere.

The accident has left its radioactive fall-out trace on 23% of the territory of Belarus, 3778 settlements with more than 2 million people had resided therein; on 4.8% of the territory of Ukraine; and 0.5% of the territory of Russia. The density of contamination with caesium-137 radionuclides constitutes more than 1 Ci/sq.km.

The radioactive trace, left on the ground surface, corresponded to the direction of movement of the radiation clouds. The first days after the accident the radioactive clouds moved North-West, North, and North-East from the Chernobyl nuclear power station near Belarus.

After the Chernobyl accident Belarus became a zone of ecological disaster. The situation got worse since the newly emerged areas of radioactive contamination coincided with the formerly existing areas of high chemical pollution. Radionuclides spread from the areas to all regions of the Republic. But the trace of radiation has an extremely uneven, spotted nature. A lot of small areas have both clean and contaminated strips. The area of agricultural lands contaminated with radioactive caesium-137 with a density of more than 1 Ci/sq.km. constitutes 1600 thousand hectares in the Republic, from which more than 200 thousand hectares cannot be used for agricultural purposes. 1685 thousand hectares of forest in Belarus are contaminated with radioactive elements. The catastrophe has affected the destinies of millions of Belarusians. The radioactive contamination of the ecosystem will stifle normal agricultural production and forestry for many decades.

The most affected regions in Belarus are those of Gomel and Mogiliow. Outside the boundaries of the evacuation zone, the high density of contamination with caesium-137 was observed in a number of places. Spots of strontium with levels of radiation ranging from 2 to 3.2 Ci/sq.km. were found in Hoiniki, Vetka, Brahin, and Dobrush districts; few spots of plutonium-238, -239, and -240 with the level of more than 0.1 Ci/sq.km are in Narovlya district. All other regions of Belarus are contaminated to a lesser extent with caesium.

Do you know that...

	The Chernobyl accident affected Belarus more than any other country. Ironically, Belarus does not have a single nuclear power plant; however, a ring of nuclear power stations surrounds it including the Ignaline station in Lithuania, the Smolensk station in Russia, and the Chernobyl station in Ukraine. The wind-roses on April 26-30, 1986, was such that about 70 percent of the radioactive dust from Chernobyl fell on Belarus.
	Children who were exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster are developing thyroid cancer sooner and in larger numbers than expected, researchers report.
	Children are particularly susceptible to thyroid cancer from radioactive iodine because their thyroid glands are small and concentrate the iodine from radioactive fallout because they drink more milk and get larger doses of radioactive iodine and because their thyroids are thought to be more vulnerable to the radiation.
	In Belarus, where 70 percent of the radiation was deposited, the World Health Organization says thyroid cancer rates among children are 100 times pre-accident levels.