The 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the former Soviet Union was the most severe such accident in the history of civilian nuclear power and due to its perceived radiation consequences has become a nemesis for NPPs. However, while the accident undoubtedly was cata­strophic in nature, and contaminated vast areas of European land, its radi­ation-related health consequences were fortunately limited, as can be observed in the maps of reference (De Cort et al., 1998).

Since the fateful accident occurred, the international community has made unprecedented efforts to assess the magnitude and characteristics of its radiation-related health effects (IAEA, 1986a, 1988, 1991; Gonzalez, 1990, 1996a, 1996b, 2007; Konstantinov and Gonzalez, 1989). The results of those initiatives were synthesized at an international conference on the theme ‘One decade after Chernobyl: summing up the consequences of the accident’, which was held in Vienna in 1996 (IAEA, 1996b). Broadly similar conclusions were reached by the Chernobyl Forum launched by eight organizations of the United Nations system and the three most affected States to generate authoritative consensual statements on the environmen­tal and health consequences attributable to radiation exposure and to provide advice on issues such as environmental remediation. The work of the Chernobyl Forum was appraised at an international conference on the theme ‘Chernobyl: looking back to go forwards; towards a United Nations consensus on the effects of the accident and the future’, which was held in Vienna in 2005 (IAEA, 2008a). The international consensus has been recently reported by UNSCEAR as follows (UNSCEAR, 2009):

1. A total of 134 plant staff and emergency workers received high doses of radiation that resulted in acute radiation syndrome (ARS), many of them also incurring skin injuries due to beta irradiation.

2. The high radiation doses proved fatal for 28 of those people in the first few months following the accident.

3. Although 19 ARS survivors had died by 2006, those deaths had different causes that usually were not associated with radiation exposure.

4. Skin injuries and radiation-related cataracts were among the main sequelae of ARS survivors.

5. Aside from the emergency workers, several hundred thousand people were involved in recovery operations but, apart from indications of an increase in incidence of leukaemia and of cataracts among those who received higher doses, there is to date no consistent evidence of health effects that can be attributed to radiation exposure.

6. A substantial increase in thyroid cancer incidence among persons exposed to the accident-related radiation as children or adolescents in 1986 has been observed in Belarus, Ukraine and four of the more affected regions of the Russian Federation. For the period 1991-2005, more than 6000 cases were reported, of which a substantial portion could be attributed to drinking milk in 1986 contaminated with iodine — 131. Although thyroid cancer incidence continues to increase for this group, up to 2005 only 15 cases had proved fatal. Figure 11.8 presents the thyroid cancer incidence among people in Belarus who were chil­dren or adolescents at the time of the Chernobyl accident, for 1986­1990, 1991-1995, 1996-2000 and 2001-2005 (UNSCEAR, 2009).

7. Among the general public, to date there has been no consistent evidence of any other health effect that can be attributed to radiation exposure.

11.8

Thyroid cancer incidence among people in Belarus who were children or adolescents at the time of the Chernobyl accident.

In sum, based on 20 years of studies, UNSCEAR reconfirmed that, essen­tially, persons who were exposed as children to radioiodine from the Chernobyl accident and the emergency and recovery operation workers who received high doses of radiation are at increased risk of radiation — induced effects. Most area residents were exposed to low-level radiation comparable to or a few times higher than the annual natural background radiation levels and need not live in fear of serious health consequences.

Notwithstanding the above, it is clear that the Chernobyl accident has had and will continue to have an enormous impact on the development of nuclear energy and will be a continued prejudice in any assessment of its justification [Gonzalez, 2007].