Map of contamination after Chernobyl for a year. Maps of radionuclide contamination in Russia: Bryansk, Tula, Oryol and Kaluga regions

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Findings in government institutions of Pripyat

After extinguishing the fire from the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, heroic liquidators worked for a very long time to eliminate the consequences of the accident. The radius of damage from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant reached even North America and Japan.

Helicopter over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

The primary tasks assigned to the professionals were the decontamination of Pripyat and the removal of radioactive dust that had settled on the roofs of houses and the intact nuclear power plant units.

After the accident, the people of Pripyat for the first time began to realize the danger of “radiation” - an enemy that cannot be seen.

Eliminating the consequences was quite difficult. After all, we had to look for special methods in the fight against radiation, deadly elements and dust that had settled throughout the area. Then the helicopters entered the battle.

Fire station of Pripyat

During each flight, and there were 5-6 of them per shift, it was necessary to pour tons of PVA glue onto the roofs of the power units. Such dust cannot be removed with a vacuum cleaner or a broom. That is why a helicopter with glue was urgently needed for the Chernobyl NPP workers. After hardening, the glue was cut, rolled up and sent for destruction.

An important mission to collect radiation dust was carried out by Mi-8, Mi-24, Mi-26 and Mi-6 helicopters.

Eliminating the consequences of what happened on April 26, people risked their lives. First of all, radiation sickness struck the Chernobyl liquidators. However, then none of these heroes thought about themselves when entering into battle with an invisible enemy.

The moment of a helicopter crash over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Helicopter crash at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Each of the liquidators took what they were doing very seriously. But no one even suspected that after the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, another one could happen.

"God! Why is this stinking, creeping fog here in my forest! Why? After all, we are 145 kilometers directly from Chernobyl! Dear God, why are we suffering so much?! After all, in my region, my Polesie, there are places rich in berries and mushrooms, the famous Polesie cranberries. And suddenly everything is poisoned,” my friend Luda wrote in an essay 9 years after the largest technological disaster of the 20th century - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Holidays in a zone with the right to resettle

We have known Luda since childhood, which I spent with my grandmother, and as fate would have it, it was this beautiful picturesque corner - the village of Glushkovichi, Gomel region - became a zone with the right to resettle, where the land is contaminated with cesium-137 from 5 to 15 Curies per square kilometer, with an acceptable rate of up to 1 Curie. People received the right, but they didn’t want to leave their homes: after all, radiation is a colorless and odorless poison, but its consequences make you shudder...

I heard more about Chernobyl than all my Grodno peers. IN kindergarten, during the measurement of radiation levels, was the leader. But how could you give up an unforgettable childhood: your beloved boiled corn, which the grandmother collected at 6 in the morning in order to have time to cook for breakfast, bike rides to the lake or river with friends, Indian cinema in the club, games of rubber bands and Cossack robbers. What kind of stars are there in Glushkovichi? - It seems you can reach it with your hand! Only sometimes, picking berries in the forest, - you should see how many blueberries there are in Polesie! - I was met with a terrifying inscription: “Forbidden zone! Grazing of livestock, picking berries and mushrooms is strictly prohibited! Increased radioactive zone!

I realized that radiation is evil a few years after the accident. Chernobyl hit my family like lightning: cousin Alena, who, together with her mother, father, three sisters and brother, had to leave their native Novoselki, Khoinitsky district (50 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant) and move to Minsk as a “victim of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant”, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer... Fortunately, the operation was successful and the disease subsided, but the scar on the neck always reminds of the terrible consequences of the disaster.

3 million people died due to the accident?

The explosion of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the night of April 26, 1986 for millions of people divided life into before and after the Catastrophe. The radioactive cloud circled the Earth at least twice before dissolving for centuries, leaving traces throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

- Belarus is the most affected country, but 50% of dangerous radionuclides fell outside its borders. 400 million people received significant radiation exposure, 5 million, including 800 thousand children, live where they should not. But World organization Health (WHO) and the IAEA are afraid to tell the truth. In 1986, much was unclear: they made rash promises and said that everything would not be so scary. Now we can say: scary, unacceptably scary, and the end of this horror story is not in sight: the consequences will expand even more, and I don’t know what will come of it. We are entering the era of the children of Chernobyl: 7 generations of people will suffer from the consequences of the disaster, - said the President of the Center for Environmental Policy of Russia, professor, doctor biological sciences Alexey Yablokov on international conference in Minsk.

According to the scientist, who a month ago published the 6th edition of the book “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for Man and Nature,” the real number of victims is hidden from the public.

- The official report of the IAEA and WHO states that due to the Chernobyl accident, an additional 9,000 people died from cancer, our figures are 50,000 deaths. Research by scientists has shown that the total additional mortality worldwide in the 20 years after Chernobyl amounted to one million people. After 1986, the number of miscarriages increased, and this is another two million unborn - this is the scale of the victims of the Chernobyl disaster! Therefore, they are silent about this: there is a nuclear lobby that does not benefit from the consequences being investigated and presented, - says Alexey Yablokov.

Grodno region is almost not polluted

Compared to the Glushkovichi, Grodno seemed a completely safe place in Belarus. No one here talked about radiation, and children did not go for treatment to Canada, Germany and even Japan, like the victims of Chernobyl. The Grodno region is truly considered one of the most unpolluted regions of Belarus.

In 1986, 23% of the territories of Belarus were contaminated with cesium-137 above 1 Curie per square kilometer. In the Grodno region, the most “volatile” radionuclide with an unacceptable density of contamination “settled” in three districts: Novogrudok, Ivyevsky and Dyatlovsky.

- In the region, 84 settlements were registered with periodic radiation monitoring, where the density of cesium-137 contamination was from 1 to 5 Curies per square kilometer, including in the Novogrudok region - 12, Ivyevsky - 50, Dyatlovsky - 22, says the head of the radiation hygiene department of the Grodno Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health Alexander Razmakhnin.

5.2% of forest lands in the Grodno region are located in the radioactive contamination zone. The distribution of cesium-137 isotopes was patchy, which is clearly visible on the maps.

What to expect from radionuclides

Meanwhile, the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster seems to carry good news- the half-life of “volatile” cesium has ended, which means the territories should be cleaner, but...

- The complete decay of cesium-137 lasts 300 years. From a physical point of view, this dose-forming radionuclide is now two times less. It seems like the danger should decrease, but this did not happen. Why? There are fewer radionuclides; they sink into the soil, where they are “grabbed and pulled” out by plant roots. And outside, people who have lost fear collect mushrooms, berries, and graze cows in these territories. What turns out to be a paradoxical thing is that there is less cesium, but the internal exposure of residents who eat these products is greater. Chernobyl has not gone away, it is next to us and sometimes becomes angrier than it was! There are still miracles to come: there is also plutonium, which is now “at rest” in the exclusion zone (half-life - 24,000 years), but as it decays, it turns into americium-241, and this is an equally strong and “mobile” radiation emitter. Areas that were contaminated with plutonium in 1986 will become 4 times larger by 2056 because plutonium will turn into americium, - speaks Alexey Yablokov.

Consequences of "iodine" shock

The “iodine strike,” which took place from May to July 1896 in Belarus, caused an increase in thyroid cancer (TC). The disease is officially recognized as the main medical consequence of the Chernobyl disaster. More than 50% of all cases of thyroid cancer in the group of 0-18 years in the 20 years after the accident occurred in children who were under 5 years old at the time of the “iodine shock”. According to official data, the number of people diagnosed with cancer (under 18 years of age at the time of the disaster) increased 200 times between 1989 and 2005.

In addition, according to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, before the disaster (1985), 90% of children were classified as “virtually healthy.” By 2000, the number of such children was less than 20%, and in the heavily polluted areas of the Gomel region - 10%.

According to official statistics, the number of disabled children increased 4.7 times between 1990 and 2002.

Numbers

According to the Department for Elimination of Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, 1 million 142 thousand Belarusians, including 260 thousand children, live in the zone of radioactive contamination with cesium-137 from 1 to 15 Curies per square kilometer. 1,800 people remain to live in areas subject to subsequent resettlement, with cesium contamination levels ranging from 15 to 40 Ci/km2. The residents themselves did not want to move to safer areas.

Check if there is a nuclear power plant, plant or nuclear research institute or storage facility near you radioactive waste or nuclear missiles.

Nuclear power plants

Currently, there are 10 nuclear power plants in operation in Russia and two more are under construction (Baltic NPP in Kaliningrad region and the floating nuclear power plant "Akademik Lomonosov" in Chukotka). You can read more about them on the official website of Rosenergoatom.

At the same time, nuclear power plants in space former USSR cannot be considered numerous. As of 2017, there are 191 nuclear power plants in operation worldwide, including 60 in the United States, 58 in the European Union and Switzerland, and 21 in China and India. In close proximity to the Russian Far East 16 Japanese and 6 South Korean nuclear power plants operate. The entire list of operating, under construction and closed nuclear power plants, indicating their exact location and technical characteristics, can be found on Wikipedia.

Nuclear factories and research institutes

Radiation hazardous facilities (RHO), in addition to nuclear power plants, are enterprises and scientific organizations of the nuclear industry and ship repair yards specializing in the nuclear fleet.

Official information on radioactive waste in the regions of Russia is on the website of Roshydromet, as well as in the yearbook “Radiation Situation in Russia and Neighboring States” on the website of the NPO Typhoon.

Radioactive waste

Low and medium level radioactive waste is generated in industry, as well as in scientific and medical organizations all over the country.

In Russia, their collection, transportation, processing and storage are carried out by Rosatom subsidiaries - RosRAO and Radon (in the Central region).

In addition, RosRAO is engaged in the disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel from decommissioned nuclear submarines and naval ships, as well as environmental rehabilitation of contaminated areas and radiation hazardous sites (such as the former uranium processing plant in Kirovo-Chepetsk).

Information about their work in each region can be found in environmental reports published on the websites of Rosatom, branches of RosRAO, and the Radon enterprise.

Military nuclear facilities

Among military nuclear facilities, the most environmentally dangerous are, apparently, nuclear submarines.

Nuclear submarines (NPS) are so called because they run on atomic energy, which powers the boat's engines. Some of the nuclear submarines also carry missiles with nuclear warheads. However, major accidents on nuclear submarines known from open sources were associated with the operation of reactors or other causes (collision, fire, etc.), and not with nuclear warheads.

Atomic power plants They are also found on some surface ships of the Navy, such as the nuclear-powered cruiser Pyotr Velikiy. They also pose some environmental risks.

Information on the locations of nuclear submarines and nuclear ships of the Navy is shown on the map based on open source data.

The second type of military nuclear facilities are units of the Strategic Missile Forces armed with ballistic missiles. nuclear missiles. Cases of radiation accidents associated with nuclear weapons in open sources not found. The current location of Strategic Missile Forces formations is shown on the map according to information from the Ministry of Defense.

There are no storage facilities for nuclear weapons (missile warheads and aerial bombs) on the map, which can also pose an environmental threat.

Nuclear explosions

In 1949-1990, the USSR carried out an extensive program of 715 nuclear explosions for military and industrial purposes.

Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing

From 1949 to 1962 The USSR carried out 214 tests in the atmosphere, including 32 ground tests (with the greatest pollution environment), 177 air, 1 high-altitude (at an altitude of more than 7 km) and 4 space.

In 1963, the USSR and the USA signed a treaty banning nuclear tests in air, water and space.

Semipalatinsk test site (Kazakhstan)- test site of the first Soviet nuclear bomb in 1949 and the first Soviet prototype thermonuclear bombs s with a capacity of 1.6 Mt in 1957 (it was also the largest test in the history of the test site). A total of 116 atmospheric tests were carried out here, including 30 ground and 86 air tests.

Test site on Novaya Zemlya- the site of an unprecedented series of super-powerful explosions in 1958 and 1961-1962. A total of 85 charges were tested, including the most powerful in world history - the Tsar Bomba with a capacity of 50 Mt (1961). For comparison, the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima did not exceed 20 kilotons. In addition, in Chernaya Bay of the Novaya Zemlya test site, damaging factors nuclear explosion on naval facilities. For this, in 1955-1962. 1 ground, 2 surface and 3 underwater tests were carried out.

Missile test training ground "Kapustin Yar" V Astrakhan region- active test site Russian army. In 1957-1962. 5 air, 1 high-altitude and 4 space rocket tests were carried out here. The maximum power of air explosions was 40 kt, high-altitude and space explosions - 300 kt. From here, in 1956, a rocket with a nuclear charge of 0.3 kt was launched, which fell and exploded in the Karakum Desert near the city of Aralsk.

On Totsky training ground in 1954, military exercises were held, during which it was dropped atomic bomb power 40 kt. After the explosion, the military units had to “take” the bombed objects.

Besides the USSR, only China has carried out nuclear tests in the atmosphere in Eurasia. For this purpose, the Lopnor training ground was used in the north-west of the country, approximately at the longitude of Novosibirsk. In total, from 1964 to 1980. China has carried out 22 ground and air tests, including thermonuclear explosions with a yield of up to 4 Mt.

Underground nuclear explosions

The USSR carried out underground nuclear explosions from 1961 to 1990. Initially they were aimed at developing nuclear weapons due to the ban on testing in the atmosphere. Since 1967, the creation of nuclear explosive technologies for industrial purposes began.

In total, of the 496 underground explosions, 340 were carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site and 39 at Novaya Zemlya. Tests on Novaya Zemlya in 1964-1975. were different high power, including a record (about 4 Mt) underground explosion in 1973. After 1976, the power did not exceed 150 kt. The last nuclear explosion at the Semipalatinsk test site was carried out in 1989, and at Novaya Zemlya in 1990.

Training ground "Azgir" in Kazakhstan (near the Russian city of Orenburg) it was used to test industrial technologies. With the help of nuclear explosions, cavities were created here in the rock salt layers, and with repeated explosions, radioactive isotopes were produced in them. A total of 17 explosions with a power of up to 100 kt were carried out.

Outside the ranges in 1965-1988. 100 underground nuclear explosions were carried out for industrial purposes, including 80 in Russia, 15 in Kazakhstan, 2 each in Uzbekistan and Ukraine, and 1 in Turkmenistan. Their goal was deep seismic sounding to search for minerals, creating underground cavities for storing natural gas and industrial waste, intensification of oil and gas production, moving large amounts of soil for the construction of canals and dams, extinguishing gas fountains.

Other countries. China carried out 23 underground nuclear explosions at the Lop Nor test site in 1969-1996, India - 6 explosions in 1974 and 1998, Pakistan - 6 explosions in 1998, North Korea - 5 explosions in 2006-2016.

The US, UK and France conducted all their testing outside of Eurasia.

Literature

Much data about nuclear explosions in the USSR is open.

Official information about the power, purpose and geography of each explosion was published in 2000 in the book of a group of authors of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy “Nuclear Tests of the USSR”. It also provides a history and description of the Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya test sites, the first tests of nuclear and thermonuclear bombs, the Tsar Bomba test, the nuclear explosion at the Totsk test site and other data.

A detailed description of the test site on Novaya Zemlya and the testing program at it can be found in the article “Review of Soviet nuclear tests on Novaya Zemlya in 1955-1990”, and their environmental consequences- in the book "

List of nuclear facilities compiled in 1998 by Itogi magazine, on the Kulichki.com website.

Estimated location of various objects on interactive maps

After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Bryansk, Tula, Oryol and Kaluga regions were exposed to radionuclide contamination in Russia. These areas are adjacent to northern border Ukraine and are located at a distance of 100 – 550 km from the emission source radioactive substances. To inform the public and the population living in contaminated areas, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has prepared an Atlas of modern and forecast aspects of the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the affected territories of Russia and Belarus. This Atlas contains a set of maps that display the spatial features of radionuclide contamination of Russian territory both in the past - in 1986, and current state. Scientists have also prepared forecast levels of pollution in Russia in 10-year increments until 2056.

Map of radioactive fallout contamination in Europe since 1986

Contamination of Russian territory with radionuclides in the 70s and 80s

In 1986, in some contaminated areas Russian Federation the population was evacuated. A total of 186 people were evacuated (in Ukraine, 113,000 people were evacuated from the radioactive contamination zone, in Belarus - 24,725 people).
Large-scale decontamination (cleanup) work was carried out in contaminated areas settlements and adjacent areas (roads). During the period from 1986 to 1987, 472 settlements were decontaminated in Russia Bryansk region(western regions). Decontamination was carried out by the army, which washed buildings, cleaned residential areas, removed the top layer of contaminated soil, disinfected drinking water supplies, and cleaned roads. Army units carried out systematic dust suppression work - moistening roads in populated areas. By 1989, the radiation situation in contaminated areas had significantly improved and stabilized.

Pollution of Russian territory today

When preparing maps of modern contamination of Russian territory with radionuclides, scientists carried out comprehensive studies, which included an assessment of the distribution of cesium-137, strontium-90 and transuranium elements along the soil profile. It was found that radioactive substances were still contained in the upper 0-20 cm layer of soil. Thus, radionuclides are located in the root layer and are involved in biological chains migration.
The maximum levels of contamination of Russian territory with strontium-90 and plutonium-239,240 of Chernobyl origin are located in the western part of the Bryansk region - where contamination levels for 90Sr are about 0.5 Curie/sq.km, and 239, 240Pu - 0.01 - 0.1 Curie /sq.km.

Map of contamination of the Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol and Tula regions with strontium-90.

Map of contamination of the Bryansk region with plutonium 239, 240

Maps of Russian 137 Cs contamination of Chernobyl origin

Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Bryansk region

The Bryansk region is the most unfavorable in terms of radiation. Western districts of the region for a long time will be contaminated with cesium radioisotopes. According to forecasts, in 2016, in the area of ​​the settlements of Novozybkov and Zlynka, the levels of surface contamination of cesium-137 will reach 40 Curies per square kilometer.

Map of contamination of the Bryansk region with cesium-137 (as of 1986)

Map of contamination of the Bryansk region with cesium-137 (as of 1996)

Map of pollution in the Bryansk region (as of 2006)

Map of predicted pollution of the Bryansk region (as of 2016)

Map of forecast pollution of the Bryansk region (as of 2026)

Map of predicted pollution of the Bryansk region in 2056.

Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Oryol region

1986

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the territory Oryol region V 1996 year.

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the Oryol region in 2006 year.

2016 year.

Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the Oryol region in 2026 year.

Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the Oryol region in 2056 year.

Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Tula region

1986 year

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 1996 year

Map of cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 2006 year

Map of predicted cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 2016 year

2026 year

Forecast map of cesium-137 contamination of the Tula region in 2056 year

Maps of 137 Cs pollution in the Kaluga region

Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 1986

Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 1996

Map of 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region in 2006

2016 year

Map of predicted 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region 2026 year

Map of predicted 137Cs pollution in the Kaluga region 2056 year

The material was prepared on the basis of the Atlas of modern and forecast aspects of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the affected territories of Russia and Belarus, edited by academician Russian Academy Sciences Yu.A.Izrael and Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus I.M. Bogdevich. 2009

And now - about the most important thing, why I started writing all this - about radioactive emissions and their consequences.
A visual diagram of the release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere on the 2nd day of the accident and a few days later (pictures from here: http://www.dhushara.com/book/explod/cher/cher.htm)

The first signs of something terrible, hopelessly irreparable, appeared on Monday, at 9 a.m. on April 28, 1986, when specialists at the nuclear power plant in Forsmark, 60 miles from Stockholm, noticed alarming signals appearing on ghostly green screens. The instruments showed the level of radiation, and it was so unusually high that the experts were horrified. First guess: the leak came from a reactor at their station. But a thorough check of the equipment and the instruments that control it revealed nothing. And yet, sensors showed that the level of radiation in the air was four times higher than the maximum acceptable standards. IN urgently Geiger counters were used to immediately test all six hundred workers. Even this hastily obtained data showed that every worker received a radiation dose above the acceptable level. In the area surrounding the station, the same thing was repeated - soil and plant samples contained incredibly high amounts of radioactive particles. By the time Forsmark's scientists discovered the massive presence of radiation in the atmosphere, strong winds had carried it throughout Europe. A light rain falling on the salt marshes of Brittany turned the milk in the udders of cows into a toxic substance. The heavy rains that saturated the hilly land of Wales left the tender lamb poisoned. Toxic rains occurred in Finland, Sweden and West Germany. http://primeinfo.net.ru/news405.html
http://lenta.ru/articles/2006/04/17/smi/

Although the distance between Chernobyl and Stockholm is more than 1,000 miles, the radioactive rain left Sweden more contaminated than many of the Soviet Union's neighboring countries. http://www.dataplus.ru/Arcrev/Number_31/4_aes.htm

Where and how did nuclear power plant emissions spread:

In Scandinavia and the Baltics:

There is interactive map Europe, showing the spread of radioactive fallout on its territory: http://www.chernobyl.info/index.php?userhash=1182177&navID=2&lID=2

The degree of cesium-137 contamination in different regions of Europe (areas for which there is no data are indicated in white).

There's more here a large map - but it is quite strange and different from others, and for the worse: http://www.mcrit.com/espon_pss/images/MAPS_131/map13_risk_radioactivity.jpg

There is different countries world, maps, statistics:
http://www.davistownmuseum.org/cbm/Rad7b.html

Radioactive fallout - map from here: http://www.esi.ru/chernobl.htm

Map of pollution in Russia:

Atlas of contamination of the European part of Russia with cesium-137. http://www.ibrae.ac.ru/russian/chernobyl/nat_rep_99/map_cs.html

How these maps were created:
Moscow tourist clubs greeted all returnees with unexpected announcements: “Urgently undergo radiation control.” As they later told at the IAE, it was a brilliant decision by Academician V.A. Legasov - to measure the radiation background of the equipment of tourists who usually visit all large and small rivers on May 1-9 Central Russia. As a result, the first rough map of radioactive contamination was compiled very quickly.
http://www.russ.ru/docs/116463410?user_session=

And some numbers and names for these cards:

20 years after the events at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the radiation contamination zone includes 4,343 settlements in 14 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, where 1.5 million people live. http://www.regnum.ru/news/629646.html

“The pollution that came from Chernobyl, from 1 curie per square kilometer, amounts to 1.7% of the territory of Europe. The main Chernobyl spot is highlighted on the summary map, then the Gomel-Mogilev, then the Plavsko-Tula in Russia. The most affected were Bryansk, Kaluga, Oryol and Tula region, where the density of soil contamination with iodine 131 ranges from 0.1 to 100 Cu/km2 and more. Leningrad region(based on the “Chernobyl” trace, it can be assumed that the spot found with an increased radio background in the area of ​​​​Medvezhyegorsk in Karelia is of the same origin). Pollution spread to the west - southwest, northwest, to the Scandinavian countries, then to the east - a very large, powerful trail with heavy precipitation. Then the clouds moved to the south and southwest: Romania, Bulgaria, west: southern Germany, Italy, Austria, the alpine part of Switzerland. The atlas indicates how much cesium fell in each country and in Europe as a whole. In Belarus - 33.5% of the total emissions, in Russia - 23.9%, in Ukraine - 20%, in Sweden - 4.4%, in Finland - 4.3%.
According to official estimates from three countries (the Republic of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine), at least more than 9,000,000 people were affected by the Chernobyl disaster in one way or another. In the RSFSR, 16 regions and one republic with a population of about 3,000,000 people living in more than 12,000 settlements were exposed to radioactive contamination.

Exceeding the indicators of endocrine system disease and metabolic disorders, diseases of the blood and hematopoietic organs, congenital anomalies more than 4 times; mental disorders and diseases of the circulatory system more than 2 times. The appearance of radiation-induced solid cancers is expected in the near future with a maximum intensity approximately 25 years after the Chernobyl accident for liquidators and 50 years for the population of contaminated areas." http://chernobyl.onego.ru/right/chernobyl.htm

Bryansk and Tula regions are two of the four regions of the Russian Federation that were most affected by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Tula region: as a result of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 18 of the 26 administrative territories of the region (17 districts and the city of Don) on an area of ​​14.5 thousand square meters were exposed to radioactive contamination. km, which amounted to more than half (56.3%) of its territory with a population of 928.8 thousand people. The radioactive contamination zone in the region currently includes 1,299 settlements, home to 713.2 thousand people. 122 settlements with a population of 32.2 thousand people, located in areas with a pollution density of 5 or more Ci/sq. km., classified as a residential zone with the right to resettle, 1177 settlements with a population of 680.1 thousand people in an area with a pollution density of 1 to 5 Ci/sq. km are classified as a residential zone with a preferential socio-economic status. In addition, 2,090 participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident live in the region, of which 1,687 are disabled. Malignant neoplasms of the thyroid gland in adults: in 2000, per 100 thousand people in the region there were 5.9 cases, in controlled territories - 7.7 cases, in 2001 - 5.6 and 6.0 cases, respectively. 687.4 thousand hectares (34.7%) of agricultural land in the region were in the zone of radioactive contamination, including 76.5 thousand hectares with a contamination density of more than 5 Ci/sq. km, where it is necessary to carry out soil liming and other special agrotechnical and agro-reclamation measures. According to the forecast of Roshydromet, the disappearance of levels of radioactive contamination of the area with cesium-137 isotopes is over 5 Ci/sq. km in the Bryansk and Tula regions is expected no earlier than 2029, and a reduction in pollution to the level of 1 Ci/sq. km - no earlier than 2098.
http://www.budgetrf.ru/Publications/Schpalata/2003/schpal2003bull03/schpal632003bull3-7.htm

Some settlements are listed here: In constantly controlled points of settlements in the region intermediate level exposure dose rate of gamma radiation (at acceptable value 60 μR/h) has the following indicators: village. Arsenyevo - 19 μR/h, Aleksin - 12 μR/h, Belev - 11 μR/h, Bogoroditsk - 13 μR/h, Venev - 11 μR/h, village. Volovo – 13 µR/h, village. Dubna – 11 microR/h, village. Zaoksky - 10 μR/h, Efremov - 13.5 μR/h, s. Arkhangelskoye (Kamenskoye district) - 16 μR/h, Kimovsk - 15.5 μR/h, Kireevsk - 15 μR/h, Kurkino village - 13.5 μR/h, village. Leninsky - 11 μR/h, Novomoskovsk - 15.5 μR/h, Odoev village - 12.5 μR/h, Plavsk - 33.5 μR/h, village. Dairy Yards of Plavsky district - 21 microR/h, Suvorov - 11.5 microR/h, village. Teploye Teplo-Ogarevsky district - 12 microR/h, Uzlovaya city - 21 microR/h, village. Chern – 16 µR/h, Shchekino – 14.5 µR/h, Yasnogorsk – 10.5 µR/h. The average monthly value of the gamma background level in Tula in September was 12.5 μR/hour. When studying food raw materials and food products produced in the region and imported from other regions, drinking water, excesses of hygienic standards for the content of radioactive substances were not revealed. http://www.etp.ru/ru/news/news/index.php?from4=21&id4=201

At the same time, everything is far from so simple. Here is what is said about violations of the law in this area:
Consequently, the exclusion of specific settlements of the Tula region from the number of territories with the status of radiation pollution or their transfer to another, less preferential status must be carried out in compliance with the requirements of the Law of the Russian Federation "On social protection citizens exposed to radiation as a result of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant."
http://www.nuclearpolicy.ru/pravo/lawpractice/3dec1998.shtml

The situation in Russian territories contaminated as a result of the Chernobyl accident - statistical tables of various data http://www.wdcb.rssi.ru/mining/obzor/Radsit.htm
"CHERNOBYL DISASTER: Results and problems of overcoming its consequences in Russia 1986 - 1999" http://www.ibrae.ac.ru/russian/chernobyl/nat_rep_99/13let_text.html
Objects of potential radiation hazard on the territory of Russia and their products http://www.igem.ru/staff/abstr/gis_rb.htm

In 1997, a multi-year European Community project to create an atlas of cesium contamination in Europe after the Chernobyl accident was completed. According to estimates carried out within the framework of this project, the territories of 17 European countries with a total area of ​​207.5 thousand square meters. km were contaminated with cesium with a contamination density of over 1 Ci/sq.km. http://www.souzchernobyl.ru/index.php?ipart=7

The contamination zone turned out to be so vast that the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, at a meeting in May 1986, compared it with “the consequences of a local nuclear war in the center of Europe.” Most of the area was contaminated with the strontium isotope Sr-90, the half-life is 30 years. In general, we are waiting for 2286, because any isotope becomes harmless after 10 half-lives. However, it will not be possible to repopulate Pripyat even then. The surroundings of the station and the city itself were contaminated with the plutonium isotope Pu-90, the half-life is 24080 years... http://forum.rockhell.ru/index.php?s=3e2d0a9b0e7b28bb810cb517dc206ab1&showtopic=636&st=50&p=29215entry29215

Forecast environmental situation in contaminated areas is still far from complete. We can speak more or less definitely only about a period of time of 10 - 20 years, and this applies only to 90Sr and 137Cs. As for transuranium elements (and therefore the forecast for many millennia), the accumulated information is too small. The lack of data on these radionuclides is felt on all aspects of the problem, starting from the amount of fuel in the sarcophagus (according to various experts from 39 to 180 tons) to the mechanism of formation of soluble compounds of plutonium, americium and neptunium in the soil and the migration routes of these radioactive elements. http://ph.icmp.lviv.ua/chornobyl/e-library/chornobyl_catastrophe/conclusion.html

Medical consequences of the Chernobyl disaster (pdf) http://mfa.gov.by/rus/publications/collection/report/chapter_3.pdf

In the same document we're talking about and about birth defects:

The other day, a sensational report by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (SCEAR) “Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Incident” was published. It states: no, there have not been and are not expected to be any severe massive consequences Chernobyl disaster! Objection: - Scientists have conducted hundreds of experiments on plants and animals. Everyone found negative impact low doses of radiation. Well, how can this be explained from the perspective of the UN report - by stress in mushrooms or pessimism in rats?

The Germans showed a film refuting the position of the official Ukrainian authorities
IN documentary film about Chernobyl, shown recently in Germany, there is evidence from scientists who claim: government data on the consequences of the disaster are falsified.
The film is based primarily on the research of Konstantin Checherov, a physicist at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, who until 1996 was a member of the commission investigating the causes of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. “The reactor does not pose any danger to Western Europe,” says the scientist. http://www.russisk.org/article.php?sid=655

Medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident: forecast and actual data from the national register. There are statistics on morbidity among liquidators + 50-year studies of the Japanese after Hiroshima and several other articles. http://www.ibrae.ac.ru/russian/register/register.html

Medical aspects:
And almost thirty years ago in the United States, blowfly populations were exterminated in a number of states. Males irradiated with an appropriate dose of radiation were released into the population. After several generations, many kinds of monsters appeared in it. Then the entire population disappeared.
But the genetic mechanism for the transmission of hereditary characteristics in protozoa, flies and humans is essentially the same!
However, the consequences of the disaster manifest themselves thousands of kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This is what the famous Russian ecologist, corresponding member, reports. RAS A. Yablokov:
"In the summer of 1986, there was a significant increase in Norway, Sweden and the UK. total number deaths among the population. The sanitary service rejects tens of thousands of meat carcasses due to unacceptable radioactivity. In the south of Germany, where
Chernobyl fallout was especially intense, infant mortality increased by 35%... ...And often radiation damage has the greatest impact in the third generation. So trouble will respond more than once" /We have become hostages of the nuclear power plant. "Trud", February 13, 1996/.
According to recent WHO data, 4.9 million people were exposed to Chernobyl radiation /E. Shakov, Will Chernobyl close? "New Russian Word", January 5, 1996/.
acad. HELL. Sakharov (“Memoirs”, New York, 1990. p. 262):
“...Even the smallest dose of radiation can cause damage to the hereditary mechanism, lead to a hereditary disease or death. There is no “threshold”, i.e. such a minimum value of the radiation dose that at a lower dose... damage will not occur.
...The probability of damage depends on the radiation dose, but, in within known limits, does not depend on the nature of the damage." "Irradiation, even in relatively small doses, disrupts conditioned reflex activity, changes the bioelectrical activity of the cerebral cortex, causes biochemical and metabolic changes at the molecular and cellular levels." These lines were taken by her from the books "The Danger of Nuclear War" And " Nuclear war: medical and biological consequences", the authors of which are E.I. Chazov, L.A. Ilyin and A.K. Guskova. These books were also published in the first half of the 1980s, before Chernobyl, although not long ago.
http://zhurnal.lib.ru/t/tiktin_s_a/adomdimitchernobil.shtml

According to official UN data, about 4 thousand deaths from the reactor worldwide were associated with the explosion of the reactor 20 years ago. cancer diseases. Meanwhile, environmentalists give a different figure: in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus alone, about 200 thousand people have already died due to the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, NEWSru.com reported in Russian branch Greenpeace. The report provides figures based on demographic statistics over the past 15 years. According to these data, 60 people have already died in Russia due to the Chernobyl accident. As for Ukraine and Belarus, this figure reaches 140 thousand (Main conclusions of the report).

According to Greenpeace, in the future, about 270 thousand cases of cancer worldwide will be related to the effects of Chernobyl radiation. Of these, 93 thousand will be fatal.
According to environmentalists, the Chernobyl accident affected Greece, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Estonia, Slovakia, Ireland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium , Spain, Portugal, Israel. The total area of ​​land contaminated only with cesium-137, in addition to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, was 45,260 square kilometers.

The report also provides an analysis of diseases associated with the effects of radiation on the body: damage to the immune and endocrine systems, disorders in cardiovascular system and blood diseases, mental illness, damage at the chromosomal level and an increase in the number of developmental defects in children.
The number of cancer cases has increased sharply in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. In Belarus, between 1990 and 2000, there was an increase in cancer incidence by 40%, and in the Gomel region - by 52%. In Ukraine there was a 12% increase in the level of cancer, while in the Zhytomyr region the mortality rate increased almost threefold. In Russia, in the Bryansk region, the number of cancer cases increased 2.7 times.

In Belarus alone, until 2004, about 7 thousand cases of thyroid cancer were registered. According to some studies, the incidence of thyroid cancer in children has increased by 88.5 times, in adolescents by 12.9 times and in adults by 4.6 times. Experts estimate that over the next 70 years, the number of additional thyroid cancer cases will range from 14 to 31 thousand cases. In Ukraine as a whole, about 24,000 cases of thyroid cancer are expected, 2,400 of which are fatal.

This significant increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer significantly exceeds the expected level (immediately after the accident, official sources predicted a slight increase in incidence). Moreover, the diseases are characterized by a short latency period and tumor spread beyond the thyroid gland in almost 50% of cases, necessitating repeated operations to remove residual metastases.

Five years after the accident, a significant increase in leukemia cases was reported among populations living in the most severely affected areas. An estimated 2,800 additional cases of leukemia are expected in Belarus between 1986 and 2056, 1,880 of them fatal.

There has been a marked increase in cancers of the colon, rectum, breast, bladder, kidney, lung and other organs. In 1987-1999, about 26 thousand cases of cancer caused by radiation were registered in Belarus, of which 18.7% were skin cancer, 10.5% were lung cancer and 9.5% were stomach cancer.

In Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, the number of diseases of the circulatory and lymphatic systems has increased. Ten years after the accident, the number of diseases circulatory system increased by 5.5 times. On the territory of Ukraine, the number of blood and circulatory system diseases among residents of contaminated areas has increased by 10.8-15.4 times.

The effects of radiation on the reproductive system. The accumulation of radionuclides in the female body leads to an increase in the level of the male hormone testosterone, which is responsible for the appearance of male characteristics. Conversely, cases of impotence have become more frequent in men 25-30 years old living in radiation-contaminated areas. Children in contaminated areas suffer from delayed sexual development. Mothers experience delayed onset and interruptions menstrual cycle, more frequent gynecological problems, anemia during and after pregnancy, premature birth and rupture of membranes.
http://www.newsru.com/world/18apr2006/greenpeace.html

How much data was not included in official statistics? How can we now determine whether certain diseases are caused by the effects of radiation or not? You can only record the growth trends of certain diseases, and only...

A fragment of the front page of the Berlin edition of Die Tageszeitung

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred in 1986, could have caused more than a thousand child deaths in the UK, says an English scientist. A study by epidemiologist John Urquhart found that for several years after the disaster, there was an increased infant mortality rate in British regions where radioactive fallout occurred, Sky News reports. The scientist analyzed medical statistics in areas where “black rains” occurred after the explosion of a Soviet reactor and calculated that the increase in child deaths from 1986 to 1989 was 11% - compared with 4% in other regions. In reality, this means more than a thousand deaths, John Urquhart said at a conference in London dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the disaster. According to his research, this negative trend stopped four years after Chernobyl. Official maps show that radioactive clouds passed through Kent and London into Hertfordshire and into the eastern midlands of Great Britain, after which, affecting Bradford and the Isle of Man, they went towards Northern Ireland. The scientist believes that approximately half of the regions of England and Wales could potentially be affected by this disaster. http://www.newsru.com/world/23mar2006/chernobyl.html

About how asexual worms switched to traditional way reproduction
http://chernobyl.onego.ru/right/izvestia26_04_2003.htm

In the context of all this, theoretical information will not be superfluous:
THE BASICS OF THE SCIENCE OF RADIOACTIVITY http://www.radiation.ru/begin/begin.htm
About iodine against radioactivity http://www.inauka.ru/news/article50772.html
X-ray radiation http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/

More miscellaneous information

And the radiation continues to spread...
Legal proceedings are underway in Moscow regarding the import of radioactive Chernobyl pipes into Russia
http://www.newsru.com/russia/08dec2005/chernobil.html
http://www.sancenter.ru/003.html
Look through the news sites, there’s about pipes, and about blueberries, and about equipment stolen from burial grounds...
And no one understands that just one particle, invisible to the eye, is enough for the fate of our subsequent generations to change... we are already paying with various kinds of diseases, decreased immunity, and we continue to believe that this has nothing to do with Chernobyl.

I will write about Latvia and the Baltic states separately in the next issue.

See the beginning of the topic here:
20 years of the Chernobyl accident (part 1: map and table)
All about Chernobyl and its consequences - (part 2: many links about the accident itself and Pripyat)