Chernobyl record. The definitive history of the Chernobyl catastrophe

The contents of Chernobyl Record have taken 14 years to compile and this period of time was necessary to enable information to be released from Soviet sources, measurements to be made in the environment, for estimation of radiation doses and for follow-up of the health of population groups which had been exposed. This time frame also includes the 10th anniversary conferences and the completion of joint projects of the European Commission, Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation. It has also enabled me to visit the power plant site, Chernobyl town and Pripyat relatively soon after the accident and also some 10 years later: December 1987 and June 1998. Without such visits some of the photographs in this Record could not have been obtained. Information is also contained in these pages of comparisons of various aspects of the Chernobyl accident with data from the Three Mile Island accident in the USA in 1979, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, the highly contaminated Techa river area in the Urals in Russia and the accident in Tokaimura, Japan in 1999. The first two chapters are introductory in that they describe terminology which is necessary for an understanding of the remaining chapters. Chapters 3-6 describes the early events: including those leading up to the explosion and then what followed in the immediate aftermath. Chapters 7-8 describe the Sarcophagus and the past and future of nuclear power for electricity generation, including the future of the Chernobyl power station. Chapters 9-11 consider the radiation doses received by various populations, including liquidators, evacuees and those living on contaminated territories: and the contamination of milk by 131I, and the contamination of other parts of the food chain by 137Cs. Chapters 12-14 describe the environmental impact of the accident, as does chapter 11. Chapters 15-18 detail the long-term effects on health, including not only the incidence of cancer, but also of non-malignant diseases and conditions, such as psychosocial illnesses. Chapter 19 is an English translation from 'Pravda' of a short memoir entitled 'My duty is to tell about this' by Academician Valery Legasov, the First Deputy Director of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, Moscow, who committed suicide on the 2nd anniversary of the accident, April 1988. Previously he had been one of the leading Soviet proponents of the nuclear power option for electricity generation. Chapter 20 records the local history and culture of Ukrainian Polissya, the area which includes most of the 30 km zone. What was borne in mind throughout the research for this book, including the eye witness accounts, have been the words of Thomas Gradgrind in the Charles Dickens novel Hard Times: 'Now what I want to hear is facts'. This philosophy has, is believed to ensure that what follows is a balanced account of the accident and its aftermath, excluding media hype and biased accounts of self-interest groups, and debunking some of the myths which have surrounded Chernobyl