Assessment of the impact of the Chernobyl accident made after 1991

A number of studies dealing with the consequences of the Chernobyl accident have been published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the event. The doses received from absorbed iodine are estimated at up to 70 mSv in adults and over 1000 mSv in children. The average whole-body dose received by the inhabitants prior to evacuation was about 15 mSv. The people who were engaged in the mitigation of the accident received whole-body doses as high as over 10 Sv. From among 432 000 such persons, 6000 died over the 1988-1994 period, the causes being other than the irradiation. Hence, the mortality in this group was the same as in the normal population. About 270 000 persons still live in regions contaminated with Cs-137 in quantities higher than 555 kBq/m2. The radiation doses for the population of Europe were roughly 1 to 2 mSv above the natural background. No abnormalities caused by the radiation were found during medical examinations. The accident, however, had serious psychological consequences. Currently, a staff of 6000 is working at the Chernobyl power plant, and the new town of Slavutich is inhabited by the youngest population, exhibiting the lowest mortality in the Ukraine. (M.D.) 1 tab., 12 refs