The legacy of Chernobyl

The causes and consequences of the reactor accident at Chernobyl on 26th April 1986 are re-examined in the light of the account put together by the exiled Soviet scientist Zhores Medvedev from limited Soviet literature and Western sources. Criticism is levelled at the background of administrative incompetence that let both to the decision to conduct the fateful experiment with the reactor without gaining clearance and to inadequate evacuation arrangements for the local population. Doubt is cast over the official casualty figure of 29 deaths on the grounds that it does not include the deaths of military personnel. Accurate assessment of the number of long-term cancers arising from the accident is impossible. Lack of agreement on the methodology to be used in predicting the extra cancers has produced a very wide spread in the numbers quoted. (UK)