The Nuclear Accident in Chernobyl .
The day-care centre was located just two miles away from Chernobyl, a nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine. Today there is an off-limits area of 38 miles in diameter, officially called the "Zone of Alienation," surrounds the day-care centre, and the rest of the town, which had a population of roughly 50,000.
The Chernobyl accident was the worst civilian disaster in the history of nuclear energy-and as scary as it seems, it could be repeated. Two of Chernobyl's four reactors remain in use, despite continuing safety problems. Severe cracks have been reported, yet thousands of people continue to live and work there. Roughly five hundred of them have been moved back into their old homes inside the zone! Why, you ask? The Ukrainian government simply explains, "it can't afford to close the plant and permanently seal the tomb without billions in Western aid." I personally think there must be ways around the financial part of it. If I was a leader of their country, there is no way I would even think of re-opening the plant. It is too hazardous and risky to the health of the Ukrainian's.
Doctors say the 1986 accidents caused thousands of deaths from the lingering effects of radiation exposure. But at a conference in Minsk in March of 1996, medical researchers were shocked at the results of a European health study. The study said that Chernobyl's toll had been "wildly exaggerated." Although 760 children in the radiated regions have developed thyroid cancer, the study stated only 3 died as a result. The study found no .
local increase in cases of leukemia, and one of the researchers dismissed as "very implausible" the notion the Chernobyl's radiation has caused significant numbers of deaths from other diseases. .
Local scientists insist the deaths-and dangers are real. Yet in and around Chernobyl, people carry on a semblance of normal life.