9.9 mm 180 pages RADIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT REPORTS SERIES Environmental Environmental Consequences of the of Chernobyl Experience Accident and Years their Remediation: Twenty The explosion on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear Environmental Consequences power plant and the consequent reactor fire resulted in an unprecedented release of radioactive material from a nuclear reactor and adverse consequences for the public and the environment. Although the accident of the Chernobyl Accident occurred nearly two decades ago, controversy still surrounds the real impact of the disaster. Therefore the IAEA, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture and their Remediation: Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Twenty Years of Experience Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, the World Health Organization and the World Bank, as well as the competent authorities of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, established the Report of the Chernobyl Forum in 2003. The mission of the Forum Chernobyl Forum Expert Group ‘Environment’ was to generate “authoritative consensual statements” on the environmental consequences and health effects attributable to radiation exposure arising from the accident as well as to provide advice on environmental remediation and special health care programmes, and to suggest areas in which further research is required. This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Chernobyl Forum concerning the environmental effects of the Chernobyl accident. INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA ISBN 92–0–114705–8 ISSN 1020–6566 P1239_covI+IV.indd 1 2006-03-30 14:41:37 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT AND THEIR REMEDIATION: TWENTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE Report of the Chernobyl Forum Expert Group ‘Environment’ The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GREECE PARAGUAY ALBANIA GUATEMALA PERU ALGERIA HAITI PHILIPPINES ANGOLA HOLY SEE POLAND HONDURAS ARGENTINA PORTUGAL HUNGARY ARMENIA QATAR AUSTRALIA ICELAND REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA AUSTRIA INDIA ROMANIA AZERBAIJAN INDONESIA RUSSIAN FEDERATION BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF SAUDI ARABIA BELARUS IRAQ BELGIUM IRELAND SENEGAL BENIN ISRAEL SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO BOLIVIA ITALY SEYCHELLES BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JAMAICA SIERRA LEONE BOTSWANA JAPAN SINGAPORE BRAZIL JORDAN SLOVAKIA KAZAKHSTAN BULGARIA SLOVENIA KENYA BURKINA FASO SOUTH AFRICA KOREA, REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON SPAIN KUWAIT CANADA KYRGYZSTAN SRI LANKA CENTRAL AFRICAN LATVIA SUDAN REPUBLIC LEBANON SWEDEN CHAD LIBERIA SWITZERLAND CHILE LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC CHINA LIECHTENSTEIN TAJIKISTAN COLOMBIA LITHUANIA COSTA RICA THAILAND LUXEMBOURG CÔTE D’IVOIRE THE FORMER YUGOSLAV MADAGASCAR CROATIA REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA MALAYSIA CUBA TUNISIA MALI CYPRUS TURKEY MALTA CZECH REPUBLIC MARSHALL ISLANDS UGANDA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MAURITANIA UKRAINE OF THE CONGO MAURITIUS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DENMARK MEXICO UNITED KINGDOM OF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MONACO GREAT BRITAIN AND ECUADOR MONGOLIA NORTHERN IRELAND EGYPT MOROCCO UNITED REPUBLIC EL SALVADOR MYANMAR OF TANZANIA ERITREA NAMIBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ESTONIA NETHERLANDS URUGUAY ETHIOPIA NEW ZEALAND UZBEKISTAN FINLAND NICARAGUA VENEZUELA FRANCE NIGER GABON NIGERIA VIETNAM GEORGIA NORWAY YEMEN GERMANY PAKISTAN ZAMBIA GHANA PANAMA ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. RADIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT REPORTS SERIES ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT AND THEIR REMEDIATION: TWENTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE Report of the Chernobyl Forum Expert Group ‘Environment’ INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2006 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and will be considered on a case by case basis. Enquiries should be addressed by email to the Publishing Section, IAEA, at [email protected] or by post to: Sales and Promotion Unit, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 http://www.iaea.org/books © IAEA, 2006 Printed by the IAEA in Austria April 2006 STI/PUB/1239 IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and their remediation : twenty years of experience / report of the Chernobyl Forum Expert Group ‘Environment’. — Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2006. p. ; 29 cm. — (Radiological assessment reports series, ISSN 1020-6566) STI/PUB/1239 ISBN 92–0–114705–8 Includes bibliographical references. 1. Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobyl, Ukraine, 1986 — Environmental aspects. 2. Radioactive waste sites — Cleanup. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. II. Series. IAEAL 06–00424 FOREWORD The explosion on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which is located 100 km from Kiev in Ukraine (at that time part of the USSR), and the consequent reactor fire, which lasted for 10 days, resulted in an unprecedented release of radioactive material from a nuclear reactor and adverse consequences for the public and the environment. The resulting contamination of the environment with radioactive material caused the evacuation of more than 100 000 people from the affected region during 1986 and the relocation, after 1986, of another 200 000 people from Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Some five million people continue to live in areas contaminated by the accident. The national governments of the three affected countries, supported by international organizations, have undertaken costly efforts to remediate the areas affected by the contamination, provide medical services and restore the region’s social and economic well-being. The accident’s consequences were not limited to the territories of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, since other European countries were also affected as a result of the atmospheric transfer of radioactive material. These countries also encountered problems in the radiation protection of their populations, but to a lesser extent than the three most affected countries. Although the accident occurred nearly two decades ago, controversy still surrounds the real impact of the disaster. Therefore the IAEA, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, as well as the competent authorities of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, established the Chernobyl Forum in 2003. The mission of the Forum was — through a series of managerial and expert meetings — to generate “authoritative consensual statements” on the environmental consequences and health effects attributable to radiation exposure arising from the accident, as well as to provide advice on environmental remediation and special health care programmes, and to suggest areas in which further research is required. The Forum was created as a contribution to the United Nations’ ten year strategy for Chernobyl, launched in 2002 with the publication of Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident — A Strategy for Recovery. Over a two year period, two groups of experts from 12 countries, including Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, and from relevant international organizations, assessed the accident’s environmental and health consequences. In early 2005 the Expert Group ‘Environment’, coordinated by the IAEA, and the Expert Group ‘Health’, coordinated by the WHO, presented their reports for the consideration of the Chernobyl Forum. Both reports were considered and approved by the Forum at its meeting on 18–20 April 2005. This meeting also decided, inter alia, “to consider the approved reports… as a common position of the Forum members, i.e., of the eight United Nations organizations and the three most affected countries, regarding the environmental and health consequences of the Chernobyl accident, as well as recommended future actions, i.e., as a consensus within the United Nations system.” This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Chernobyl Forum concerning the environmental effects of the Chernobyl accident. The Forum’s report considering the health effects of the Chernobyl accident is being published by the WHO. The Expert Group ‘Environment’ was chaired by L. Anspaugh