Resource information
The world's worst nuclear accident
occurred in Chernobyl on April 26, 1986, releasing at least
100 times as much radiation as the atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The most affected country was
Belarus, for which the environmental, health, and other
consequences of the Chernobyl accident were disastrous. The
present report reveals that notable differences exist
between zones with relatively mild levels of contamination
and those with higher levels; contaminated areas suffer from
a distorted demographic structure; and the affected
territories are mostly agricultural, and tend to be poorer
than urban areas; the potential for economic activity is
rather limited; the incidence of thyroid cancer in children
has increased as a result of radiation exposure; it is
difficult to separate the direct impact of radiation from
the indirect impact that comes form psychological
perceptions of risk, the consequneces of the economy, and
the quality of health services; people are ambivalent about
the effectiveness of government programs; and sufficient
information is not reaching large groups of the population
and the information disseminated is not trusted. The four
chapters of the report discuss the current situation in the
contaminated districts, the fiscal implications and the
government's institutional arrangements, the government
programs designed to mitigate the consequences, and
recommendations for developing improved approaches that
would lower the fiscal burden.
