Up to 60 sq. mi. of Soviet farmland is likely to remain severely
contaminated for decades, unless steps are taken to remove the tainted
topsoil. Reason: cesium 137 and strontium 90, two radioactive particles
spewed by the blaze, decay very slowly. It could take decades for the
ground to be free of them. Together with the shorter-lived iodine 131,
the substances promise to pose short- and long-term problems for
people, crops and animals. Says James Warf, a chemistry professor at
the University of Southern California: ''I wouldn't be surprised if the
immediate area has to be evacuated for generations.'' John Greenwald,
Time Magazine, May 12, 1986.
Based on Belarus national cancer statistics, Greenpeace predicted that
up to 270,000 cancers and 93,000 fatal cancer cases have been caused by
Chernobyl. The report also estimated that 60,000 people have
additionally died in Russia because of the Chernobyl accident, and
estimates of the total death toll for the Ukraine and Belarus could
reach another 140,000. The Greenpeace report said the incidence of
cancer in Belarus had jumped 40 percent between 1990 and 2000, with
children not yet born at the time of the disaster showing an 88.5-fold
increase in thyroid cancers.—Greenpeace 2006
