The Chernobyl Forum
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The Chernobyl Forum is the name of a group of UN agencies, founded on 3–5 February 2003 at the
IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 195 ...
(International Atomic Energy Agency) Headquarters in Vienna, to scientifically assess the health effects and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and to issue factual, authoritative reports on its environmental and health effects.


Participants

Eight UN organizations are involved in the Chernobyl Forum: * the
IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 195 ...
(International Atomic Energy Agency) * the
FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
(Food and Agriculture Organization) * the
OCHA The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...
(United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) * the
UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
(United Nations Development Programme) * the
UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...
(United Nations Environment Programme) * the
UNSCEAR The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) was set up by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1955. 21 states are designated to provide scientists to serve as members of the committee which ...
(United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation) * the
WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
(World Health Organization) * the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
. The Chernobyl Forum also comprises the governments of
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
and
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.


Publications

The Chernobyl Forum released on 5 September 2005 a comprehensive scientific assessment report on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident titled: "Chernobyl’s Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts".Press release by IAEA, WHO and UND
"Chernobyl: The True Scale of the Accident"
/ref> A revised edition was released in March 2006 and is availabl
here
together with the Forum's report "Recommendations to the Governments of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine". The report covers environmental radiation, human health and socio-economic aspects. About 100 recognized experts from many countries, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, have contributed. The report claims to be "the most comprehensive evaluation of the accident’s consequences to date" and to represents "a consensus view of the eight organizations of the UN family according to their competences and of the three affected countries". On the death toll of the accident, the report states that 28 emergency workers died from acute radiation syndrome and 15 patients died from
thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. C ...
. It roughly estimates that cancers deaths caused by the Chernobyl accident might eventually reach a total of up to 4,000 among the 600,000 cleanup workers or "liquidators" who received the greatest exposures. One paper estimates an additional 5,000 deaths from the Chernobyl accident among the exposed population of around 6 million living in the contaminated areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia However, the paper notes that no significant increased cancer risk apart from thyroid cancer has been scientifically demonstrated to date; this prediction is only an indication of the ''possible'' impact of the accident, and should not be taken at face value. The report quotes 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer resulting from the accident, mainly in children and adolescents at the time of the accident; however the survival rate is almost 99%. Since most emergency workers and people living in contaminated areas received relatively low radiation doses, comparable to natural background levels, no decrease in fertility or increase in congenital malformations have been observed. The report indicates that many people were traumatised by the accident and the rapid relocation that followed; they remain anxious about their health, perceiving themselves as helpless victims rather than survivors, mainly because of the lack of credible information about the effects of the accident. The Chernobyl Forum recommends that relocated people be helped to normalise their lives and better access social services and employment. The report also concluded that a greater risk than the long-term effects of radiation exposure, is the risk to mental health caused by exaggerated fears about the effects of radiation:
" ... The designation of the affected population as “victims” rather than “survivors” has led them to perceive themselves as helpless, weak and lacking control over their future. This, in turn, has led either to over cautious behavior and exaggerated health concerns, or to reckless conduct, such as consumption of mushrooms, berries and game from areas still designated as highly contaminated, overuse of alcohol and tobacco, and unprotected promiscuous sexual activity."International Atomic Energy Agency
What's the situation at Chernobyl?
iaea.org Retrieved 2008-02-14.


See also

* Chernobyl disaster *
Chernobyl disaster effects The 1986 Chernobyl disaster triggered the release of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere in the form of both particulate and gaseous radioisotopes. , it was the world's largest known release of radioactivity into the environment. ...
*
List of Chernobyl-related articles This is a list of Chernobyl-related articles. Disaster and effects * Comparison of Chernobyl and other radioactivity releases ** Comparison of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents * Chernobyl disaster * Effects of the Chernobyl di ...
*
Nuclear power debate The nuclear power debate is a long-running controversy about the risks and benefits of using nuclear reactors to generate electricity for civilian purposes. The debate about nuclear power peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, as more and more reac ...


References


External links


Chernobyl Forum page on the IAEA website

Chernobyl Forum report "Chernobyl's legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts"
{{Chernobyl disaster Scientific organizations Aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster Energy in Ukraine Health in Ukraine 1986 in the Soviet Union