Research News
Exclusion zones and control areas after the Chernobyl disaster with location of the area under investigation in the "Korma Report". Original source: CIA Handbook of International Economic Statistics (1996), re-edited version here (CC-BY-SA)
High resolution map of the exclusion zones
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The study was published in the series "Energie & Umwelt", Volume 31 by the Research Centre Jülich and can be accessed under
Long-term Consequences of Radioactive Contamination for Residents near Exclusion Zones
Currently, the workforce at Fukushima is particularly threatened by ionising radiation. Yet they can count on the fact that this contamination remains without serious consequences for their health, if the threshold values of currently 250 millisievert per person really are observed during this time. Likewise, the consequences for residents could be less dramatic than feared, especially if rules of conduct are adhered to. This is the result of a long-term study in the region around Chernobyl conducted by the Research Centre Jülich.
"Medically speaking, when adults absorb the dosage of 250 millisievert over the course of several weeks, absolutely no changes can be detected. Only when people are subjected to 250 millisievert in a short time period, for instance during one day, can their blood count change; they do not yet show symptoms but the cancer risk is slightly increased", says Dr Reinhard Lennartz from the Research Centre Jülich. To be precise: Without this contamination an average of 25 out of 100 people die due to the widespread disease of cancer, with this contamination the number increases to 27.
The people in the area around Fukushima are subjected to significantly lower doses. As yet, it cannot be said which long-term consequences may await them. But from Chernobyl it can be learnt that the contamination could possibly spread in a very varied manner across the region and that even in severely contaminated areas the contamination decreases after a few years.
A study group around Lennartz repeatedly visited the inhabitants of the Belorussian community of Volincy in the Korma District between 1998 and 2007. The municipality borders on severely contaminated exclusion zones, but even so, the inhabitants have to eat what they grow on their fields. In their minibus, the Jülich researchers carried a full body measuring station to record the population's contamination. Furthermore, they monitored the comestibles cultivated by the inhabitants. According to their findings, vegetables and self-grown potatoes by now are harmless, whereas mushrooms and game remain problematic. In particular, younger men who often hunt were significantly more contaminated. "We hope to once more raise the funds to visit the people there. Because if we do not come anymore, they could think there is no danger anymore and start eating more mushrooms and game again", says Lennartz. For the young generation, Chernobyl by now is history, yet the forest soil continues to be contaminated.
