BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

April 13 2005 at 03:40PM

Chernobyl radiation declining in Belarus

Minsk - Almost 20 years after the nuclear power explosion at Chernobyl, radiation levels in Belarus are falling faster than expected, according to the results of a study published on Wednesday.

More than 23 percent of Belarussian territory was contaminated with radioactive isotopes, particularly Cesium-137, when a reactor at the station in neighbouring Ukraine exploded in April 1986.

Two decades later, 19 percent of Belarussian land is affected by significant Cesium-137 pollution, indicating that radiation pollution is decreasing faster than expected, according to the results of a national land survey published by the Belarus Institute of Radiology.

Natural weather phenomena such as rain and sunlight are primarily responsible for the reduction, the survey said.

Efforts by the Belarussian government to decrease the volume of irradiated land using irrigation and soil control had a lesser but also positive effect, a research paper recently released by the Gomel Institute of Radiology found.

Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years and remains radioactive for 300 years. It emits gamma rays and can cause cancer.

The element is considered particularly dangerous as its long half-life allows it to remain in soil for a long time and enter the food supply.

The human body cannot distinguish Cesium-137 from Potassium.

Thyroid cancer rates among Belarussian children living in areas hardest hit by Chernobyl's radioactive cloud are between 200 and 500 times higher than pre-accident levels. - Sapa-dpa

Source:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=qw1113397381645B214