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EDITORIAL: The Meaning of Chornobyl: Imagine Rhode Island Evacuated

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2006

John H. Perkins
Affiliation:
The Evergreen State College
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Extract

Recently I had the privilege of attending a conference, “Chornobyl +20,” in Kyiv, Ukraine.2 This event commemorated the horrendous events of April 26, 1986, when reactor number 4 at Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a catastrophic explosion and fire. The reactor core burned for the next eight days and spread a cloud of radioactive debris across Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and virtually all of central and Western Europe. One report estimates that over 40% of Europe is contaminated with cesium-137.3

Type
POINTS OF VIEW
Copyright
© 2006 National Association of Environmental Professionals

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Footnotes

Acknowledgement and disclaimer: I'm very grateful to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and The Evergreen State College for financial assistance to attend the conference. The NIRS was a co-sponsor of the conference. Neither NIRS nor Evergreen sought to influence the opinions expressed here, and these opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of NIRS or Evergreen.