40 Years Since the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

April 26th is commemorated every year as the International Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl Disaster.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant is in Ukraine but only just over the border. The wind was blowing northwards when the accident occurred and the Gomel Region in the south of Belarus got the heaviest of the fallout which spread across Europe and beyond.

800,000 ‘liquidators’ were involved in putting out the fires after the explosion, building the sarcophagus to cover the reactor and attempting to clean up the nearby towns and villages. The clean-up proved impossible and 350,000 people were evacuated, many of them believing that they would soon go back to their homes.

They were never allowed to return and eventually 500,000 people were evacuated and many of their villages were buried. Our Executive Director Linda Walker visited the exclusion zone around the plant 30 years ago, but it will remain contaminated for decades to come.

Thyroid cancers in children started to appear just three years after the accident, with children in Gomel being up to 100 times more likely to develop the disease than they were before the disaster. There was also a significant rise in brain tumours and smaller rises in many other childhood cancers.

Breast cancer increased in women and the liquidators were the hardest hit with over 100,000 dying in the first 20 years from heart disease, strokes or cancer and many more suffering from multiple diseases.

As time went on, a  second generation began to suffer the effects of the fallout. Children were born with genetic disorders or developed brain cancer or leukaemia in their first year of life.

We continue to work with Minsk based cancer charity ‘Children in Trouble’ as they provide support for children and families during their treatment.