Chernobyl, Radiation Doses
Posted: 2nd April 2022
Radiation from the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine has reportedly killed one Russian soldier after his unit camped in a toxic area known as the Red Forest. The soldier was part of a team that captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 65 miles north of Kyiv, in the first days of the war. They then occupied the 20-mile exclusion zone around the plant, where people are banned from living, dug trenches into radioactive mud and drove their trucks along dirt roads, kicking up radioactive dust. Now ill and exhausted, they have retreated to Belarus. “The Russian occupiers have left the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” said Ukraine’s defence ministry.”Two key reasons: losses caused by the Ukrainian army and radiation exposure.” Telegraph 1st April 2022 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/01/russian-soldier-dies-radiation-poisoning-chernobyl/ Mirror 1st April 2022 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russian-soldier-killed-radiation-destroyed-26616761 The head of the UN atomic watchdog has said he aims to lead a mission to Chernobyl as soon as possible, after Russian troops were reported to have largely withdrawn from the decommissioned nuclear power station. Rafael Grossi tweeted on Friday that he would head an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “assistance and support” mission to the highly contaminated site of the world’s worst nuclear accident in the first of a series of such visits to Ukrainian nuclear plants. The Ukrainian statepower company Energoatom alleged that the pullout followed a number of Russian soldiers receiving “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone, a claim the IAEA said it could not independently confirm but would investigate. Some Ukrainian reports have suggested the soldiers were taken to a special medical facility in nearby Belarus after driving tanks through the exclusion zone, kicking up radioactive dust. The Kremlin has not commented on the claims. Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Associated Press on Friday it seemed unlikely a large number of troops would develop severe radiation illness, but added that it was impossible to know for sure without more details. Guardian 1st April 2022 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/01/russians-fled-chernobyl-with-radiation-sickness-says-ukraine-as-iaea-investigates Ukraine reclaims Chernobyl nuclear plant as Russian forces withdraw. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant is now back in Ukrainian hands, but hasn’t confirmed reports that Russian troops left because they were experiencing radiation sickness New Scientist 1st April 2022 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2314502-ukraine-reclaims-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-as-russian-forces-withdraw/