title: The global impact of the Chernobyl reactor accident.
abstract: Radioactive material was deposited throughout the Northern Hemisphere as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station on 26 April 1986. On the basis of a large amount of environmental data and new integrated dose assessment and risk models, the collective dose commitment to the approximately 3 billion inhabitants is calculated to be 930,000 person-gray, with 97% in the western Soviet Union and Europe. The best estimates for the lifetime expectation of fatal radiogenic cancer would increase the risk from 0 to 0.02% in Europe and 0 to 0.003% in the Northern Hemisphere. By means of an integration of the environmental data, it is estimated that approximately 100 petabecquerels of cesium-137 (1 PBq = 10(15) Bq) were released during and subsequent to the accident.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550.
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Anspaugh
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Catlin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D006801:Humans; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000209:etiology; D009688:Nuclear Reactors; D011830:Radiation Effects; D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D012307:Risk Factors; D014455:Ukraine
chemical_list: D011847:Radioactive Fallout