2] Read the text about the Chornobyl accident and its consequences. Then answer the questions.

1. When and where did the accident take place?

2. What countries have suffered from radioactive fallout?

3. How many people were hospitalized immediately and how many

of them died? What were they? How many people were evacuated and resettled?

4. What is radiation poisoning or radiation sickness?

5. What diseases can radiation exposure result in?

6. Is thyroid cancer among children in any relation to the disaster?

Chornobyl Disaster Effects on Human Health

The Chornobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986, at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.

The disaster occurred on 26 April 1986, at reactor number four at the Chornobyl plant during a systems test: a series of explosions took place. This event exposed the graphite moderator components of the reactor to air and they ignited; the resulting fire sent a plume of radio­active fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. The explosion at the power station and subsequent fires inside the remains of the reactor provoked a radioactive cloud which drifted over Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and also over other European coun­tries. Contamination from the Chornobyl disaster was not evenly spread across the surrounding countryside, but scattered irregularly depending on weather conditions.

203 people were hospitalized immediately, of whom 31 died (28 of them died from acute radiation exposure). Most of these were fire and rescue workers trying to bring the disaster under control, who were not fully aware of how dangerous the radiation exposure (from the smoke) was. 135,000 people were evacuated from the area, including 50,000 from the nearby town of Prypyat. Health officials have predicted that over the next 70 years there will be a 2 % increase in cancer rates in

much of the population which was exposed to the different doses of radioactive contamination released from the reactor.

Radiation poisoning or radiation sickness is a form of damage to organ tissue caused by excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. The term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by a large dosage of radiation in a short period, though this also has occurred with long-term exposure. The clinical name for radiation sickness is acute radiation syndrome (ARS). A chronic radiation syndrome does exist but is very uncommon; this has been observed among workers in early radium source production sites and in the early days of the Chornobyl nuclear plant existing. Radiation exposure can also in­crease the probability of developing some other diseases, mainly can­cer, tumours, and genetic damage.

Thus, an increased incidence of thyroid cancer among children in areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia affected by the Chornobyl disas­ter has been firmly established as a result of screening programs. Chil­dren in the contaminated areas were exposed to high radiation doses because of an intake of radioactive iodine-131, a relatively short-lived isotope with a half-life of 8 days, from contaminated milk produced locally. Several studies have found that the incidence of thyroid cancer among children has risen sharply: ^L‘ 1800 documented cases of thyroid cancer in children who were between 0 and 14 years of age when the disaster occurred, which is as far higher than normal”. The childhood thyroid cancers that have appeared are of a large and aggressive type but, if detected early, still can be treated. Late in 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) linked nearly 700 cases of thyroid cancer among children and adolescents to the Chornobyl disaster.

Cases of Down syndrome and chromosomal aberrations have in­creased greatly among people exposed to fallout in Ukraine and other countries that have suffered from Chornobyl. Scientists note that there is a simple dose-response relationship between degree of exposure and incidence of aberrations. These findings are relevant because a close relationship exists between chromosome changes and congenital mal­formations.

Unit 11

HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE UK