Radiation
induced effects on plants and animals: findings of the United Nations
Chernobyl Forum
Thomas G. Hinton1, Rudolph Alexakhin2, Mikhail
Balonov3, Norman Gentner4, Jolyn Hendry3,
Boris Prister5, Per Strand6, and Dennis Woodhead7
1Savannah
River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC
2Russian Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Agroecology,
Obnisk, Russia
3International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
4United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic
Radiation, Vienna, Austria
5Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology, Kiev, Ukraine
6International Union of Radioecology, Oslo, Norway
7Centre for Environment, Fishery and Aquaculture, United
Kingdom
Abstract:
Several United Nations organizations sought to dispel the uncertainties
and controversy that still exist concerning the effects of the Chernobyl
accident. A Chernobyl Forum of international expertise was established
to reach consensus on the environmental consequences and health effects
attributable to radiation exposure arising from the accident. This review
is a synopsis of the subgroup that examined the
radiological effects to nonhuman biota within the 30-km Exclusion Zone.
The response of biota to Chernobyl irradiation was a complex interaction
among radiation dose, dose rate, temporal and spatial variation, varying
radiation sensitivities of the different taxons, and indirect effects
from other events. The radiation-induced effects to plants and animals
within the 30-km Exclusion Zone around Chernobyl can be framed in three
broad time periods relative to the accident: an intense exposure period
during the first 30 d following the accident of 26 April 1986; a second
phase that extended through the first year of exposure during which time
the short-lived radionuclides decayed and longer-lived radionuclides were
transported to different components of the environment by physical, chemical
and biological processes; and the third and continuing long-term phase
of chronic exposure with dose rates <1% of the initial values. The
doses accumulated, and the observed effects on plants, soil invertebrates,
terrestrial vertebrates and fish are summarized for each time period.
Physiological and genetic effects on biota, as well as the indirect effects
on wildlife of removing humans from the Chernobyl area, are placed in
context of what was known about radioecological effects prior to the accident.
Key
words: National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements;
Chernobyl; health effects; accidents, nuclear
SREL Reprint #3065
Hinton, T.
G., R. Alexakhin, M. Balonov, N. Gentner, J. Hendry, B. Prister, P. Strand,
and D. Woodhead. 2007. Radiation induced effects on plants and animals:
findings of the United Nations Chernobyl Forum. Health Physics 93(5):
427-440.
