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The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred on April 26th, 1986 when reactor number four at the Chernobyl electric power facility in the Ukraine had a chemical explosion. Human error combined with the poor construction and design of the facility caused the chemical explosions and fires that released a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. Thirty-five people who attempted to put out the fires at Chernobyl died shortly after the accident of radiation poisoning. However, the immediate evacuation of about 116,000 people from areas surrounding the reactor reduce the general population from exposure to high levels of radiation. A United Nations report determined that a total of 57 people died as a direct result of the radiation from the disaster. Additionally, the UN study predicted that over several years up to 4000 additional deaths could result from radiation exposure from Chernobyl. However, the latest UN report suggest that these numbers may have been overestimated. Additionally, the IAEA reports that there has been no solid evidence of any additional deaths related to the Chernobyl disaster.

"Conscript was part of class-action suit against the state The death last Friday of a former Chilean soldier who was suing the state for health damages after he was overexposed to radiation once again highlights concerns over the future use of nuclear energy in Chile. Manuel Mella Tapia, 41, guarded the La Reina nuclear research facility near Santiago between 1987 and 1989 as part of his compulsory military service. Tapia was diagnosed with leukemia in 2008 and had been waiting for a bone marrow transplant at Santiago's Clinica Alemana. He was one of 64 ex-conscripts petitioning the government for US$85 million in compensation after being exposed to radioactive material while serving at the La Reina facility (ST. Oct 22, 2009). At least half of the men have experienced health problems related to radiation poisoning. "

"There is no doubt that there has been a large increase in thyroid cancer incidence due to Chernobyl. I helped to bring this to public attention in 1992; we later showed that most cases have occurred among those who were young children at the time of exposure to high levels of fallout. This increase, initially seen in children is now occurring in young adults. Your special report on radiation (11 January), using World Health Organisation figures, comments that "only a few children have died of cancers since the accident". Apart from the tragedy of any child's death, measuring the impact only by mortality ignores the morbidity. Thyroid cancer generally has a very high cure rate, but thousands of thyroid operations have been carried out, some followed by multiple treatments and other consequences. The effects on the rest of Europe, largely exposed to low-dose radiation, are much less certain. The widely varying assessments of the numbers of deaths attributable to Chernobyl illustrate the need for a definitive unbiased long-term assessment of the overall consequences of the accident, as well as the need to maintain a sense of perspective."

"The death from radiation poisoning of a scrapyard worker in New Delhi has highlighted the lax enforcement of waste disposal laws in India, leading to calls for urgent action. In early April, a machine from Delhi University containing cobalt-60, a radioactive metal used for radiotherapy in hospitals, ended up in a scrapyard in the city. Rajendra Yadav, a 35-year-old worker in the congested yard in Mayapuri, western New Delhi, died due to multiple organ failure on April 26. Seven others were hospitalised. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was the worst radiation incident worldwide in four years."

"Two S.C. congressmen insert directives into House defense bill WASHINGTON -- The House passed a defense bill on Friday that calls for studies on what it would take to restart the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and what the impact would be if the project is closed for good. The studies were inserted into a 600-page bill report by two congressmen from South Carolina who have been protesting the Obama administration's decision to terminate the Yucca project. Most Popular Stories 1. Paris Hilton says she likes single life 2. Motorcyclist dies, passenger injured in North Las Vegas accident 3. 20-year-old motorcyclist killed in collision near Lamb and Owens 4. GOP Senate hopeful Christensen curries favor in Mormon church 5. Tourists draw ACE while locals go bused 6. Embattled governor has piloted state during its deepest recession 7. Case backlog postponing deportations 8. Drone crew from Creech Air Force Base blamed for Afghan civilian deaths 9. Predator drone crew criticized 10. Nurse shares life-or-death moments There was little discussion of the issue during the two days the House debated its annual defense authorization bill. While the administration's moves to shut down the project have been criticized in Congress, it still might be too soon to tell whether efforts to revive the program are isolated to a few dozen angry lawmakers or whether a broader uprising is brewing. Aides to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate majority leader and the chief shot blocker against Yucca Mountain bills, said the studies will be dropped when the defense bill is debated in the Senate."

The 11 March 2011 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Japan's northeast coast set off a series of cascading events which resulted in the deaths of more than 20,500 people along with an ongoing nuclear crisis. The crisis epitomized what disaster scholars call a compounded or complex disaster. The quake itself caused few direct casualties - fewer than 5 percent of the deaths due to this disaster are attributed to collapsed buildings - but triggered a devastating tsunami which overtopped seawalls, washed away entire villages, swept people and cars out to sea, and damaged the back-up cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex. Of the six reactors on site, the quake's arrival automatically shut down the three which were operational. With diesel generators and batteries offline, the residual heat in the reactors raised the temperature to more than 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, melting down the zircaloy fuel rods. The fuel pellets, free from their sheaths, fell to the floor of the steel containment vessels where they may have burned holes through the thick steel plating. Nuclear authorities in Japan eventually classified the radiation release from the Fukushima nuclear complex as a level 7 nuclear crisis on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), placing the event in the same category as the 26 April 1986 Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine.

Manchester University is launching an inquiry into the safety of one of its most famous buildings amid fears that radioactive contamination may have contributed to the deaths of four staff. The investigation will focus on the Rutherford building, where Ernest Rutherford, one of the founding fathers of atomic physics, worked with radioactive materials at the beginning of the 20th century.

RADIATION left over from 100-year-old experiments by Ernest Rutherford could be partly responsible for the deaths of up to four staff at Manchester University. New Zealand-born Lord Rutherford was the first man to split the atom. Between 1909 and 1917, he conducted experiments in room 2.62 of a red-brick Victorian building, which now bears his name in the northern England city.

Most energy analysts in the early- and mid-1990s assumed nuclear power in the United States was dying a slow death. Utilities were saddled with unmanageable debt, mainly from the $60 billion in cost overruns and plant shutdowns due to the industry's misadventures in the 1970s (when nukes were promoted as a solution to crippling high oil prices and calls for energy independence).

* Admission servicemen exposed to nuclear danger * Defence belives bomb tests led to deaths * Australian victims preparing to sue government BRITISH Defence chiefs have admitted servicemen were exposed to dangerous radiation levels during nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s. The dramatic admission, made after years of denials, features in papers filed with the High Court in London by Ministry of Defence lawyers.

The death of a Tallevast resident has set off a struggle between the family, the county, the health department, the medical examiner's office and Manatee Memorial Hospital over an autopsy. Bobby Pitts, 54, died Sunday at Manatee Memorial Hospital after a weeklong battle with an infection that required surgery, according to family. Pitts was the son of Zasu Pitts and lived with his mother in a house that sits right next to the old beryllium plant that is the source of a 200-acre toxic underground spill beneath Tallevast.

Nuclear energy has always had something of a bad reputation-a volatile, barely containable force that nobody wants in their neighborhood. But with the planet heating up, the economy floundering, and the world economy striving for safer energy alternatives, it's time to ask: does nuclear power really deserve its negative stigma, and does it hold promise as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels? Nuclear Plant Safety Safety has always been a concern regarding nuclear plants, and one of the primary factors motivating people to keep nuclear plants away from their homes. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are two of the first things that come to mind when many consider hosting a nuclear power plant, and neither are particularly cheering images. When compared to other power plants, however, nuclear energy is actually one of the safest options. According to a study by the Paul Scherrer Institute, there have been only seven major nuclear accidents ever, accounting for approximately 64 deaths and 220 latent fatalities.

Nuclear energy has always had something of a bad reputation-a volatile, barely containable force that nobody wants in their neighborhood. But with the planet heating up, the economy floundering, and the world economy striving for safer energy alternatives, it's time to ask: does nuclear power really deserve its negative stigma, and does it hold promise as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels? Nuclear Plant Safety Safety has always been a concern regarding nuclear plants, and one of the primary factors motivating people to keep nuclear plants away from their homes. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are two of the first things that come to mind when many consider hosting a nuclear power plant, and neither are particularly cheering images. When compared to other power plants, however, nuclear energy is actually one of the safest options. According to a study by the Paul Scherrer Institute, there have been only seven major nuclear accidents ever, accounting for approximately 64 deaths and 220 latent fatalities.

On March 18, Japanese professor Takada Jun revealed at a nuclear forum that the Chinese regime carried out 46 surface nuclear tests from 1964 to 1996, causing 750,000 civilian deaths in surrounding areas. At the "Chinese Nuclear Test Disasters on the Silk Road and the Japanese Role" symposium, sponsored by the Japanese Uyghur Association, Dr. Takada Jun, a professor at the Sapporo Medical University and a representative of the Japanese Radiation Protection Information Center, revealed the disastrous problems of China's nuclear tests. Dr. Takada said that the Chinese regime has never allowed any form of independent or outside environmental evaluation, analysis, or study of adverse affects on human health possibly cause by the tests.

On July 16, 1945, the world's first nuclear device was tested at a remote location in New Mexico, the Alamogordo Test Range, the Jornada del Muerto (Journey of Death). The word "bomb" was never used. Instead, it was referred to as the "gadget" or the "thing." The Manhattan Project was named after the Manhattan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where most of the early research was conducted. While more than 30 research and production sites were used, the bulk of the Manhattan Project was secretly conducted in Hanford, Wash,, Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, N.M.

On July 16, 1945, the world's first nuclear device was tested at a remote location in New Mexico, the Alamogordo Test Range, the Jornada del Muerto (Journey of Death). The word "bomb" was never used. Instead, it was referred to as the "gadget" or the "thing." The Manhattan Project was named after the Manhattan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where most of the early research was conducted. While more than 30 research and production sites were used, the bulk of the Manhattan Project was secretly conducted in Hanford, Wash,, Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, N.M.

The mayor of a mudslide-devastated city has urged a precautionary shutdown of Brazil's only nuclear power plants due to blocked highways while the death toll from flooding and slides rose to 75. Angra dos Reis Mayor Tuca Jordao said on Sunday that while the nuclear power plants are not damaged or threatened, mudslides that that have killed at least 44 people in his city alone have disrupted escape routes needed to cope with any emergency.

The mayor of a mudslide-devastated city has urged a precautionary shutdown of Brazil's only nuclear power plants due to blocked highways while the death toll from flooding and slides rose to 75. Angra dos Reis Mayor Tuca Jordao said on Sunday that while the nuclear power plants are not damaged or threatened, mudslides that that have killed at least 44 people in his city alone have disrupted escape routes needed to cope with any emergency.

"A Rhode Island law firm that won major settlements against the tobacco industry filed a federal lawsuit Friday on behalf of three Kiski Valley residents who allege wrongful death, personal injury and damages from the operations of two former nuclear fuels plants in Apollo and Parks. Although the lawsuit, filed by the Providence-based law firm Motley Rice, does not disclose a dollar figure sought in damages, the court document states that "... incidents to health, property and the environment are extremely dire and can be measured in the millions, if not billions of dollars." The defendants, Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group and the Atlantic Richfield, operated a uranium fuel processing plant in Apollo and a plutonium plant in Parks from 1957-86."

"A man died on his second day of work at Japan's tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant Saturday, and the plant operator said harmful levels of radiation were not detected in his body. The contract worker in his 60s was the first person to die at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan since March 11, when an earthquake and tsunami damaged the facility and caused fires, explosions and radiation leaks in the world's second-worst nuclear accident. The worker was carrying equipment when he collapsed and died later in a hospital, said Naoyuki Matsumoto, spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. The company does not know the cause of his death, Matsumoto said. "

The federal government is preparing to unveil recommendations on how to restructure Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, and several foreign and domestic players in the nuclear industry are positioning themselves to make a bid for AECL's assets. But industry insiders and experts say the sale of the Crown corporation's reactor business could spell the beginning of the end for AECL's storied CANDU technology, long considered the cornerstone of Canada's nuclear industry.

The federal government is preparing to unveil recommendations on how to restructure Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, and several foreign and domestic players in the nuclear industry are positioning themselves to make a bid for AECL's assets. But industry insiders and experts say the sale of the Crown corporation's reactor business could spell the beginning of the end for AECL's storied CANDU technology, long considered the cornerstone of Canada's nuclear industry.

When the EPA evacuates your town for Superfund cleanup, what happens to the people left behind? After decades of uranium mining turned the tiny town of Church Rock, New Mexico, into a Superfund site, in August the EPA moved seven resident Navajo families to Gallup apartments, where they'll wait for five months while the EPA scrubs their town of radioactive waste. But as the EPA hauls away the uranium tailings and radium-infused topsoils that have been permanent fixtures since mining ceased in the 1980s, Church Rock's remaining residents are asking why they have been left behind. In 1979, the largest spill of radioactive waste in US history occurred in Church Rock when 94 million gallons of mine waste were accidentally released into a stream. Children swam in open pit mines and the community drank water from local wells as recently as the '90s. (Now they haul in drinking water.) Cancer rates and livestock deaths remain higher than they should be. As for the families who remain, Church Rock evacuee and local activist Teddy Nez says the agency "drew an imaginary line in the sand" that excludes a residential area half a mile west of the Superfund site.

When the EPA evacuates your town for Superfund cleanup, what happens to the people left behind? After decades of uranium mining turned the tiny town of Church Rock, New Mexico, into a Superfund site, in August the EPA moved seven resident Navajo families to Gallup apartments, where they'll wait for five months while the EPA scrubs their town of radioactive waste. But as the EPA hauls away the uranium tailings and radium-infused topsoils that have been permanent fixtures since mining ceased in the 1980s, Church Rock's remaining residents are asking why they have been left behind. In 1979, the largest spill of radioactive waste in US history occurred in Church Rock when 94 million gallons of mine waste were accidentally released into a stream. Children swam in open pit mines and the community drank water from local wells as recently as the '90s. (Now they haul in drinking water.) Cancer rates and livestock deaths remain higher than they should be. As for the families who remain, Church Rock evacuee and local activist Teddy Nez says the agency "drew an imaginary line in the sand" that excludes a residential area half a mile west of the Superfund site.

A mathematical model constructed by researchers at Imperial College London predicts the risk of cardiovascular disease (heart attacks, stroke) associated with low background levels of radiation. The model shows that the risk would vary almost in proportion with dose. Results, published October 23 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, are consistent with risk levels reported in previous studies involving nuclear workers. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and one of the leading causes of disability in developed countries, as reported in the paper and also by the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/whosis/en/). For some time, scientists have understood how high-dose radiotherapy (RT) causes inflammation in the heart and large arteries and how this results in the increased levels of cardiovascular disease observed in many groups of patients who receive RT. However, in the last few years, studies have shown that there may also be cardiovascular risks associated with the much lower fractionated doses of radiation received by groups such as nuclear workers, but it is not clear what biological mechanisms are responsible.

A mathematical model constructed by researchers at Imperial College London predicts the risk of cardiovascular disease (heart attacks, stroke) associated with low background levels of radiation. The model shows that the risk would vary almost in proportion with dose. Results, published October 23 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, are consistent with risk levels reported in previous studies involving nuclear workers. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and one of the leading causes of disability in developed countries, as reported in the paper and also by the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/whosis/en/). For some time, scientists have understood how high-dose radiotherapy (RT) causes inflammation in the heart and large arteries and how this results in the increased levels of cardiovascular disease observed in many groups of patients who receive RT. However, in the last few years, studies have shown that there may also be cardiovascular risks associated with the much lower fractionated doses of radiation received by groups such as nuclear workers, but it is not clear what biological mechanisms are responsible.