Radioactive
fallout, containing the isotope cesium 137, and nuclear contamination covered
an enormous area including Byelorussia, Latvia, Lithuania, the central portion
of the then Soviet Union, the Scandinavian countries, the Ukraine, Poland,
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Switzerland, northern Italy, eastern France,
Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
The fallout, extremely uneven because of the shifting wind patterns, extended
1,200 to 1,300 miles (1,930 to 2,090 kilometers) from the point of the
accident. Roughly 5% of the reactor fuel or seven tons
of fuel containing 50 to 100 million curies were released. Estimates of the
effects of this fallout range from 28,000 to 100,000 deaths from cancer and
genetic defects within the next 50 years. In particular, livestock in high
rainfall areas received unacceptable dosages of radiation. (The Handy Science
Answer Book, compiled by the Science and Technology department of the Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh)
