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The chornobyl nuclear disaster and subsequent creation of a wildlife preserve
Author(s) -
Baker Robert J.,
Chesser Ronald K.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620190501
Subject(s) - wildlife , roe deer , habitat , ukrainian , ecology , biodiversity , geography , fauna , environmental protection , archaeology , biology , linguistics , philosophy
To the Editor: Following a recent research expedition to the Chornobyl region, a U.S. Department of Energy official asked us to assess the ecological impacts of the April 1986 Chornobyl disaster on populations of animals. We replied that, although a quantitative assessment is difficult, the net ecological impact has been positive. After a long pause, the perplexed official asked how it could be possible that the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, releasing between 100 and 200 million Curies of radiation into the environment, could produce positive ecological consequences. The answer was simple—hu-mans have evacuated the contaminated zone. Mention of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster usually brings thoughts of death, destruction, cancer, massive economic loss, and other negative images. Clearly, the economic impacts have been devastating for the Ukrainian economy, and the harmful effects such as elevated cancer rates in humans [1–3] and the killing of pine trees in the Red Forest are real [4,5]. However, the sum effect for the flora and fauna in the highly radioactive, restricted zone has been overwhelmingly positive in favor of biodiversity and abundance of individuals [6]. Our 12 expeditions to the most radioactive areas of these zones reveal that animal life is abundant. Parts of the 10-km exclusion zone around Reactor 4 are strikingly, yet deceptively, beautiful (Fig. 1). Only the clicks and whistles of our electronic equipment indicated that the habitat was contaminated with radioactivity. During recent visits to Chornobyl, we experienced numerous sightings of moose (Alces alces), roe deer (Capreol capreo-lus), Russian wild boar (Sus scrofa), foxes (Vulpes vulpes), river otter (Lutra canadensis), and rabbits (Lepus europaeus) within the 10-km exclusion zone. We observed none of those taxa except for a single rabbit outside the 30-km zone, although the time and extent of search in each region was comparable. The top carnivores, wolves and eagles, as well as the endangered black stork are more abundant in the 30-km zone than outside of that area. Trapping of small rodents in the most radioactive area within the 10-km zone has yielded greater success rates than in uncontaminated areas [7]. Diversity of flowers and other plants in the highly radioactive regions is impressive and equals that observed in protected habitats outside the zone. In reality, radioactivity at the level associated with the Chornobyl meltdown does have discernible, negative impacts on plant and animal life [4,5]. However, the benefit of excluding humans from this highly …