39 years from Chernobyl NPP accident. Belarus successfully overcomes consequences of catastrophe

39 years ago, on April 26, 1986, there was a catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Many European countries were affected to a greater or lesser extent, but Belarus suffered the most. A brief history of the accident, its consequences and the recovery of the affected areas - in BelTA's article.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is located in Ukraine, 18 km from the city of Chernobyl, 150 km from Kiev and 16 km from the border of Belarus. In the 1980s, it was the most powerful nuclear power plant in the USSR.

A brief history of the accident

ChNPP Unit 4 was put into commercial operation in December 1983. On April 25, 1986, ChNPP was scheduled to conduct design tests of one of the safety systems at Unit 4, after which the reactor was planned to be shut down for scheduled repairs. Due to dispatch restrictions, the reactor shutdown was postponed several times, which caused certain difficulties in controlling the reactor power. On April 26 at 1:24 a.m., an uncontrolled increase in power occurred, leading to explosions and destruction of a significant portion of the reactor plant. Fires started in various rooms and on the roof.

The accident released into the atmosphere almost the entire spectrum of radionuclides that had accumulated in the reactor by the time of the explosion, including iodine-131 (half-life 8 days), cesium-134 (half-life 2 years), cesium-137 (half-life 30 years), and strontium-90 (half-life 28-29 years). In the first weeks after the accident, radioactive iodine posed a special danger to people, the isotopes of which, having entered the body, concentrate in the thyroid gland and cause its irradiation. In the long term, the main dose-forming radionuclide in most of the Chernobyl footprint was cesium-137. The analysis of radioactive contamination of the territory of Europe with cesium-137 shows that about 35% of Chernobyl radiocaesium fallout on the European continent is located on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, so the consequences of Chernobyl for Belarus are defined as a national environmental disaster.

During the post-accidental period the area of contaminated territory of the Republic on cesium-137 decreased almost twice - from 23 % to 12.3 %.

As of January 1, 2025, the territory of the forest fund classified as radioactive contamination zones is 1203.0 thousand hectares (13.91% of the total area). The main share of forests contaminated with radionuclides is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.

The external dose to the population due to the decay of cesium-137 is gradually decreasing, and the radiation situation is improving. However, it remains tense on the territory of the Polessky State Radiation and Ecological Reserve. It accounted for more than 30% of all radionuclides deposited in Belarus - cesium-137, 73% - strontium-90 and 97% - plutonium isotopes.

Pollution of the territory of Belarus was not uniform. Its character was influenced, among other things, by peculiarities of meteorological conditions from April 26 to May 10, 1986. As a result, several main spots were distinguished in Belarus. The first is the 30-km zone around the station, where the levels of soil contamination with cesium-137 were extremely high. Then the so-called northwestern trace, which includes the southern and southwestern part of the Gomel region, the central parts of the Brest, Grodno and Minsk regions. Contamination levels in this footprint are significantly lower than in the near zone of the Chernobyl NPP. The third spot was located in the north of Gomel and central part of Mogilev oblasts.

From the first days after the Chernobyl disaster, the Government of Belarus started to take measures aimed at protecting the population living in the immediate vicinity of the plant. Immediately after the accident it was decided to evacuate the population from the territory where the exposure dose rate exceeded 25 mR/h (the territory approximately within a radius of 10 km from the Chernobyl NPP).

Settlements located in zones of radioactive contamination

The Chernobyl disaster affected a large part of Belarus. 3,678 settlements with 2.2 million inhabitants found themselves in the contamination zone; 479 settlements ceased to exist.

137.7 thousand people were resettled from the territories affected by the Chernobyl disaster, of which 75% were residents of Gomel region. Simultaneously with evacuation and organized resettlement, about 330 thousand people left the radioactive contaminated territories on their own.

For the period after the accident Belarus managed to reduce the list of settlements affected by the Chernobyl catastrophe. According to the legislation, the list of settlements and objects belonging to the radioactive contamination zones is reviewed every 5 years and adjusted depending on the changes in the radiation situation, including taking into account the data of the clarifying radiological survey of settlements.

Now there are 1859 settlements in the radioactive contamination zones, where almost 930 thousand people live, including 181 thousand children. These are the territories of Gomel, Mogilev, Minsk, Brest and Grodno regions. According to the data as of the end of 2024, the absolute majority of the affected areas have consistently positive trends in socio-economic development. They operate profitably, ensuring the growth of production in industry and agriculture.

A radiation monitoring system has been established and is functioning in the Republic of Belarus, which has become part of the national environmental monitoring system. It includes a wide network of observation points and accredited laboratories. The main objects of monitoring are atmospheric air, soil, surface and ground waters.

At the republican level, control of radioactive contamination is ensured by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, and the State Committee for Standardization.

According to Gosatomnadzor, the permanent environmental monitoring network of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection includes 120 radiation monitoring points, including 38 reference sites and 14 landscape-geochemical polygons where soil samples are taken. In accordance with the requirements of current legislation, the production and sale of products with radionuclide content exceeding permissible levels is prohibited in the Republic of Belarus. In order to ensure fulfillment of this requirement, a system of radiation control of foodstuffs, food and agricultural raw materials, food and other forest products produced in the radionuclide-contaminated territory has been created and is effectively operating in the Republic. Its basis is formed by departmental control systems.

Social protection and rehabilitation of the affected population

Belarus has established a State register of persons exposed to radiation as a result of the catastrophe at the Chernobyl NPP and other radiation accidents, as well as the Unified Chernobyl Register of Russia and Belarus. The main direction of the state social policy in respect of citizens affected by the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe is to provide assistance to socially vulnerable categories of the population, benefits and compensations provided for by the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl NPP Catastrophe and Other Radiation Accidents".

One of the most important tasks is to increase the efficiency and improve the quality of medical care for the participants of the liquidation of the accident consequences, sanatorium-resort treatment and rehabilitation of the affected population, especially children living in contaminated areas. The basis of the medical support system is the special medical examination of citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster, which ensures early detection of diseases and timely treatment, rehabilitation and preventive measures. New medical institutions, institutes, specialized clinics and centers have been opened in the country. In 2003, the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, built under the patronage of President Alexander Lukashenko, began operating in Gomel. The opening of the center made it possible to bring medical care much closer to the regions most affected by the Chernobyl disaster.

From rehabilitation to sustainable socio-economic development

Implementation of a purposeful state policy in the sphere of liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe made it possible to solve a number of the most important tasks. The state has taken significant measures to address radiation and environmental, medical, socio-economic and other problems associated with the Chernobyl catastrophe. The main instrument for implementation of the state policy in the sphere of overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe is the state programs. Since 1990 five state programs on overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe have been implemented. Now the sixth one is being implemented - for 2021-2025. The main objectives of the programs are social protection of the affected population, ensuring radiation safety requirements, accelerated socio-economic development and revival of the territories contaminated with radionuclides.

Along with the state programs of liquidation of the Chernobyl accident consequences, a number of international projects have been implemented in Belarus for 39 years. A great contribution to the rehabilitation of the territories was made by the implementation of programs of joint activities to overcome the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster within the framework of the Union State. The implementation of the Union Chernobyl programs is carried out along with the state programs of Belarus and Russia.

Over the 39-year period, Belarus has gone from a recipient country of humanitarian aid to a full-fledged partner and expert country with experience in overcoming the consequences of a large-scale man-induced disaster. Today, Belarus has unique scientific and practical expertise in medicine and ecology, emergency preparedness, production of clean products, reclamation of lands, forests and their return into circulation.