Chernobyl: a survivable ecological disaster?

A study of events occurring after the Chernobyl accident until 1996 was funded by the European Commission (EC). The study included work by hundreds of scientists from the EC and the former Soviet Union. An overview of these studies is given that puts the science into historical context and shows the effects of the radioactive doses on the population and on the environment. The exposed populations are considered in terms of the separate exposure subgroups (emergency workers; inhabitants of settlements near the reactor; inhabitants of settlements receiving high doses of condensation radionuclides; children in the deposition areas; the general population). The scientific understanding of the natural and anthropogenic countermeasures that reduced doses is presented, and the effects on the human population are discussed.