UN Report on Chernobyl

Found this one a bit odd, but the studies sited are from quite good sources scientifically.

The long-term health and environmental impacts of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, while severe, were far less catastrophic than feared, according to a major new report by eight U.N. agencies.

The governments of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, the three countries most affected by radioactive fallout from Chernobyl, should strive to end the "paralyzing fatalism" of tens of thousands of their citizens who wrongly believe they are still at risk of an early death, according to the study released Monday.

This is all realated to the study by the Chernobyl Forum. They are made up of:

The Forum is made up of 8 UN specialized agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), and the World Bank, as well as the governments of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

Can't find the study itself though, but this link show a good synopsis of the findings. Maybe it will be available for real review. The WHO has something nearly identical on their website. The IAEA doesn't have as much though. Where in the hell is the report? Not even on the UN website.

And just for a laugh here is a comment from Green Peace.

The Greenpeace environmental group also denounced the report, saying it was "whitewashing" the impact of the world's worst nuclear accident.

"It is appalling that the IAEA is whitewashing the impacts of the most serious industrial accident in human history," said Jan Van de Putte, a Greenpeace nuclear campaigner, in a statement released by the organisation's headquarters in Amsterdam. "Denying the real implications is not only insulting the thousands of victims - who are told (they are) sick because of stress and irrational fears - but it also leads to dangerous recommendations, to relocating people in contaminated areas," Van de Putte said.

Greenpeace said a more careful reading of the 600-page report and other published research by UN bodies leads to a different conclusion.

Now I might be more friendly to the last line if the group bellowing here wasn't Green Peace. I'd have linked to their site, but there wasn't any relevant information on topic.

Well, I'll keep looking. Hate to see reports mentioned when you can't even read it for yourself.