Effects of the Chernobyl disaster children of liquidators conceived after the accident, when compared to their siblings that were conceived before. However, this effect has diminished sharply over time. Soviet authorities started evacuating people from the area around Chernobyl only on the second day after the disaster (after about 36 hours). By May 1986, about a month later, all those living within a radius of the plant (about 116,000 people) had been relocated. This area is often referred to as the zone of alienation. However, significant radiation affected the environment over a much wider scale than this 30 km radius encloses. According to reports from
Deaths due to the Chernobyl disaster by the accident are small compared to background rates of cancer. Theoretical estimates must rely instead on controversial models such as LNT or hormesis models. In the list following are 37 people whose deaths are officially directly attributable to the Chernobyl disaster. Of these, two died at the scene, four died in a single helicopter accident, 29 died within a few months of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) and three died later from medical complications possibly caused by the accident. Of these people, one was a cinematographer, one a physician, five military personnel (four in a single helicopter), seven firefighters, two