Effects of the Chernobyl disaster Other Report on Chernobyl"). The 2006 TORCH report claimed that: In terms of their surface areas, Belarus (22% of its land area) and Austria (13%) were most affected by higher levels of contamination. Other countries were seriously affected; for example, more than 5% of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden were contaminated to high levels (> 40,000 Bq/m caesium-137). More than 80% of Moldova, the European part of Turkey, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria and the Slovak Republic were contaminated to lower levels (> 4,000 Bq/m caesium-137). And 44% of Germany and 34% of the UK were similarly affected. (See map of radioactive distribution
Windscale Piles There was a release to atmosphere of radioactive material that spread across the UK and Europe. The accident was rated a level 5 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The chimney filters were credited with maintaining partial containment and thus minimising the radioactive content of the smoke that poured from the chimney during the fire. This included a large quantity of tritium, but it proved to be a negligible radiological hazard compared with the other radionuclides. The fire released an estimated of iodine-131, of caesium-137, of polonium-210 and of xenon-133. Iodine-131, which may lead to thyroid cancer, made the most