Chernobyl Political Fallout Continues

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"People living in the affected villages are very distressed because the information they receive... is inconsistent," an International Atomic Energy Agency official said about the world's worst nuclear accident. On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant "spewed a cloud of radioactivity"; the amount of radiation released, the distance it traveled, and its health and environmental impacts remain in dispute. An IAEA Chernobyl Forum is now compiling "authoritative, transparent statements" for next year's UN General Assembly. One nuclear engineer who studied Chernobyl has warned: "The IAEA is in the business of promoting nuclear energy, not discouraging it." Earlier IAEA studies were "sharply criticized in scientific journals"; in 2000, the agency stated "there is no evidence of a major public health impact" from the Chernobyl radiation.