Natalia Manzurova, 59, arrived in Chernobyl just nine days after the April 26, 1986, explosion at the nuclear power plant in Ukraine created a radiation cloud that stretched across Europe.
She says that at the time, she and other experts in the region had no idea how much radiation had been released in the nuclear disaster at reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Manzurova has been marking the 25th anniversary of the explosion with speaking engagements — including one in Washington earlier this month — aimed at raising awareness of the potential consequences of nuclear energy, which March’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan brought back to the forefront.
Manzurova, a nuclear engineer who was called to Chernobyl from her job in Ozersk, Russia, spent four and a half years studying the effect of the radiation on the environment in Chernobyl, and helping cleanup workers, or liquidators.
She says that she would work in the zone 20 days and then go home for 10, and that she experienced many side effects.
“I would get huge headaches and nose bleeds,” says Manzurova, who was later diagnosed with thyroid cancer she attributes to that experience.
How many illnesses resulted from radiation exposure at the Chernobyl cleanup are unclear.
Gregory Hartl, a World Health Organization spokesman, says 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected in the region affected by Chernobyl’s disaster
She says that at the time, she and other experts in the region had no idea how much radiation had been released in the nuclear disaster at reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Manzurova has been marking the 25th anniversary of the explosion with speaking engagements — including one in Washington earlier this month — aimed at raising awareness of the potential consequences of nuclear energy, which March’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan brought back to the forefront.
Manzurova, a nuclear engineer who was called to Chernobyl from her job in Ozersk, Russia, spent four and a half years studying the effect of the radiation on the environment in Chernobyl, and helping cleanup workers, or liquidators.
She says that she would work in the zone 20 days and then go home for 10, and that she experienced many side effects.
“I would get huge headaches and nose bleeds,” says Manzurova, who was later diagnosed with thyroid cancer she attributes to that experience.
How many illnesses resulted from radiation exposure at the Chernobyl cleanup are unclear.
Gregory Hartl, a World Health Organization spokesman, says 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected in the region affected by Chernobyl’s disaster
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