Chernobyl 20 Years Later: New Report Finds Death Toll From Nuclear Disaster ~100,000

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On April 26th, 1986, two explosions ripped through Chernobyl's reactor number four tearing off the plant's roof and releasing more than 90 times the radioactivity of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The radioactive cloud drifted across much of then-USSR and a large swathe of Europe. Its effects were felt from Scandinavia to Greece. The impact was made worse by the fact that the Soviet authorities concealed the extent of what had happened for several days and did not begin to evacuate people from the area until more than a day and half later.

Somber vigils and protests today marked the 20th anniversary of the disaster.

Hundreds of survivors gathered at monuments to those who died cleaning up after the blast, holding flowers and candles at overnight ceremonies in Ukraine where the plant is located. Overnight vigils were held in both the capital Kiev and in Slavutych, the town built to house the Chernobyl plant workers displaced by the accident. At 1:23am - the precise time the alarm was set off 20 years ago - the church bells tolled 20 times.

In neighboring Belarus, where a quarter of the land was contaminated by the released radiation, opposition groups were expected to hold what has become a traditional protest rally in the evening against the government's handling of the accident and its aftermath.

The extent of human suffering linked to the Chernobyl disaster is almost beyond definition. Estimates of the death toll and health effects linked to nuclear accident vary widely. The International Atomic Energy Agency has maintained that radioactive fallout from Chernobyl caused 4,000 extra cancer deaths. But a new report released by Greenpeace claims that is a gross simplification. The report concludes the full consequences of the disaster could top one million cancer cases, nearly 100,000 of them fatal.

* Ivan Blokov campaign director of Greenpeace Russia. He has been leading research on Chernobyl for Greenpeace International.

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