From the predictions that never happened files:
"The long-term health and environmental impacts of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, while severe, were far less catastrophic than feared, according to a major new report by eight U.N. agencies. . . .
The 600-page report found that as of the middle of this year, the accident had caused fewer than 50 deaths directly attributable to radiation, most of them among emergency workers who died in the first months after the accident. In the wake of the world’s largest nuclear disaster, there were numerous predictions of mass fatalities from radiation. . . .
The report also found that except for a nearly 20-mile exclusion zone around the reactor, radiation levels have returned to acceptable levels in many areas where land had been abandoned for fear of contamination. “By radiological criteria alone a significant part of the abandoned agricultural lands (more than 70 percent) could be returned to economic use,” the report said.
The abandonment of large tracts of land, combined with a ban on hunting, has led to a dramatic increase in wild animals and birds, including wolves, elk, wild boars, white-tailed eagles, owls, cranes and black storks.
“Without a permanent residency of humans for 20 years, the ecosystems around the Chernobyl site are now flourishing,” the report said. “It looks like the nature park it has become.”
No, I’m not in favor of more nuclear accidents, shoddy nuclear reactor construction, widespread radioactive contamination, government coverups etc. I just thought the gap between reality and commonly accepted truths was interesting.