Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Chernobyl deaths?

As the BBC report says, reading the UN/IAEA report on Chernobyl deaths to that produced by Greenpeace is like comparing chalk and cheese. The scope of the two reports is different:
  • the UN looks at the surrounding area, Greenpeace looks at all of Europe
  • the UN looks just at cancer deaths, Greenpeace looks at all deaths
There's no need to resort to conspiracy theories to explain the differences, all that's needed is an explanation of the different scope and definitions. However, that didn't stop the pro-nuclear lobby from trumpeting that nuclear power isn't so dangerous after all when the low figure of 4000 extra deaths was first reported.

And no doubt they won't complain when anti-nuclear campaigners seize on the highest figures (200 000) to show that nuclear power is very dangerous

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