Good News From Chernobyl

According to a BBC article, the area surrounding the worst nuclear accident in history is teeming with wildlife. Tests continue to be done on the animal population, and many of the results are surprising.

"Animals don't seem to sense radiation and will occupy an area regardless of the radiation condition," says radioecologist Sergey Gaschak.

"A lot of birds are nesting inside the sarcophagus," he adds, referring to the steel and concrete shield erected over the reactor that exploded in 1986.

"Starlings, pigeons, swallows, redstart - I saw nests, and I found eggs."

There may be plutonium in the zone, but there is no herbicide or pesticide, no industry, no traffic, and marshlands are no longer being drained.

There is nothing to disturb the wild boar - said to have multiplied eightfold between 1986 and 1988 - except its similarly resurgent predator, the wolf.

While mutations in DNA have been found, some scientists argue that the benefits to wildlife of removing humans from the area have far exceeded the harm from exposure to radiation. One scientist has even said, "I have wondered if the small volumes of nuclear waste from power production should be stored in tropical forests and other habitats in need of a reliable guardian against their destruction by greedy developers".