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Annya is the real face of the dangerous nuclear industry. Click 
picture to enlarge.

Annya is the real face of the dangerous nuclear industry. Click picture to enlarge.

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International — This is Annya. She is more than just a number. Annya is one of hundreds of thousands of Chernobyl victims. And she was not even alive when it happened 20 years ago.

Annya was born in 1990 in a village highly contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown of 1986. A cancerous brain tumour at the age of four marked the end of Annya's childhood and the beginning of a life of pain and illness.

A new Greenpeace report reveals that the full human consequences of the Chernobyl disaster will be far greater than previously estimated.

THE REAL FACE OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY


An international Greenpeace photography exhibition features portraits of nuclear disaster victims with stories of their lives. Visit the exhibition and see why we oppose nuclear power. Every nuclear power plant could be the next Chernobyl.

New report reveals the true toll
The report, The Chernobyl Catastrophe: Consequences on Human Health, challenges the 2005 UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chernobyl Forum report which predicted that 4000 extra deaths would result from Chernobyl. The true breadth of human suffering will be much greater. More recent figures estimate that in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine alone, the accident caused an additional 200,000 deaths between 1990 and 2004.

The ongoing disaster
In Europe, several million people still live in areas that are highly contaminated with radioactive pollution and will be for many years to come. Radiation from the Chernobyl disaster has devastated survivors and their children. They suffer damaged immune and endocrine systems, accelerated ageing, cardiovascular and blood illnesses, psychological illnesses, chromosomal aberrations and foetal deformations. From 1990 to 2000, Belarus saw a 40 per cent increase in cancers, especially in highly contaminated areas.

Alternatives to nuclear
Nuclear technology is dirty and dangerous. Thankfully, it is also unnecessary. Safe and efficient renewable energy can meet our energy needs. We don't need nuclear power. So why do so many politicians peddle nuclear power when we have safe and sustainable alternatives to power the world?

The UN, through its International Atomic Energy Agency, promotes nuclear technology even though such technology creates the materials used to make nuclear weapons. Shouldn't the IAEA focus on the values and principles of the UN, peace, security, and human rights, and not on the nuclear industry's profits?

EXHIBITION VENUES

Sydney University: Hermans Bar, City Road, 26 April, 5pm-6.30pm with screening of David Bradbury's documentary Blowin' in the Wind

Adelaide: Adelaide Conservation Centre, 21-26 April

Alice Springs: Watch this Space Gallery, from 26 April, includes Chernobyl Heart documentary

Melbourne University: Open Stage Forum, 26 April, 6.30pm with speakers and Chernobyl Heart documentary