Geographies in Depth

Chernobyl’s children need to take breaks away from the radiation – but they’re facing a serious hurdle

The sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is seen behind a building decorated with a graffiti in the abandoned city of Prypiat April 4, 2011. Belarus, Ukraine and Russia will mark the 25th anniversary of the nuclear reactor explosion in Chernobyl, the place where the world's worst civil nuclear accident took place, on April 26. Engineers are still struggling to regain control of damaged reactors at the Fuskushima plant after last month's earthquake and tsunami, in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986, with the government urging the operator of the plant to act faster to stop radiation spreading.    REUTERS/Gleb Garanich  (UKRAINE - Tags: ANNIVERSARY DISASTER ENERGY ENVIRONMENT IMAGES OF THE DAY) - GM1E74500L501

This year, the Children's Project said they could only host 600 children compared to 3,500 each year in the early 2000s. Image: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Aria Bendix
Innovation Reporter, Business Insider

Europe is still reeling from the radioactive legacy of Chernobyl, a 1986 nuclear disaster that resulted in widespread contamination in Belarus, Ukraine, and Western Russia.

More than 30 years after the core of a nuclear reactor opened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, locals near the plant are still exposed to radioactive contaminants through their food and water supply. In 2018, scientists discovered that milk in Ukrainian villages contained five times the amount of cesium considered safe for adults and 12 times the safe limit for children.

An 11-year-old Ukrainian girl living near the Chernobyl power plant says goodbye to her host family in Lisbon, Portugal.
Image: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images

As second-generation victims of Chernobyl, children growing up near the disaster zone have seen health problems since birth such as enlarged thyroids, cancer, and respiratory illnesses. Some environmentalists and pediatricians have linked these health problems to contaminated food and drink.

In 1991, Adi Roche, then a volunteer in the Chernobyl zone, received a fax from Belarusian and Ukrainian doctors, asking her to remove children from the area so their bodies could have time to recover from radiation exposure. The fax inspired Roche to found Chernobyl Children International, an organization that sets up vacations in Ireland for children living in contaminated areas. To date, the group has helped organize stays for around 25,000 children, though it estimates that around 1 million children live in zones affected by the disaster.

Children from Gomel, Belarus (a city about 60 miles outside Chernobyl), wave after arriving in Hanover, Germany.
Image: Holger Hollemann/Getty Images

In the years since, more organizations have pitched in to offer similar vacations.

In 2008, a program called "Blue Summer" began organizing summer stays in Portugal for Ukranian children. The group paid for transportation and health insurance, while host families covered living expenses.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, a charity called Overflowing Hands hosts children ages 6 to 16 for a month and a half over the summer. The charity also pays for pediatrician appointments and dental care.

In the UK, multiple organizations — including the Chernobyl Children's Project, Friends of Chernobyl's Children, and Chernobyl Children's Lifeline — welcome kids for "recuperative" holidays. Some of these children are sick with cancer, while others haven't shown any signs of adverse health effects.

Children ride bicycles in the village of Pysky, Ukraine.
Image: Mstyslav Chernov/AP

While on vacation, children can develop healthier immune systems and lower their levels of radiation. A chairwoman from the Children's Lifeline recently told the BBC that, after a three-week period of recovery in Scotland, "it takes up to two years for the radiation to build back up again."

There are also psychological benefits to staying where the Chernobyl tragedy is out of sight. A 2005 UN report determined that mental health issues "pose a far greater threat to local communities than does radiation exposure." Children living in contaminated zones may suffer anxiety about becoming ill or having their lives cut short.

But the number of families willing to host these children is limited.

Have you read?

Both the Chernobyl Children's Project and the Chernobyl Children's Lifeline recently told the BBC they had seen a decline in host families in recent years. This year, the Children's Project said they could only host 600 children compared to 3,500 each year in the early 2000s.

There's hope that things could could change following the release of the HBO's "Chernobyl" miniseries in May. The same UK charity groups that worried about a decline in host families told the BBC that the show prompted renewed interest from donors and volunteers.

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