# Chernobyl disaster:  long-term global damage?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chernobyl-disaster-long-term-global-damage/252780>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 29, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chernobyl-disaster-long-term-global-damage/252780 "2004-06-29T22:31:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chernobyl-disaster-long-term-global-damage/252780/1 "2004-06-29T22:31:49Z")

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A freind of mine claims that contamination from the Chernobyl disaster has done significant damage to Russia’s grain-producing lands. I’ve also heard of a “radiation cloud that went round the earth” and similar claims of long-term widespread, even global, contamination.

Anyone got the straight dope on this? I know the area immediatly around the Chernobyl plant is uninhabitable. I don’t know how far it goes, or how bad it is a few hundred miles or more downwind.

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**Author:** ![davidpbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@davidpbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidpbrown)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chernobyl-disaster-long-term-global-damage/252780/2 "2004-06-30T12:27:59Z")

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[Kiddofspeed’s - Ghost town](http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm) gives an interesting insight into the local effects of Chernobyl.