Is Chernobyl Fallout in Turkey worse than Western Europe?

Factual Questions
1

I know that fallout travelled around Europe and concentrated in different areas in different ways. I’m just curious if Turkey got it especially bad compared to say, East Germany, Italy, or Poland, etc.

I was reading about some concerns in the Black Sea coast, with the tea crops, hazelnuts, and extra thyroid cancers a few years after the incident, but it’s hard to find more, or even totally reliable information.

Beyond the coast of the Black Sea, I can’t find anything really. I would like to visit the far east of Anatolia in the steppe around Iran and Syria because it looks beautiful. Also Istanbul in the spring.

It’s not like this will really affect the ultimate decision to go, I’m just curious how it compares to other countries.

Thanks.

2

I don’t know, I don’t see why not, but here’s a recent story on Norway’s radioactive sheep. Just a little farther than Turkey, as the crow flies.

Yeah, in most place you have greater health concerns than minimal radiation.

3

The wind was blowing mostly northwest after the disaster, so Turkey got off relatively lightly.

Fallout map a week after the distaster.

4

Yeah, IIRC, the news was that people downwind were mainly in Byelorussia, Poland, and Scandinavia. People working the fields in Poland, for example, experienced radiation sickness.

One anti-nuclear commentator made the observation - the first the West knew about it was when people leaving work at a Swedish nuclear generating plant set off alarms when being scanned for contamination from work. The alarms indicated unacceptably high radiation levels, and after a shot while of panic they figured out it was the air coming in from outside, not the people, who were setting off the alarms. The Swedish nuclear authority put out a press release saying here was nothing to worry about and everything was safe. As this commentator said - they had no idea where the radiation was coming from or what was happening, but they announced all was well, not to worry.

The major massive release of radiation, IIRC, came from the initial explosion. The roof blew off and a huge cloud of radioactive debris and vapours went up into the air. Some settled close by. One documentary, a survivor mentioned the “bridge of death”- anyone standing on this bridge in the town to watch the progress of the fire died of radiation sickness not long after.

As mentioned above, the weather was blowing the lighter debris north, so Turkey and that direction did not really have a problem. I suppose another issue over the years would be the material washed down the watershed and into the Black Sea, but again by the time it reached Turkey it would be much diluted.