Quote Originally Posted by Gilrandir View Post
In fact, it has never been completely deserted. A couple of days ago I saw a footage on TV about a 70-years old lady who lives in the "dead zone". She had been evacuated in 1986 soon after the accident, but returned the same year. She says she feels fine and doesn't want to leave it. And she is not alone in the village. There are others who returned or the recalitrant who chose to stay back then. It is true, though, that such cases are not numerous.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/5/1025.full

Results Age-adjusted thyroid cancer incidence rates (adjusted to the WHO 2000 world population) have increased between 1970 and 2001 from 0.4 per 100 000 to 3.5 per 100 000 among males (+775%) and from 0.8 per 100 000 to 16.2 per 100 000 among females (+1925%). The relative increase among males (+1020%) and females (+3286%) in ‘high exposure’ areas exceeded increases among males (+571%) and females (+250%) in ‘lower exposure’ areas of Belarus. Dramatic increases in thyroid cancer incidence rate ratios were noted among both males and females and in all age groups. The highest incidence rate ratios were observed among people from ‘higher exposure’ areas ages 0–14 yr at time of diagnosis.
Belarus is the area where a lot of the nuclear fallout from Chernobyl rained down, in case that was not known.
You guys are fooling yourselves if you think ~50 old people "feeling fine" in a radioactively poisoned area means it can or should just be reclaimed for families to live in.