Lambs to the Slaughter?
'The effects of the cloud have already been assessed, and none presents a risk to health in the United Kingdom'.
(Government statement,
6 May 1986)
Seven months after those reassuring words, it is clear that the risks from Chernobyl fallout are greater and much more persistent than we were told. Scientists working for the Government have discovered an enormous error in their computer predictions. They now admit they have no idea what will happen next. Hundreds of thousands of sheep are still grazing the hills of Snowdonia, Scotland and the Lake District because the Ministry of Agriculture has found them too radioactive to eat. Sales of local lamb have fallen by two-thirds. No one knows when the ban on slaughter will be lifted.
Gerry Northam examines where the experts went wrong, and what the long-term economic and political fallout will be from the world's worst nuclear accident.
Research MICHELE WATSON and JOHN COOKE
Film editor RICHARD FRETWELL
Film cameraman BRIAN MCDAIRMANT Editor COLIN CAMERON
Producer CAROLINE MILLINGTON BBC Manchester
(In next week's Brass Tacks Peter Taylor invites viewers to debate whether nuclear power is safe enough. Give us your view on the Talkback Line - [number removed]- from
9.0 to 11.0 pm tonight)