From Chernobyl to Fukushima. The Environment is Acting as a Friend or an Enemy

The Chernobyl nuclear accident is already well documented in respect to the technical details responsible for the event, as well as the emissions to the atmosphere. However what is of importance is to further discuss the lower and the upper atmosphere transport mechanisms that prevailed on both over the local and the long distance atmospheric environment. In this respect in the first part of the presentation a brief description of the accident is given alongside with some local meteorological details. Then an examination of the long distance atmospheric transport and the impacts on the environment is attempted. Although the Chernobyl accident is considered as the worst incident in the nuclear energy history, it was mainly restricted to the atmospheric environment only.