The Chernobyl accident in April 1986 had a world wide influence on perception of nuclear power and ionizing radiation. For most of the world's populations the memory of the accident has faded away or been replaced by other scares or concerns. Locally affected people in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, however, continue to five in the psychological and social climate created by the accident and the following implementation of countermeasures. This paper outlines the evolution of the social and psychological situation in the Soviet Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) from the time of the Chernobyl accident to 1995. The empirical material presented is based on several survey studies conducted in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus within the Joint Study Project 2 QSP2) in 1992-95, a Europe-CIS collaborative project sponsored by the European Commission, with an emphasis on an investigation among relocated people in the three states. Earlier studies showed that the perception of risk increased over time, peaking between 1989-91 in response to political events and intensified mass media coverage. Our review of newspaper materials support this observation. The development in the 1990's included significant differences between directly affected and non-affected populations with persistent stress reactions in the former group. Health concern was a major feature. Differences in legislation across states after 1991 point to their potentially disparate influence on public reactions, e.g. different intervention levels and degree of voluntariness, in the context of relocation were associated with different adaptive behaviours. Financial compensation based on the notion of victimization may have reinforced expressions of helplessness, vulnerability and self-reported low health status. The importance of understanding and accounting for social and psychological factors in the management of radiological accidents is emphasized, and the central role of immediate, correct and continuous information is acknowledged. It is suggested that less overall negative psychological impact could be achieved by regular monitoring of public sentiments, a general availability of information and medical care combined with selective medical examinations focused on vulnerable groups over time, time limited financial compensation and the distribution of compensation in relation to adaptive protective behaviour.
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