<P> Some children in the contaminated areas were exposed to high radiation doses of up to 50 gray ( Gy ) , mostly due to an intake of radioactive iodine - 131 ( a relatively short - lived isotope with a half - life of 8 days ) from contaminated milk produced locally . Several studies have found that the incidence of thyroid cancer among children in Belarus , Ukraine , and Russia has risen sharply since the Chernobyl disaster . The International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) notes `` 1800 documented cases of thyroid cancer in children who were between 0 and 14 years of age when the disaster occurred , which is far higher than normal '' , although this source fails to note the expected rate . The childhood thyroid cancers that have appeared are of a large and aggressive type but , if detected early , can be treated . Treatment entails surgery followed by iodine - 131 therapy for any metastases . To date , such treatment appears to have been successful in the vast majority of cases . </P>
<P> Some children in the contaminated areas were exposed to high radiation doses of up to 50 gray ( Gy ) , mostly due to an intake of radioactive iodine - 131 ( a relatively short - lived isotope with a half - life of 8 days ) from contaminated milk produced locally . Several studies have found that the incidence of thyroid cancer among children in Belarus , Ukraine , and Russia has risen sharply since the Chernobyl disaster . The International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) notes `` 1800 documented cases of thyroid cancer in children who were between 0 and 14 years of age when the disaster occurred , which is far higher than normal '' , although this source fails to note the expected rate . The childhood thyroid cancers that have appeared are of a large and aggressive type but , if detected early , can be treated . Treatment entails surgery followed by iodine - 131 therapy for any metastases . To date , such treatment appears to have been successful in the vast majority of cases . </P>
one kind of cancer that increased after chernobyl was
one kind of cancer that increased after chernobyl was
thyroid
thyroid