Chernobyl effect on the economy

A FULL-BLOWN nuclear disaster in Japan, though unlikely, could lead to a new global economic crisis, according to Europe's top trade official.

''We have gone through that experience in Europe with Chernobyl'' in 1986, said the European Union's trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, during a visit to Sydney yesterday.

A big uncontrolled release of radioactivity "has a major impact on the economy but it also has a major impact on people's behaviour," Mr De Gucht told the Herald. "It would really be out of control."

"People are extremely afraid, worried, don't take risks any more, reject anything that is new. The impact of a nuclear crisis is lethal in the military sense of the word, but it's also very much psychological."

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