1. Within hours the firemen were stricken with radiation sickness, and a number later died.

2. A single dose of 1,000 millisieverts causes temporary radiation sickness such as nausea and vomiting .

3. Most of the additional 100,000 casualties would die in agony from ruptured organs, horrendous burns, or the slow hell of radiation sickness.”

4. The report, which had been commissioned by the United Nations, said that the accident initially killed 56 people and predicted that only 4,000 deaths would ultimately be attributed directly to radiation sickness.

5. Rumours sprang up that his illness was radiation sickness and that it was caused by radioactive strontium being placed in his soup during his stay in Moscow in an attempt to kill him.