In this study, we compare the morphological and genetic characteristics of 38 post-Chernobyl thyroid papillary carcinomas from Belarussian children 5-18 years old with those of 23 sporadic papillary carcinomas from the same age children without history of radiation exposure from Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Among radiation-induced tumors, solid variant of papillary carcinoma was found in 37%, follicular in 29%, typical papillary in 18%, and mixed and diffuse sclerosing variants in 8% each. In the sporadic group, a typical papillary pattern was prevalent in 70%, follicular in 17%, diffuse sclerosing variant in 9%, and solid in 4%. In both groups, the prevalence of ret rearrangements was high, but the frequency of specific types of rearrangement was significantly different. Among radiation-induced tumors, ret/PTC3 was found in 58%, ret/PTC1 in 16%, and ret/PTC2 in 3%, whereas among sporadic tumors, ret/PTC1 was found in 47% (P < 0.05), and ret/PTC3 was found in 18% (P = 0.01). The morphological variants of papillary carcinoma showed different prevalence of the specific types of ret rearrangement. Seventy-nine % of solid variant tumors had ret/PTC3, whereas only 7% had ret/PTC1 (P = 0.0007). Among typical papillary tumors, ret/PTC1 was found in 38%, ret/PTC3 in 19%, and ret/PTC2 in 5%. Thus, ret rearrangements are highly prevalent in pediatric papillary carcinomas from children exposed to radiation and in those occurring sporadically. However, the types of ret/PTC vary between these two populations, with ret/PTC3 present more commonly in post-Chernobyl tumors. Furthermore, solid variants have a high prevalence of ret/PTC3, whereas typical papillary carcinomas do not, suggesting that the different types of ret rearrangement confer neoplastic thyroid cells with distinct phenotypic properties.