"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"CHERNOBYL - Maria Dika was on the ground floor of block four of
the Chernobyl nuclear plant when the reactor exploded, at 1.23 a.m. on
April 26, 1986. The world's worst nuclear accident unleashed ten times
the radiation of Hiroshima. Mrs Dika was at the epicentre." [article one]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 2004, Number 67
Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C.; Kyiv, Ukraine, MONDAY, April 26, 2004
INDEX OF ARTICLES
"Major International News Headlines, Stories and Articles"
1. TIME TO GO BACK HOME, PEOPLE OF CHERNOBYL INSIST
Despite the risk of cancer or a further explosion locals are
returning, reports Jeremy Page from the disaster area
By Jeremy Page, The Times (UK), London, UK, Sat, April 24, 2004
2. DAY-TRIPPING TOURISTS FLOCKING TO
CHERNOBYL 'DEAD ZONE'
By Tom Parfitt, Sunday Telegraph, London, UK, Sunday, April 25, 2004
3. CHERNOBYL: AT HOME IN THE HOT ZONE
Eighteen years after the world's worst nuclear accident, MARK
MacKINNON returns to find life goes on in the shadow of Chernobyl
By Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Saturday, April 24, 2004 - Page A18
4. ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE MARK ANNIVERSARY OF
CHERNOBYL DISASTER IN KIEV, UKRAINE
Agence France-Presse (AFP), Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Apr 26, 2004
5. CHERNOBYL VETERANS PROTEST AGAINST BENEFITS CUTS
MARCH IN KIEV, UKRAINE
ICTV television, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 24 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Apr 24, 2004
6. AHEAD OF ANNIVERSARY, UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT
CALLS FOR CONSOLIDATING EFFORTS TO OVERCOME
LEGACY OF CHERNOBYL
Associated Press Online; Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
7. UN WANTS TO END CONFUSION ABOUT CHERNOBYL
FEATURE By Louis Charbonneau
REUTERS, Vienna, Austria, Sunday, April 25, 2004
8. UKRAINE ASKS U.S. FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR
CHERNOBYL REACTOR SHELTER
AP Worldstream, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Apr 15, 2004
9. RUSSIAN ATOMIC ENERGY CHIEF UPBEAT AHEAD OF
CHERNOBYL ANNIVERSARY
Radio Mayak, Moscow, Russia, in Russian, 24 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Apr 24, 2004
10. POET REFLECTS ON CHERNOBYL AND HORRORS
STILL TOO VIVID
Ukrainian Leonid Dayer wrote the 1988 narrative "Chernobyl-Bitter Grass"
Byron Crawford, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, April 16, 2004
11. 3 MILLION EURO IRISH CONVOY SETS OFF FOR CHERNOBYL
By Ben Quinn, Irish Independent, Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Apr 12, 2004
12. CHORNOBYL & THREE MILE ISLAND ANNIVERSARIES
ARE REMINDERS OF THE RISKS OF NUCLEAR POWER
AND THE NEED TO SHIFT TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOURCES
Ken Bossong, Co-Director
Ukrainian American Environmental Association (UAEA)
Takoma Park, Maryland, Friday, April 23, 2004
13. KIDDOFSPEED: GHOST TOWN: CHERNOBYL IMAGES
Elena's Motorcycle Ride Through Chernobyl
Do Not Miss This Website. LINK: http://www.kiddofspeed.com/
===========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67 ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
===========================================================
1. TIME TO GO BACK HOME, PEOPLE OF CHERNOBYL INSIST
Despite the risk of cancer or a further explosion locals are
returning, reports Jeremy Page from the disaster area
By Jeremy Page, The Times, London, UK, Saturday, April 24, 2004
CHERNOBYL - Maria Dika was on the ground floor of block four of
the Chernobyl nuclear plant when the reactor exploded, at 1.23am on
April 26, 1986.
The world's worst nuclear accident unleashed ten times the radiation of
Hiroshima. Mrs Dika was at the epicentre.
"There was a flash of fire and the sound of an explosion, and then the wall
collapsed," the former security guard recounts matter-of-factly.
In the aftermath of the blast, 118,000 people were evacuated from within 19
miles (30km) of the plant in northern Ukraine. Contaminated dust spread
across Europe and as far as the North Pole. Since then, an estimated 25,000
people have died and tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands more fallen sick
from radiation-related illnesses in Ukraine alone.
But 18 years on, Mrs Dika still lives in the town of Chernobyl, less than 6
miles from the makeshift concrete sarcophagus that encases 200 tonnes of
radioactive material still smouldering in the ruins of reactor number four.
She is one of several hundred residents who have drifted back to the 19
mile "exclusion zone", despite a massive increase in thyroid cancer cases
in contaminated areas and official warnings that the sarcophagus is
collapsing.
The returnees eke out a living in a no man's land where moose, boar and
wolves roam freely around abandoned villages and farmland. Some come
in search of a future -a job or a plot of land to farm. But most, like Mrs
Dika, are clinging to the past.
"I was born here, I spent all my life here. Those are my simple reasons.
The radiation has got used to us now," she explains with a smile, leaning
casually on her balcony in the evening sunshine. There is a deceptive air
of normality around Chernobyl.
As we arrived at the plant, staff were milling around in suits and
overalls, apparently oblivious to the Geiger counter over the entrance
reading 72 micro-roentgens an hour -seven times the radiation level in Kiev
and almost three times the safety limit for everyday living.
Some 4,000 people work here, monitoring the sarcophagus and supervising
the removal and storage of radioactive material from the three other
reactors, the last of which was shut down in 2000.
They commute to the plant daily on a special train from Slavutych, a
purpose built town outside the exclusion zone. Others come to Chernobyl
town for a few days at a time to maintain dykes and ditches to prevent
forest fires that would spread the contamination even further. Only a hardy
few -estimates range between 500 and 1,500 -dare to live here
permanently.
"Of course it's not dangerous," says Tatyana Khrushch, another Chernobyl
returnee. "The air is clean, the forests are lovely and the mushrooms are
great."
In reality, the health hazards are appalling. The sarcophagus -400,000
cubic metres of concrete and 7,000 tonnes of metal erected with helicopters
and remote-control machines in just 206 days after the blast -is falling
apart.
"There is a real possibility that the sarcophagus will collapse," says
Yuliya Marusych, a spokeswoman for the plant, as she stood in the
observatory from which visitors view the great grey hulk. Behind her a
Geiger counter measuring radiation on the roof recorded 1,600 roentgens.
"The Chernobyl crisis is not over."
In the second half of this year, work will start on a two-year plan to
stabilise the sarcophagus. Then, in 2006, the authorities will launch a $
750 million (£424 million) project to build a giant steel arc that will
enclose the entire block. The structure, 108 metres high and 250 metres
wide, will be built to one side and then slid over the block on rails. Only
then can experts start to remove the radioactive material from reactor four
to make the site safe for good -a project that could take up to 100 years.
If completed on time, the new enclosure will shield Mrs Dika and her fellow
returnees from a further leak, but it cannot protect them from the damage
already done.
Dr Volodymyr Sert runs a Red Cross mobile laboratory offering thyroid
cancer screening in the region of Zhytomyr, about 40 miles from Chernobyl.
Last year he discovered 68 cases in this region of 1.3 million people. In
1986, there were just 15. And between 2006 and 2010, he expects an average
of 100 cases per year.
"Of course it would be better for them to move from this area. But they do
not have any place to go," he said as dozens of people queued up for
screening in the village of Laski.
Most at risk are those now aged between 17 and 35, as their thyroid glands
absorbed more contaminated iodine -the likely cause of the cancer -in the
aftermath of the blast.
Olga Davidenko was not even born at the time of the explosion, but Dr Sert
has just told her that she has an enlarged thyroid gland and should go to
the regional hospital for a biopsy.
"I am convinced that people should leave here," said the shaken
17-year-old, who wants to study law at university. "I think people should
find a way to clean up the air. I am convinced that this misery can be
eradicated," she added.
Against all the odds, Mrs Dika has been lucky so far. Immediately after the
blast she was flown to Moscow and treated for three months in what was then
the only radiation clinic in the Soviet Union.
Since then, she has felt fine. Her only regret, it seems, is that she
cannot move back to her old flat in Pripyat, just 3km from the plant.
Once a model city, Pripyat is now a ghost town, strewn with the belongings
of its 50,000 residents and decorations for the May Day parade they were
preparing before they were evacuated 36 hours after the blast.
"Of course I miss it," Mrs Dika says wistfully. "It was my home." (END)
==========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
Become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Program Fund
==========================================================
2. DAY-TRIPPING TOURISTS FLOCKING TO CHERNOBYL 'DEAD ZONE'
By Tom Parfitt, Sunday Telegraph, London, UK, Sunday, April 25, 2004
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine -- Nearly 18 years after the world's worst nuclear
disaster, the Chernobyl power plant and the poisonous wasteland that
surrounds it has become an unlikely tourist destination.
Day-trippers armed with Geiger counters take guided tours from Kiev through
military checkpoints to the doorstep of the reactor. Increasing numbers of
adventurers are finding their way into the irradiated zone, seeking the
eerie thrill of entering family homes unchanged since they were evacuated at
a few minutes' notice, two decades ago.
They sift through the abandoned homes of 48,000 workers and their families,
whisked away as a veil of plutonium settled over the city. Family
photographs, telephones, furniture upturned in the hasty departure, shoes,
clothes and other belongings lie scattered through apartments.
Naturalists come to explore Chernobyl's "Garden of Eden" -- the
proliferation of greenery and wildlife that has sprung up in the exclusion
zone around the ruined power station since the local population fled. More
than 3,000 visitors go to the site every year, and hundreds more explore the
abandoned villages in the 20-mile evacuated "dead zone."
"Strange as it may sound, people visit here from all over the world -- the
United States, Australia, Japan, the UK," said Yulia Marusich, an official
guide who leads visitors to a viewing platform overlooking the concrete
sarcophagus that encloses the remains of Reactor Four.
As she spoke, standing beside the sarcophagus, a Geiger counter began to
tick frantically. It registered 50 times the natural background level of
radiation -- apparently a "tolerable" level of exposure for a short visit,
officials say. Tour agents say that there is no health risk from taking the
trips. Areas of high radioactivity are marked off with triangular yellow
signs.
The Chernobyl catastrophe took place 18 years ago Monday, on April 26,
1986, when a powerful explosion destroyed the reactor, expelling a huge
plume of radioactive dust that drifted across Europe.
Travel companies in Kiev are cashing in by charging day-trippers about $190
for a tour of the disaster area in northern Ukraine. Tourists can enter the
dead zone, visit the ruined fourth unit, talk to villagers who returned to
live in the area and see a graveyard of hundreds of trucks, helicopters and
armored personnel vehicles which, according to brochures, are "so soaked
with radiation that it is dangerous to approach." (END)
==========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
==========================================================
3. CHERNOBYL: AT HOME IN THE HOT ZONE
Eighteen years after the world's worst nuclear accident, MARK
MacKINNON returns to find life goes on in the shadow of Chernobyl
By Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Saturday, April 24, 2004 - Page A18
CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE -- When the nightmare finally ended for Maria
Dikha, she wanted nothing more than to go home.
Eighteen years ago, Ms. Dikha was a security guard at Unit No. 4 at the
Chernobyl nuclear-power plant when its reactor exploded, spewing thousands
of tonnes of radioactive dust into the sky in what remains the world's worst
nuclear accident.
She heard the blast at 1:23 a.m. on April 26, 1986, and remembers seeing
what she describes as "a flash of fire," but was forced to remain at her
post inside a fiery building spewing radiation into the atmosphere for
another 5½ hours until she was released from duty and taken by plane to a
clinic in Moscow.
When she left hospital three months later, she headed right back to the
Chernobyl region, although most others had fled. She had the opportunity to
move to an apartment in another part of Ukraine, but she couldn't imagine
living anywhere else.
"I was born here. I spent all my life here. I began my career here," said
the stocky 42-year-old, who manages an apartment block on the main street in
Chernobyl, the tiny town that exists in the shadow of the world's most
infamous nuclear plant. "Those are my very simple reasons for coming back."
Although she has been hospitalized once more since the blast because she
felt pain "everywhere," she says she has had no long-term health problems.
"I'm not afraid [to live here]. The radiation has gotten adjusted to us
local people."
Chernobyl sits inside a 30-kilometre "exclusion zone" around the plant, and
you need special permission to get through the heavily guarded checkpoints
that block the road into the area, but life in the town has slowly recovered
a modicum of normality. There's a grocery store, and buses that ferry people
to and from the outside world.
The town now has 400 residents, many of them shift workers who stay for a
few weeks at a time. Surprisingly, others -- including refugees from
Chechnya, Central Asia and other parts of the former Soviet Union -- are
clamouring to get in. Some have applied with the Ukrainian government for
permission to move into the abandoned apartment blocks that were once posh
by Soviet standards.
At the town's heart are residents such as Ms. Dikha, who came back and say
they're home for good. "The air is clean, the forest is lovely. I plant my
own potatoes and tomatoes. I breathe easier here," said 64-year-old Tatiana
Khrushch, who was moved by the government to a city in western Ukraine
but gave up her free apartment there and returned to Chernobyl 18 months
later.
She has to collect used bottles to supplement her $50-a-month pension, but
says she never liked living away from her home. "What is there to be scared
of? This is a fine place."
But there is still reason to be afraid in Chernobyl. The nearby town of
Prypyat, just north of the plant and hardest hit by the disaster, stands as
a testimonial to the horror of the nuclear explosion.
Once a thriving city of 47,000, it's a ghost town today, with radiation
levels so high that no one can stay for more than a few hours at a time.
Blocks of apartments in Prypyat's main square stand silent, still filled
with furniture and household goods, evidence of how hastily the town was
evacuated once the radioactive cloud started blowing north. In a nearby
fairground, a Ferris wheel rusts from disuse near scattered bumper cars.
Posters celebrating the glories of the Soviet Union, prepared for a May Day
parade that was never held, lie unused in the town hall.
Radiation in the region remains extraordinarily high, with readings taken
this week as high as 200 micro roentgens an hour in Prypyat, compared with a
more normal 12 in central Kiev, about 100 kilometres to the south. Health
risks to residents in the area remain significant and the incidence rate of
thyroid cancer is still rising.
In the village of Laski, beyond the exclusion zone but in the wider fallout
area, doctors have found that those born just after the disaster are only
now seeing its effects.
Outside a mobile Red Cross clinic that visited Laski this week, a half-dozen
teenagers gathered on the dirt road to discuss their results. Of the six,
two had just found out they have thyroid conditions that required further
testing. The tests could mark the beginning of a lifelong battle with
cancer.
"I'm convinced that people have to leave here," said Olga Davidenko, a
visibly shaken 16-year-old who learned minutes before that she had goitre,
an inflammation of the thyroid gland that can develop into lymphoma with
exposure to radiation. "I plan to go to university in Kiev and never come
back."
Vladimir Sert, director of the mobile Red Cross lab, said that in the first
decade after the explosion doctors detected 20 or 30 new incidences of
thyroid cancer a year among young people in the region around Laski. Last
year they found 68, and the number is expected to keep rising before
levelling off in 2006, 20 years after the disaster. The medical estimates
are based on data gathered by Japanese doctors in the years after the atomic
bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
"No one knows how high the peak will be," Dr. Sert said. "In terms of dose,
Chernobyl was 10 times Hiroshima."
Though the last of Chernobyl's four reactors stopped producing power in
2000, a plant spokesman said the overall shutdown process will continue for
decades. So the risks are also high for the 4,000 people who work at the
plant.
They are ferried to and from the site by a special train that runs to the
satellite town of Slavutich, deliberately built outside the fallout zone.
But the workers spend their days on a site that in some spots sees radiation
readings as high as 1,600 micro roentgens an hour.
Reactor No. 4, meanwhile, poses a continuing threat to Ukraine and its
neighbours. The dilapidated concrete-and-metal sarcophagus built around the
reactor after the explosion has 100 square metres worth of cracks and
openings that let radiation seep out and precipitation in, dangerously
destabilizing the 200 tonnes of nuclear-fuel-laced materials inside. The
western side of the structure is supported by a lopsided column that is
slowly falling over.
Emergency stabilization work, costing $768-million and aided by 28 donor
countries, is to begin later this year. Construction of a new shell to
surround the leaking sarcophagus is to start in 2006.
"The [sarcophagus] was and is radioactively dangerous," said Yulia Mavusich,
a spokeswoman for the Chernobyl plant. "There is a real possibility it could
collapse at any moment."
In Laski, no one can even contemplate the possibility of another disaster.
Most residents are too poor to move and simply try to get on with their
lives, resigned to the fact that they live beside a not-yet-dormant man-made
volcano.
Waiting in line with her husband and 2½-year-old son for checkups at the
mobile Red Cross clinic, Alla Stepanchuk acknowledged she is nervous about
little Artyom growing up in the shadow of Chernobyl.
He was born closer to Kiev, but the couple couldn't find work there, so they
moved back to Laski, their hometown.
"Of course we are afraid, but we just have no other choice but to live
here," Ms. Stepanchuk said, keeping a close eye on Artyom as he played
outside the clinic. "This is our home." (END)
===========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
Major Articles About What is Going On: Current Events Gallery:
http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
You can become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Program Fund
===========================================================
4. ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE MARK ANNIVERSARY OF
CHERNOBYL DISASTER IN KIEV, UKRAINE
Agence France-Presse (AFP), Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Apr 26, 2004
KIEV - Some 100 people attended an overnight religious service in the
Ukrainian capital Kiev, commemorating the victims of the worst nuclear
accident in history, in Chernobyl in the north of the country, 18 years ago.
Under a thin rain, men and women laid wreaths at the foot of a monument to
the firemen who died of radiation poisoning after they were sent to clean up
the site of the disaster.
"Each year, there are fewer of us to attend this service," said 40-year-old
Tetyana Lazarenko, who, along with her family, was evacuated from the town
of Pripyat, where Chernobyl employees used to live next to the nuclear power
plant, 36 hours after its fourth reactor exploded in April 1986.
"I lost a town, friends, people who were close to me. We all had health
problems because of radiation," she added.
"You cannot forget such a tragedy," said Lazarenko, who now lives in Kiev
with her husband and three children.
Another overnight service was held at Slavutich, a town in northern Ukraine
housing employees who worked at Chernobyl until it was closed down in
December.
A radioactive cloud was spewed high into the atmosphere when Chernobyl's
fourth reactor exploded, burning for 10 days and spreading radioactive
material over three-quarters of Europe.
Officially, 31 people were immediately killed by radiation following the
blast on April 26, 1986, but unofficial estimates hold that as many as
25,000 of the workers that were sent to clean up the site have since died.
Tens of thousands were crippled from their exposure to high radiation doses
and now say their government allowances are not enough to live on.
Over 130,000 people were evacuated from the disaster area and nearly six
million continue to live in contaminated zones, in northern Ukraine, as well
as stretches of Belarus and Russia.
Ukraine closed down the fourth and last reactor of the Chernobyl power plant
in December 2000. (END)
==========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
Exciting Opportunities in Ukraine: Travel and Tourism Gallery
http://www.ArtUkraine.com/tourgallery.htm
==========================================================
5. CHERNOBYL VETERANS PROTEST AGAINST BENEFITS CUTS
MARCH IN KIEV, UKRAINE
ICTV television, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 24 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Apr 24, 2004
KIEV - [Presenter] Today on the eve of the anniversary of the Chernobyl
disaster, veterans of the clean-up operation took part in a funeral march to
remind the state of their existence. None of these people is completely
healthy. Eighteen years ago they sacrificed their health to save the world
from the biggest ever man-made disaster by bringing the stricken nuclear
reactor under control.
They wanted their solemn march along [Kiev's central street] Khreshchatyk to
represent the funeral of Chernobyl programmes. Now these programmes have
been dispersed among several ministries, and it is very hard for the state
to fulfill its obligations to these people. Compensation for their hard
labour and ruined health is paid only partially. Free medicines and stays in
health resorts are becoming more and more illusory.
The Chernobyl veterans say that in the current budget they have been
forgotten about, which has added spiritual suffering to physical pain.
[Uncaptioned individual, identified from UT-1 caption as Yuriy Andreyev,
head of the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, in Russian] It is important for
Ukraine to adopt a national programme for minimizing the results of the
Chernobyl disaster over a long period. Now we see the opposite is happening.
The revenues side of the budget is growing, but the spending on Chernobyl is
decreasing from year to year. Therefore, we link the effective resolution of
Chernobyl problems with the adoption of this programme.
[Presenter] That's in Kiev. The further they are from Kiev, the harder it is
for those affected by Chernobyl to assert their rights. In the town of
Pivdennoukrayinsk [Mykolayiv Region], almost everyone is employed in the
local nuclear power station. Among the events scheduled for the Chernobyl
anniversary, they have safety training for those who live near a nuclear
station. Almost 200 veterans of the Chernobyl clean-up operation live and
work here. Some of them are only now receiving the flats they were promised
18 years ago.
[Correspondent] The head of the Kusyn family spent three months cleaning up
the effects of the Chernobyl disaster. When he returned home, he went to
work at the Pivdennoukrayinsk nuclear plant. Until now, the four members of
the family have been living in a hostel. Only recently did they receive the
flat they were promised 18 years ago. They will be moving in on 26 April.
[Oleksandr Kusyn, captioned as head of state fire brigade unit No 22, in
Russian] I would like for us here to feel the effects of these laws that are
passed on Chernobyl veterans more quickly. They are decided in the cabinet,
and it takes a long time for the results to be felt here.
[Correspondent] Since 1996, a council of Chernobyl veterans has been
operating in Pivdennoukrayinsk. Rescue workers and people resettled from the
30-kilometre zone live in the town. Many of them work at the
Pivdennoukrayinsk nuclear station. They say that are not afraid to be close
to the station. What frightens them is how the state's work is being
reduced.
[Valeriy Onufriyev, captioned as head of the Pivdennoukrayinsk Chernobyl
council, in Russian] The housing programme has been reduced 80 per cent,
medical provision by 50 per cent, and health resort treatment by 50 per
cent.
[Correspondent] In Mykolayiv Region, subsidies for Chernobyl veterans have
been reduced by 200,000 [hryvnyas]. Only 1,500 [hryvnyas] a month is
allocated for medicines instead of 5,000 previously. But the most serious
problem is payment of Chernobyl pensions. The pension fund does not always
take into account length of service, and pensioners are losing valuable
benefits. The Pivdennoukrayinsk council of Chernobyl veterans has recently
won two court cases on recalculation of pensions.
[Video shows: Protest march with marchers carrying banners reading "We
demand creation of a Chernobyl committee" and photos of victims, musicians;
scenes from Pivdennoukrayinsk, Kusyn family arrange furniture in new flat,
exterior of building, street scenes, workers at the nuclear plant. Counter
reading 0100-0350] [Audio and video available. Please send queries to
kiev.bbcm@mon.bbc.co.uk] (END)
===========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
The Story of Ukraine's Long and Rich Culture
Ukrainian Culture Gallery: http://www.ArtUkraine.com/cultgallery.htm
===========================================================
6. AHEAD OF ANNIVERSARY, UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT CALLS
FOR CONSOLIDATING EFFORTS TO OVERCOME
LEGACY OF CHERNOBYL
Associated Press Online; Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
KIEV - Ukraine's Cabinet called Friday for accelerating efforts to combat
the legacy of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
On Monday, the nation will mark the 18th anniversary of the catastrophe,
which killed some 4,400 people in Ukraine alone. In all, 7 million people in
Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are estimated to suffer physical or
psychological effects of radiation related to the April 26, 1986
catastrophe, when a reactor at the plant exploded and caught fire, spreading
radiation over a wide swath of the then-Soviet Union.
"Once again, the Chernobyl anniversary should attract the attention of the
international community to the great disaster that struck Ukraine and other
states," the Cabinet said in a statement.
"We should combine our efforts to speed up elimination of the catastrophe's
consequences for the sake of life on Earth."
Ukraine shuttered Chernobyl's last working reactor in December 2000, but
many problems remain.
Ukrainian experts say that the concrete-and-steel shelter that was hastily
constructed over the damaged reactor needs urgent repairs, but authorities
claim that there are no serious safety threats.
Earlier this month, Deputy Minister for Fuel and Energy Oleksandr Svetelyk
asked the United States for additional funds to stabilize the shelter over
the destroyed reactor. since the costs of building a new sarcophagus are now
estimated at US$1.05 billion, far more than the previous figure of US$758
million. (am/ji) (END)
============================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
The Genocidal Famine in Ukraine 1932-1933, HOLODOMOR
Genocide Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/index.htm
===========================================================
7. UN WANTS TO END CONFUSION ABOUT CHERNOBYL
FEATURE By Louis Charbonneau
REUTERS, Vienna, Austria, Sunday, April 25, 2004
VIENNA, April 25 (Reuters) - Although the world may never know the full
impact of the world's worst nuclear disaster, the United Nations nuclear
agency wants to put an end to the confusion for millions of victims of the
Chernobyl accident.
The disaster occurred 18 years ago, at 1:24 a.m. on April 26, 1986, when an
explosion at Reactor 4 of the Ukrainian power plant spewed a cloud of
radioactivity across Europe and the Soviet Union.
Around 30 people died from radiation exposure after the accident, nearly
2,000 children later developed thyroid cancer and thousands of other fatal
illnesses have been blamed on it. More than 100,000 people were resettled,
causing physical, economic and psychological hardship.
Among the millions of people whose lives were affected by the disaster,
thousands may have developed cancer and died as a result. But poor records
and corruption have prevented the accurate registration of the workers who
helped put out the fire and entomb the smouldering nuclear plant in 1986.
"We have an epistemological problem," said Abel Gonzalez, head of radiation
and waste safety at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"In Chernobyl, you can say that the only concrete sick persons that you can
(identify) are the (1,800) children who got thyroid cancer and the workers
who were over-exposed. All the rest, we don't know."
Not only is there a limit to the ability of the nuclear experts to
understand the full impact of Chernobyl, but contradictory studies and
statements about the disaster have confused the millions of people whose
lives were affected by it.
"People living in the affected villages are very distressed because the
information they receive -- from one expert after another turning up
there -- is inconsistent. People living there are afraid for their
children," Gonzalez explained.
Over the years, wildly varying reports have put the Chernobyl death toll as
high as 15,000.
For this reason, the IAEA has established the Chernobyl forum, whose task
will be to give "authoritative, transparent statements that show the factual
situation in the aftermath of Chernobyl," said Gonzalez, who represents the
IAEA on the forum.
The forum will bring together Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, the IAEA and all
other U.N. organisations involved in Chernobyl. It will review all the
studies and statements on Chernobyl, filter out the good, throw out the bad
and present a clear summary to next year's U.N. General Assembly.
REGISTRATION WAS DISASTROUS
A native of Argentina, Gonzalez is no stranger to the Chernobyl story. From
1989 to 1991, he headed a huge IAEA study of the health, environmental and
radiological impact of the disaster on villages and towns in Russia, Belarus
and Ukraine that suffered the worst contamination.
He was always convinced that many cases of leukaemia would appear among the
600,000 so-called "liquidators" who worked frantically in the spring of 1986
to put out the fire in the molten reactor and entomb the plant in a concrete
sarcophagus.
"I was personally convinced that leukaemia in the workers -- the
liquidators -- would be detected. But until now it has not appeared," he
said.
Gonzalez said that this may be because some of the people who were granted
the status of "liquidator", which gave them free public transport and other
perks, never actually worked at Chernobyl but got liquidator cards through
contacts.
"I saw this with my own eyes," he said. "Someone with the liquidator card
who never worked there." As a result the liquidator register is almost
useless.
"If proper registration had been done, probably you would have seen some
leukaemia in workers. But the registration is such a disaster that it will
be very, very difficult," he said.
Because of this, the question of how many people have died as a result of
the accident may never be properly answered.
"It is an issue that is impossible to settle because there are two different
types of deaths -- the deaths that you can check that they happened and the
ones you can only imagine."
BLAMING CHERNOBYL
The Soviet Union's misinformation and overall mismanagement of the disaster
resulted in a tendency of victims to attribute all kinds of illnesses to
Chernobyl which may have nothing to do with it.
"A woman brings her baby sick with leukaemia and says it is caused by
Chernobyl. How do you explain to her that if Chernobyl had never happened
her child might still have leukaemia?"
According to a 1996 article by Atomic Energy Insights, around 200,000 women
aborted foetuses due to unfounded fears that the children would have birth
defects.
Gonzalez said he was not undermining the seriousness of the disaster --
merely pointing out that the ability to clearly identify illnesses caused by
Chernobyl is severely limited. "I don't want to undermine that this was a
catastrophe," he said.
The IAEA has often said that the Chernobyl changed the way the world looks
at nuclear power. Unknown before April 1986, when newspapers first carried
front-page headlines about the accident, Chernobyl is now a household word
and the biggest public relations problem for supporters of atomic energy.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said that it was an important milestone for the
United Nations nuclear watchdog.
"Chernobyl was a tragic but important turning point for the IAEA," said
ElBaradei. "It prompted us to focus unprecedented energies and resources to
help the affected people and ensure that such a serious accident would never
happen again."
What is clear, ElBaradei said, is that it "had a disastrous impact on life,
health and the environment in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and prompted fear
and concerns in other nations of the world about the effects of radiation."
==========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Ukraine's History and the Long Struggle for Independence
Historical Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/histgallery.htm
===========================================================
8. UKRAINE ASKS U.S. FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR
CHERNOBYL REACTOR SHELTER
AP Worldstream, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Apr 15, 2004
KIEV - Ukraine has asked the United States for additional funds to stabilize
the shelter over the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear reactor, a news agency
reported Thursday.
The report by the ITAR-Tass agency, citing the Ministry for Fuel and Energy,
did not specify the sum being sought did not offer the exact sum.
The Chernobyl plant's reactor No. 4 exploded in April 1986 and the
radioactive fallout affected vast parts of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus and
much of northern Europe. Some 7 million people are estimated to suffer from
radiation-related effects.
Deputy Minister for Fuel and Energy Oleksandr Svetelyk has asked for
additional U.S. aid since the costs of building a new sarcophagus over the
reactor are now estimated at US$1.05 billion, far more than the previous
figure of US$758 million. Ukraine has allocated US$50 million for the
project.
Ukrainian experts are saying that the concrete-and-steel shelter hastily
constructed over the damaged reactor needs urgent repairs, but authorities
claim that there are no serious safety threats. Ukraine shut down
Chernobyl's last reactor four years ago, but decommissioning work continues.
===========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
The Rich History of Ukrainian Art, Music, Pysanka, Folk-Art
Arts Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/artgallery.htm
===========================================================
9. RUSSIAN ATOMIC ENERGY CHIEF UPBEAT AHEAD OF
CHERNOBYL ANNIVERSARY
Radio Mayak, Moscow, Russia, in Russian, 24 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Apr 24, 2004
Russia remains a world leader in atomic research, primarily in enriching
uranium, the head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency has said. Aleksandr
Rumyantsev briefly outlined the current reform in the industry and gave an
upbeat assessment of its progress. Demoted to agency level, the ministry has
lost its right to initiate legislative initiatives, he said, whereas old
problems remain as before, including a shortage of funds for new and
existing projects.
The following is an excerpt from the interview broadcast on Russian Mayak
radio's "People and Power" programme on 24 April; subheadings have been
inserted editorially:
[Presenter Yuliy Semenov] Hello. Today we'll discuss the nuclear industry,
power engineering, and the processing of nuclear waste. There is another
significant event - the Chernobyl anniversary will be marked in two days.
The tragedy took place 18 years ago. The head of the Federal Agency for
Atomic Energy, Academician Aleksandr Rumyantsev, is our guest in the studio
today [24 April] [Passage omitted]
I'd like to open our studio's doors, so to speak, by inviting people to call
in. [Passage omitted] Without going too far into the bureaucratic jungle,
could you please briefly explain your current status to us? What has
changed?
CHANGE IN STATUS
[Rumyantsev] The name has changed, this is obvious. Real organization of the
work aimed at managing the atomic industry is now concentrated in the
agency. We have lost the right to introduce bills and legislative
initiatives to the government and other bodies of state power.
[Semenov] You are now closer to real life and the industry, to all practical
matters, aren't you?
[Rumyantsev] No, we are not closer at all. Everything is as it was before.
[Semenov] I heard experts saying that it was quite an achievement to retain
the integrity of the atomic industry under the reorganization. No part of
the industry has been given away to other departments to manage.
[Rumyantsev] This is indeed true. Nothing has been taken away from us, and
nothing new has been given to us, nothing that could have in some way
affected our profile.
LESSONS OF CHERNOBYL
[Semenov] OK, let's return to what we said at the beginning of the
conversation. The Chernobyl tragedy happened in 1986. Of course, urgent
measures were taken and lessons were learnt. But have there been any
long-term lessons, something that has to be taken into account even at
present? Can you tell us about Chernobyl's lessons as we see them today?
[Rumyantsev] You are absolutely right. We learn our lessons all the time.
There is an important main lesson which we were aware of then and yet we
keep thinking about it all the time. At the time, scientists could not
imagine that such an unplanned shutdown of the nuclear installation would
lead to such a catastrophe. Of course, everything was simulated later
experimentally. But what happened at the time can be briefly described as a
series of mistakes made by personnel and the reactor allowed them to make
these mistakes and cause such a horrible incident which affected the entire
world.
[Semenov] This is your assessment of the event itself. But I mean practical
lessons as well, such as modernization of the reactor, use of other types of
reactors, a protection system and monitoring, this set of problems.
[Rumyantsev] All reactors of this type have been upgraded and reconstructed,
and now the possibility of a series of unforeseen actions by personnel is
simply ruled out. We have developed and will build water-based reactors in
which the physical process envisages shutting down the reactor automatically
if power begins to build up over the limit. I mean if the situation goes out
of control. [Passage omitted]
The lessons of Chernobyl are taken into account in all research on reactor
safety, physics, simulating possible accidents in existing projects. Before
Chernobyl less attention was paid to accidents in existing projects because
it was hard to believe people could violate regimented procedures. Now we
know this is possible because a human being is capable of anything.
[Semenov] [Passage omitted] How many people were actually affected by
Chernobyl? Our listener adds that he is interested in real figures and not
in government data. I think we are talking about the real situation now.
[Rumyantsev] Of course, and we were talking about the real situation at the
time, too.
[Semenov] No, at the time the real situation did not come to the foreground
immediately. But we'll talk about it later.
[Rumyantsev] Maybe you are right. I'd like to say that the UN issued a
report in 2000 entitled "Medical consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe".
It says clearly that during the accident the death toll was about 40 people,
and another 150 died of an overdose in the following 15 years, or 14 years
because the report was issued in 2000. Medical consequences are not on such
a massive scale as one would have assumed after such a catastrophe.
But I think the whole world was the victim, the entire population because
the accident affected people's hearts and their minds. People got scared of
high technologies. In this sense I believe that the Chernobyl catastrophe is
the most dreadful catastrophe of the past century. People simply lost their
faith in high technologies and, primarily, in the atomic power engineering.
[Semenov] You have to restore this faith.
ATOMIC PROJECTS
[Rumyantsev] We are doing this gradually because in 1993 we launched the
Balakovo unit, in 2001 the Volgodon unit, and this year we are going to
launch the third unit at the Kalinin atomic power station. Changes have
taken place in Europe, too. Finland announced a tender last year to build a
new unit of an atomic power station in Western Europe. [Passage omitted.]
[Listener] There have been rumours on St Petersburg radio that [former
Russian premier and now envoy to Ukraine Viktor] Chernomyrdin sold nuclear
fuel to the USA and that deal was said to be wrong. My other question is
about thorium fuel. Is this true or not?
[Rumyantsev] I'll answer the second question first. There are two absolutely
equivalent cycles in nature. One is the so-called uranium-plutonium cycle
and the other is the thorium-uranium cycle. Their physical processes are
similar. Mankind chose the uranium-plutonium cycle in the mid-1940s.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent to developing this scheme,
on all these problems of physics and processing and so on. If we are to
choose the thorium-uranium cycle, more money, all those hundreds of billions
of dollars will have to be spent to develop this cycle. This is a purely
economic problem.
As far as the physical side is concerned, you are absolutely right, the
thorium-uranium cycle does not give any preferential advantage. [Passage
omitted] As far as Chernomyrdin's deal is concerned, this question keeps
popping up among some specific press circles. I believe that the deal was
the deal of the century because it helps to eliminate excessive weapon
materials, including the enriched uranium which is extracted from nuclear
weapons. This deal turned us into friends [of the USA], and we established a
dialogue with the USA which became more enhanced after the dreadful events
of the 11 September 2001. [Passage omitted]
COSTS
[Semenov] Getting ready for the interview, I found out that the industry
needs a lot of money because of the costs. Because all these stations were
built at about the same time, don't you think there will be a time when the
number of units in need of upgrading will become excessive and we'll get
drowned in the expenses?
[Rumyantsev] You are absolutely right that when we experienced a boom in
developing atomic power engineering, units were commissioned in quick
succession.
We took this into account in reforming the energy strategy up to 2020. You
are absolutely right, and we always pay great attention to this problem and
we need to put into operation [atomic power stations with a capacity of]
about one gigawatts a year in order to maintain the right pace.
[Semenov] All these documents, for instance, the strategy of atomic
development and the programme of development until 2005 which has been
extended to 2010, do all these programmes envisage this?
[Rumyantsev] Only to some extent. There will be a difficult moment regarding
the launching of new capacities. But, mind you, the capacity set for us is
11.5 per cent, but we are producing 16.5 per cent of the electricity in the
country. This means we have a reserve of 5 per cent. [Passage omitted]
[Semenov] A listener from Perm has asked a question about floating atomic
stations.
[Rumyantsev] There is a project to build a floating atomic station. It is
the same atomic installation as the one we have on our ice-breakers, the
so-called CLT-40 which stands for containerbarge-lighterbarge-tanker. We did
research into such transport reactors in the past. We do not have enough
money to implement this project. We have been thinking for two years now how
to raise funds to carry it out. There is a market for the product, but they
ask us a fair question - please show us at least one working station and
then we can decide how serious we will get about it. [Passage omitted]
LEADING POSITIONS
[Listener] It is not a secret that Russia was leading in many industries
until not long ago. Are we still leading in the atomic industry? My second
question is more specific, about thermonuclear fusion. Where are we now and
is there any serious research going on?
[Rumyantsev] We are ahead of other countries regarding the technologies of
separating and enriching isotopes. No-one else in the world has such
high-quality centrifuges and cascades of centrifuges in which uranium is
enriched and other isotopes are extracted. We are also leading in a number
of nuclear technologies which are used mainly in the defence complex. Our
projects on atomic stations are on the level of modern world standards.
As far as thermonuclear fusion is concerned, a thorough fundamental research
is under way in Moscow at the Kurchatov institute and in [says in English]
Trinity, it is in Moscow Region in the town of Troitsk, as well as in St
Petersburg at the Ioffe Physics and Technology Institute and in Novosibirsk
at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian branch of the Russian
Academy of Sciences. This is the spectrum. I forgot to mention Nizhniy
Novgorod, the Institute of Applied Physics which is also involved in this
work.
A working project was developed within the frameworks of great international
cooperation in the last decade to build an [international] thermonuclear
experimental reactor [ITER]. The USA, the EU, Japan, Korea, China and, of
course, Russia, as the initiator of thermonuclear research, took part in it.
At present difficult talks are in progress regarding the venue of the
construction because each of the countries wants to host it. There has been
a contest of the sites and at present there are two candidates - Kosyumura
[as heard, presumably Rokkasho] in Japan and Cadarache in France, and we
have not been able to agree on the venue. But work is under way. [Passage
omitted]
[Listener] Will the atomic station in Voronezh be completed?
[Rumyantsev] The first two units at the Novovoronezh atomic station are
being monitored but not used, the third and fourth units are being used, and
the fifth unit which is a VVER-1000, unlike the other four based on the
VVER-440, is also working. There was a project to build an atomic station
for providing heating. The construction began but was stopped and the
project was abandoned. [Passage omitted]
[Semenov] Many people were affected by Chernobyl because there was not
enough information, the truth was not revealed at once, there were
restrictions and the truth became public knowledge gradually. I hope this
lesson has been learnt as well. As a journalist who maintains contacts with
your department I feel that we are gradually becoming more open, and the
public now has much more information. We could not even dream about this in
the past. Is this your policy?
[Rumyantsev] Yes. This is part of my identity. I always tell the truth
because any attempts to hide the truth lead to more tension and this affects
public opinion in a wrong way. The only right way is to tell the truth.
[Passage omitted] (END)
==========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
==========================================================
10.POET REFLECTS ON CHERNOBYL AND HORRORS STILL TOO VIVID
Ukrainian Leonid Dayer wrote the 1988 narrative "Chernobyl---Bitter Grass"
By Byron Crawford, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, April 16, 2004
LOUISVILLE - Leonid Dayen, a masterful wordsmith, still searches after 18
years for adequate words to describe the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Dayen, who is now 74 and a U.S. citizen living in Louisville, has published
20 books of poetry and prose in Russian and Ukrainian, and he wrote the
1988 narrative "Chernobyl - Bitter Grass."
He worked 42 years as a journalist in the former Soviet Union, and many
years for the newspaper Democratic Ukraine in Kiev, from which he was
dispatched to cover the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown on April 26,
1986.
"Chernobyl, in my view and in my mind, doesn't have the age; the first
anniversary or the 18th anniversary - or in 2086, the 100th anniversary -
the memory will be the same," Dayen said. "I'm not sure in what time it will
continue, not only in memory but in reality. The influence of radiation was
very, very deep, and we don't know what will be the future."
Dayen, who was aboard a helicopter that circled at low level over the
burned-out reactor soon after the accident, was hospitalized with radiation
poisoning for one month, temporarily lost sight in one eye and may have
permanently damaged his immune system.
"THE FIREFIGHTERS who worked against the fire died during two weeks in
May - from May 9th to May 26th - and there is a statistic that probably
4 million people in some areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were victims
in bigger or smaller levels, but thousands of people died," Dayen said.
He described as a "dead zone" the 30-kilometer radius of extreme
contamination, from which most cities and settlements had been abandoned by
their entire populations of hundreds of thousands. But by some estimates as
many as 3 million people still live in contaminated areas. Dayen laments
that
censorship of many stories he wrote about the Chernobyl catastrophe
prevented critical information from reaching those directly affected.
"Censorship threw out not only sentences, not only some paragraphs, but
sometimes the pages, too," he said. "Chernobyl for me was, is and will be
the topic of pain. Physical pain in my life, and moral, human pain - not
only for me, but a lesson for humanity."
DAYEN'S WIFE, Anna, a teacher, and his 4-year-old grandson, Max
Chopovsky and his parents, were evacuated from Kiev, about 90 miles
from Chernobyl, after the disaster. The families moved to Louisville in
1994.
Max, who is now 21 and a senior at Miami University of Ohio, recently
translated Leonid Dayen's latest booklet of poems, "Voice of the Soul,"
(Richard's Printery) into the first English publication of his poetry.
Many of his poems, while not specifically about the Chernobyl tragedy,
are tinted by Dayen's continuing sorrow for his homeland. And his poem
"Zones" compares the disasters visited upon Chernobyl and Manhattan.
"... Unforgiving connections of tragedy
Cruelly keep all the continents tied.
On Kreschatik (Kiev's main street) as well as on Wall Street
All the grief - will it ever subside?"
Dayen's grandson said he spent about two years editing and translating the
more than 30 poems from Russian to English for "Voice of the Soul."
"The reason it took me so long was because I tried to keep three things
constant within the poetry - the rhyme, the meaning and the meter, and that
was very difficult to do," Max Chopovsky said. "The challenge lay not in
literally translating the poetry, but in preserving its true meaning and the
heart originally put into it."
"Indulge our earth, oh kindness, grace us all
Protect our hearts from malice, from aggression
So we can all from magic pages read
The lines that speak of happiness and passion."
- from Dayen's "Indulge."
==========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67 ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
==========================================================
11. 3 MILLION EURO IRISH CONVOY SETS OFF FOR CHERNOBYL
By Ben Quinn, Irish Independent, Dublin, Ireland, Monday, Apr 12, 2004
DUBLIN - A CONVOY carrying 3 million Euro worth of humanitarian and
medical aid for the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster set off from
Co Kildare yesterday.
More than 60 aid workers from Ireland are travelling with the convoy, which
has been organised by the Celbridge branch of the Chernobyl Children's
Project.
The 16 articulated trucks and 14 ambulances carrying specialist medical
equipment will reach its final destination in Belarus next Saturday.
The charity's director, Adi Roche, said yesterday that it once again
demonstrated "the kindness and generosity of the people of Ireland".
One of the volunteers travelling with the convoy, mother-of-five Mary
Manning, said that seeing the plight of the children of Belarus had made her
want to do more for them.
The team will distribute medicines, toiletries, a large consignment of
nappies, food and clothing. They are also carrying building materials for
a special building project, which will be supervised by broadcaster Duncan
Stewart. The convoy is expected to spend six to seven days in Chernobyl
before returning to Ireland. (END)
===========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
===========================================================
12. CHORNOBYL & THREE MILE ISLAND ANNIVERSARIES
ARE REMINDERS OF THE RISKS OF NUCLEAR POWER
AND THE NEED TO SHIFT TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOURCES
By Ken Bossong, Co-Director
Ukrainian American Environmental Association (UAEA)
Takoma Park, Maryland, Friday, April 23, 2004
TAKOMA PARK, MD -- April 26 is the 18th anniversary of the 1986 nuclear
accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in Slavutych, Ukraine. It
followed by seven years the accident at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear
power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979. Both
anniversaries serve as reminders of the dangers of nuclear power and the
need to invest in safer alternatives.
THE ACCIDENT AT THE CHORNOBYL REACTOR
The Chornobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed design in a
reactor operated with inadequately trained personnel and without proper
regard for safety.
Reactor Four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began to fail in the early
hours of April 26, 1986. Seven seconds after the operators activated the
20-second shut down system, there was a power surge. The chemical explosions
that followed were so powerful that they blew the 1,000 ton cover off the
top of the reactor. Design flaws in the power plant's cooling system
probably caused the uncontrollable power surge that led to Chernobyl's
destruction.
According to the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukrainian Ministry of Health, as
quoted by Greenpeace International:
(1) A total of 600,000 emergency workers who helped in the cleanup and
building a cover to seal the destroyed reactor ''must be constantly
monitored for the effects of exposure to radiation'';
(2) Between 1986 and 2000, 1,400 young people who were children at the time
of the accident had their thyroid glands removed;
(3) More than three million people are registered as direct victims of
Chernobyl;
(4) Over 2.5 million hectares of rich agricultural land have been withdrawn
from cultivation;
(5) Cases of children suffering from severe immune disorders have become two
to 3 1/2 times more common;
(6) Approximately 380,000 children have an increased level of leukemia,
thyroid problems and anemia;
(7) Deaths from usually non-fatal common diseases have resulted from a
weakened immune system, so much so, that today the death rate in Ukraine
exceeds, the birth rate.
About three million children require treatment and 3.5 million people live
on Ukrainian territory still contaminated by radiation. Birth defects and
growth problems in children have increased 230% in Ukraine.
Overall, according to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko,
"Ukraine has lost more than $140 billion as a result of the Chornobyl
nuclear accident. The Ukrainian government has already spent about $5
billion to clean up the fallout from the accident".
Moreover, the worst health consequences for 7.1 million people may be yet to
come. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, it will be several decades
before the human health consequences of the Chernobyl accident are fully
understood.
Despite the fact that a growing number of countries in the world are
refusing to build new nuclear reactors in light of the Chornobyl and TMI
accidents, the Ukrainian government continues to expand nuclear energy. This
is best evidenced by the government's continuing endeavors to seek funding
to complete two new reactors as part of the Khmelnitsky and Rivne nuclear
power plants, commonly known as the K2R4 project.
However, greater efforts by the Ukrainian government to invest in
sustainable energy options could obviate the need for nuclear power.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration reports
that, in terms of energy consumption per dollar of GDP, Ukraine ranks as one
of the most energy-intensive countries in the world because of its
inefficient, Soviet-era industries. Ukraine's energy intensity in 1999 at
101.3 thousand Btu/$1990 was more than 8 times that of the United States
(12.6 thousand Btu/$1990) and more than 15 times that of Japan (6.5 thousand
Btu/$1990).
According to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, D.C.,
industry accounts for 60% of energy use in Ukraine. This suggests that
Ukraine could easily cut its energy use in half through cost-effective
investments in energy efficiency.
Furthermore, Ukraine has great but largely untapped sources of renewable
energy. Although Ukraine is now getting only about 2% of its energy from
renewable sources, wind, solar, biogas, hydropower and geothermal energy
have been shown to be theoretically sufficient to satisfy all of the
country's energy needs. For instance, if 2,700 sq. km of shallow waters in
the Black Sea and Sea of Asov were used for wind turbines, this would meet
the entire electricity demand in Ukraine.
THE ACCIDENT AT THREE MILE ISLAND
On the morning of March 28, 1979, the Unit-2 reactor at the TMI nuclear
power facility near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, suddenly overheated and the
plant came within 30 minutes of a full meltdown. The reactor vessel was
destroyed, and large amounts of unmonitored radiation was released directly
into the community.
During the tension-packed week that followed, scientists scrambled to
prevent the nightmare of a nuclear meltdown, officials tried to calm public
fears and more than one hundred thousand residents fled the area. Equipment
failure, human error, and bad luck would conspire to create an event that
stunned the nation.
TMI-2 was built at a cost to rate payers of US$700 million and had been
on-line for just 90 days, or 1/120 of its expected operating life, when the
March 1979 accident occurred. One billion dollars was spent to defuel the
facility.
Three months of nuclear power production of TMI-2 has cost close
to US$2 billion dollars in construction and cleanup bills or the equivalent
of more than US$10.6 million for every day TMI-2 produced electricity. The
abovementioned costs do not include nuclear decontamination or restoring the
site to greenfield conditions.
The accident effectively marked the beginning of the end for nuclear power
in the United States. No new nuclear plants have been ordered since that
time and all plants that had under order between 1974 and 1979 were
subsequently cancelled. While most plants that had been ordered prior to
1974 and were still under construction in 1979 have since been completed and
brought on-line, more than a half-dozen other operating facilities have been
shut down during the past quarter-century.
Not coincidentally, while nuclear power has stagnated since the TMI
accident, sustainable energy technologies have boomed. Over the past three
decades, improvements in energy efficiency are now saving at least 39
quadrillion BTUs of energy each year, or 40% of the U.S.'s actual energy
use, and are contributing more value to the U.S. economy and the environment
than any energy source, because they have saved more energy than production
has increased in nuclear or, for that matter, oil, natural gas, and coal.
In addition, renewable energy presently provides more than 8% of the
nation's domestic energy production while technologies such as wind,
biofuels, and photovoltaics are among the nation's fastest growing sources
of energy supply. For example, over the last five years, U.S. wind capacity
has expanded at an annual average rate of 28%. Ethanol is now blended in
30% of the nation's gasoline, and the global photovoltaics grew by 34%
last year.
As two of the worst mishaps in the history of commercial nuclear power,
these twin anniversaries serve as a continuing reminder of the inherent
risks of nuclear energy and the necessity for both Ukraine and the United
States to increase reliance on safer, cleaner, more affordable, and
sustainable energy efficient and renewable energy technologies. (END)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
UKRAINIAN-AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATION
8606 Greenwood Avenue, #2; Takoma Park, MD 20912 USA;
Contact: Ken Bossong: 301-588-4741, ua_ea@yahoo.com,
The Ukrainian-American Environmental Association is an international network
of businesses, academic institutions, and both non-governmental and
governmental organizations founded to support cooperative efforts on behalf
of sustainable environmental development in Ukraine and the United States.
===========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 67: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
===========================================================
13. KIDDOFSPEED: GHOST TOWN: CHERNOBYL IMAGES
Elena's Motorcycle Ride Through Chernobyl
Do Not Miss This Website! LINK: http://www.kiddofspeed.com/
===========================================================
ARTICLES ARE FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
NEWS AND INFORMATION WEBSITE ABOUT UKRAINE
LINK: http://www.ArtUkraine.com
You can become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Program Fund
===========================================================
INFORMATION ABOUT "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" 2004
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" 2004, is an in-depth news and analysis
newsletter, produced by the www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
The report is distributed worldwide free of charge using the e-mail address:
ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net. Please make sure this e-mail address is
cleared for your SPAM filter. Letters to the editor are always welcome.
For further information contact Morgan Williams: morganw@patriot.net.
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" 2004 SPONSORS:
.
1. ACTION UKRAINE COALITION (AUC) MEMBERS:
A. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COORDINATING COUNCIL,
(UACC), Ihor Gawdiak, President, Washington, D.C., New York, NY
B. UKRAINIAN FEDERATION OF AMERICA (UFA),
Vera M. Andryczyk, President; Dr. Zenia Chernyk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
C. U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF), Nadia Komarnyckyj
McConnell, President; John A. Kun, VP/COO; Markian Bilynskyj, VP, Dir.
of Field Operations; Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C., website:
http://www.usukraine.org .
2. UKRAINE-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL, Kempton Jenkins, President,
Washington, D.C.
3. UKRAINE BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL (UBI), Chicago,
Washington, New York, London, Brussels, Geneva and Prague
4. KIEV-ATLANTIC UKRAINE, David and Tamara Sweere, Founders
and Managers; Kyiv, Ukraine
5. POTENTIAL, the launching of a new business journal for Ukraine.
http://www.usukraine.org/potential.shtml
6. INTERNATIONAL MARKET REFORM GROUP (IMRG),
Washington, D.C., Brussels, Belgium
----ADDITIONAL SPONSORS NEEDED----
You can become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Program Fund
Individuals, corporations, non-profit organizations and other groups
can provide support for the expanding Action Ukraine Program by
sending donations, to The Action Ukraine Program (TAUPF).
The program includes THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT, the Action
Ukraine Information Service (AUIS), the www.ArtUkraine.com website
[soon to become the www.ActionUkraine.com website], the information
program in Washington, D.C. regarding the U.S. Congress and the
Administration, which supports the building of an independent, democratic
and financially strong Ukraine operating under the rule of law.
Checks should be made out to the Ukrainian Federation of America,
(UFA), designated for The Action Ukraine Program Fund (TAUPF), and
mailed to the Ukrainian Federation of America (UAF), 930 Henrietta
Avenue, Huntington Valley, PA 19006-8502. For individuals a
contribution of $45 is suggested Your support to help build The Action
Ukraine Program is very much appreciated.
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
E. Morgan Williams, Coordinator, Action Ukraine Coalition (UAC)
Publisher and Editor: "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" 2004,
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS),
http://www.ArtUkraine.com News and Information Website.
Senior Advisor, Government Relations, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF);
Advisor, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council; P.O. Box 2607, Washington,
D.C. 20013; Tel: 202 437 4707, morganw@patriot.net
=====================================================
KYIV vs. KIEV
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" uses the spelling KYIV rather than
KIEV, for the capital of Ukraine, whenever the spelling decision is under
our control. We do not change the way journalists, authors, reporters, news
media outlets spell this word or the other words they use in their stories.
TO SUBSCRIBE (FREE)
If you know of one or more persons you think would like to be added to
the distribution list for "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" 2004 please
send us their names and e-mail relevant contact information. We welcome
additional names. To subscribe please send a subscription request e-mail to
Morgan Williams, morganw@patriot.net. Past issues of "THE ACTION
UKRAINE REPORT"-2003 (125 reports) and UR 2004 will be sent upon
request. Let us know if you want the Report sent to a different address.
Please let us know if you are receiving more than one copy of the Report.
TO UNSUBSCRIBE
UNSUBSCRIBE: If you do not wish to receive future editions of
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-2004, up to five times per week,
please be sure and notify us by return e-mail to morganw@patriot.net.
=====================================================