Helsinki Commission hears testimony on Chornobyl from diplomats, experts (05/05/96)

Helsinki Commission hears testimony on Chornobyl from diplomats, experts

by Khristina Lew

WASHINGTON - Diplomats and Chornobyl experts testified before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe on April 23 that the United States could do more to help Ukraine and Belarus combat the consequences of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear power plant explosion.

"The U.S. role in G-7 decisions is highly appreciated by us [Ukraine]. Furthermore, out of $225 million allocated by the U.S. government for fiscal year 1996, $50 million to $70 million are to be used for energy sector and nuclear safety programs... Still, I want to say frankly that we consider such assistance for Chornobyl-related programs insufficient," Ukrainian Ambassador Yuri Shcherbak said.

The Helsinki Commission hearing, scheduled to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, examined testimony from Dr. Shcherbak, Belarusian Ambassador Serguei Martynov, Georgetown University demographer Murray Feshbach and Alexander Kuzma, director of development at the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund.

Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), chairman of the Helsinki Commission, told the witnesses that the commission would "energize Congress to be more proactive with Chornobyl in fiscal year 1997."

Mr. Smith, who is also a member of the International Relations Committee, asked Ambassadors Martynov and Shcherbak to provide the commission with a list of their respective countries' humanitarian needs, and reminded the diplomats that while "the administration has the foreign policy lead, we're the purse strings." Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), the other Helsinki commissioner who attended the hearing, is a high-ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.

Dr. Shcherbak, who as a deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet initiated the first parliamentary investigation of the Chornobyl disaster, explained that Ukraine faces four problems with the shutdown of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant: restructuring its energy sector (the Chornobyl nuclear power plant provides 7 percent of the country's electricity); constructing a new sarcophagus, which is estimated at $2 billion; disposing of the 800 radioactive storage sites located on the territory of the 30-kilometer zone; and finding jobs for the 6,000 workers at the Chornobyl plant.

The ambassador said Ukraine needs international assistance in "making up a plan for Ukraine's energy independence, energy saving and efficiency, creating our own nuclear fuel cycle and enhanced cooperation in the sphere of radiation safety."

Dr. Shcherbak also testified that while Ukraine applauds the December 1995 signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine, the Group of Seven industrial states and the European Commission to close down Chornobyl by the year 2000, the document does not "envisage clear financial obligations on the Western side." The G-7 had promised Ukraine $2.6 billion in credit lines and $512 million in grants.

Ukraine, which allocates 12 percent of its budget to combat the consequences of Chornobyl, cannot take on the decommissioning of the plant by itself, he said, and reiterated Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's proposal to the G-7 to conclude a legally binding document that would define the conditions and time framework for disbursement of the promised funds.

Ambassador Martynov, in his testimony, echoed the Ukrainian ambassador's call for expanded international assistance. Belarus received 70 percent of the radioactive fallout from the Chornobyl explosion, and today, only 1 percent of its territory can be considered "clean" of radioactive contamination. Twenty-five percent of the Belarusian budget is allocated for Chornobyl-related consequences.

"The scale of the catastrophe and its consequences defies the capabilities of any single country. The 10 years since the explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power station showed, however, that the international community is not quite up to the Chornobyl test," he said. Ambassador Martynov testified that Belarus needs assistance in "creating technologies for rehabilitation of contaminated lands and the production of safe foods" (20 percent of Belarus' arable land was contaminated by radioactive fallout), providing Belarusian doctors with high-quality equipment and modern and effective medicines, and conducting scientific research.

He reiterated his country's proposals, submitted to an international conference on Chornobyl held in Vienna in April, to ameliorate the consequences of the disaster: set up a joint scientific interstate center on the problems of Chornobyl; establish a Fund for Planet Protection that would finance Chornobyl-related projects; and create an enforceable international framework that would charge states responsible for causing nuclear damage to other countries to offer compensation.

Mr. Martynov explained that because Belarus has no nuclear reactors on its territory, Belarusians "feel we are hostages to the reactors on our perimeter." The Belarusian position, he said, is that the international community should make an effort to increase safety at nuclear power plants in Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia, and close the most dangerous reactors in those countries.

When asked by Rep. Smith to assess international assistance to Belarus, Ambassador Martynov replied, "Frankly, we do not perceive international assistance as adequate." He said that bilateral assistance from the United States consisted mostly of private, rather than governmental, humanitarian aid.

Rep. Wolf commented that Ukraine and Belarus carry a great burden in alleviating the consequences of Chornobyl. Before leaving the hearing for another appointment, the congressman turned to Ambassador Martynov and said, "You are rejoining Russia. You should be careful in regard to what direction you look."

In their testimonies Dr. Feshbach and Mr. Kuzma argued against proposed cutbacks in United States Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian assistance projects. Dr. Feshbach, author of "Ecocide in the USSR: Health and Nature Under Siege" and "Ecological Disaster: Cleaning Up the Hidden Legacy of the Soviet Regime," cited recent evidence that lung cancer is on the rise among Chornobyl clean-up workers due to inhalation of plutonium aerosols, as is thyroid cancer among children.

"People thought the consequences of Chornobyl were exaggerated by local experts. Today in Belarus we see four times as many cases of thyroid cancer in children as we did seven years before the accident," he said, adding that another peak in thyroid cancer is expected in the 2005-2010 period.

The number of leukemia cases, Dr. Feshbach testified, also will increase. "In the immediate post-Chornobyl period, it was the practice to not report cases of chronic radiation sickness, or leukemia. I believe we will see large increases" of the disease.

These statistics, according to Mr. Kuzma, "need to be considered as the 'tip of the iceberg.' " The director of development at CCRF testified that "the peak of the crisis is ahead of us," and in anticipation of that, CCRF has launched hospital partnerships and physicians' training programs designed to upgrade prenatal and pediatric care in Ukraine. Mr. Kuzma said that anecdotal information indicates that Chornobyl-related illnesses are on the rise and cautioned the scientific community to be more open to evidence from local Ukrainian doctors and scientists.

CCRF is the leading private organization providing medical aid to Ukraine. It has launched 16 airlifts to Ukraine worth $38 million. To date, the U.S. government has provided Ukraine with $10 million in Chornobyl-related assistance.

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