On the 16th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, work continues (04/21/02)

On the 16th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, work continues

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A year and a half after its high-profile public closing, the Chornobyl nuclear complex no longer provides nuclear power for the country. Nonetheless, neither the four nuclear reactors that make up the facility nor Slavutych, the city built to house its workers, have been left to rot and devoid of humanity, as some might have expected.

On the contrary, 16 months after President Leonid Kuchma ceremoniously gave the order for the last operating reactor to cease operations - during a direct video hook-up with the Chornobyl plant from the Palats Ukrainy Concert Hall, as journalists and dignitaries looked on - thousands of workers continue to go about their daily duties in completing numerous projects.

Today they are involved in a variety of jobs, including the work of mothballing the reactors, which now stand idle; or planning the reconstruction of the concrete structure, called "the shelter," which was hastily erected over reactor No. 4 in the days and weeks after it partially melted down and exploded on April 26, 1986; or reducing the ecological damage from the fallout of nuclear radiation. They also perform the menial and not so menial tasks of policing and fire-fighting to make the area physically safe.

Some 10,600 people plus their families still work in the area and live in the city of Slavutych, which counts about 20,000 residents in all and includes international scientists studying the aftereffects of the radiation fallout that will leave this area contaminated for hundreds of years.

The overriding purpose of the work, however, today remains very specific.

"Most of the people who continue to live in the area are involved in one way or another in reducing the aftereffects of the calamity," explained Volodymyr Kholosha, vice minister of ecology and Chornobyl matters, and a former director of the plant.

First and foremost among the many tasks still performed is to limit and lessen the radioactive contamination. While radioactive iodine has mostly diminished, there remain great quantities of strontium and americanium in the 10-kilometer zone immediately around the Chornobyl plant and lesser amounts in a wider 30-kilometer exclusion zone.

Only individuals with special documents are allowed to enter the 10-kilometer zone, which is heavily guarded. The same applies for the larger 30-kilometer area, except that former residents of the outer ring who have felt compelled to return to their abandoned villages at their own risk have been allowed to do so. Several hundred mostly older people today again live in the outer zone, subsisting off the food they grow and the animals they raise, as well as on special deliveries of essential food products from outside.

A special Chornobyl zone law enforcement group of about 4,600 professionals patrols the abandoned towns and villages and controls the entry points into the area. They include some 800 police and security detachments, as well as 3,800 forest rangers and firefighters. In both the outer and inner rings the priority is on preventing radioactive contamination of the water table from floods and other natural catastrophes, a threat that peaks in the spring. It also includes a rigid program for preventing and controlling forest fires in the area. The burning of trees, thicket and especially peat could lead to large releases of radiation through the smoke produced.

Although the accent is on control of the radioactive contamination, an equal number of people are involved in the actual mothballing of the plant.

Mr. Kholosha explained that, while the three reactors that were not affected by the 1986 explosion were officially shut down in December 2000 and remain offline, some 5,000 specialists continue to look after the many tons of nuclear fuel still inside and to monitor radiation levels. Their responsibilities also include maintenance and repair of equipment that must remain in good working order for at least several decades, to allow for radioactive cool-off as the fuel rods are gradually removed, an event expected to be completed in about 2011.

The highly volatile and dangerous fuel rods, which are the source of the radioactive processes that eventually generate electricity in a nuclear power plant, are not simply lifted out of the reactor casing and hauled away to a dumpsite. If they are not spent, they must remain in place while the radiation disseminates, which takes centuries. The United States and the European Union are helping to build a storage facility alongside the damaged fourth reactor that will hold the rods and other radioactive material of the Chornobyl reactors. The facility is expected to be completed at the end of 2003.

Key to ensuring the long-term safety of the area, however, is the development of a new concrete shelter over the disintegrating sarcophagus that currently covers the destroyed fourth reactor. It was originally erected in a matter of months after the disaster with little planning or consideration for durability and longevity.

The international community has pledged $720 million of the approximately $766 million that is thought to be required at present to cover and support the crumbling sarcophagus in what is called the Shelter Implementation Project (SIP). Currently, SIP remains in the planning stages, although some finances have been utilized to reinforce critical beams beneath the existing cover.

Mr. Kholosha said that, while some of the pledged money has been delivered, the SIP Fund awaits a good portion more. He also explained that a specific completion date could not be identified until the new shelter's design is completed, although a general target date of 2007 is being cited. At present, general parameters and requirements have been established for the SIP and more specific design planning were moving forward.

Mr. Kholosha also noted that basic organizational changes are taking place at Chornobyl as well.

"Whereas earlier the objective was to exploit the reactors to produce and sell a needed consumer product, electro-energy, now the need is to develop a structure that will care for the mothballing of the reactors," explained Mr. Kholosha.

The city of Slavutych, which has been home to many of the Chornobyl workers for the last 16 years, also is undergoing dramatic changes. The level of unemployment, which used to be nonexistent, remains insignificant, at around 4 percent. However, half of the workers of the plant already have been idled, which is not reflected in the jobless figure because a good portion of them have moved on. Those who remain are taking part in retraining programs sponsored by the Ukrainian government and international donor agencies. There is also a strong push to develop new investments and new industries, which is being aided by foreign governments.

"In some regards, we are behind schedule, but overall the general program is on course," said Mr. Kholosha.

U.N. Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Kenzo Oshima was in Kyiv on April 2 as part of a three-nation tour of the areas most affected by the Chornobyl disaster to announce a new United Nations initiative to promote socio-economic development in the region. The trip came as a result of a U.N. report released earlier this year which expressed the need to move the accent on Chornobyl aid from humanitarian and technical assistance to jobs and social welfare programs for the region's residents and for more than 200,000 people who took part in the clean-up efforts.

The report advocates integrating economic, environmental and health care initiatives, as well as measures to attract private investment and greater public education, reported the Associated Press.

"I'm convinced that with conviction and imagination we should be able to make a difference," said Mr. Oshima.

| Home Page |