Ukraine is preparing to mark 30 years since the Chernobyl disaster, the
world's worst nuclear accident whose death toll remains a mystery and which
continues to jeopardise the local population's health.
More than 200 tonnes of
uranium remain inside the reactor that exploded three decades ago at the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant, raising fears there could be more radioactive
leaks if the ageing concrete structure covering the stricken reactor collapses.
International donors are
meeting on April 25 to discuss a funding plan for the installation of a more
modern and safe sarcophagus that could last a century and keep generations from
living in fear.
But despite the international
community's commitment to funding the project, it remains unclear who will pay
for the new dome's operations and upkeep after 2017, when it is scheduled to
become operational.
At 1:23 am on April 26, 1986,
reactor number four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located about 100
kilometres (60 miles) north of Kiev, exploded during a safety test.
For 10 terrifying days, the
nuclear fuel kept burning, spewing clouds of poisonous radiation that contaminated
up to three-quarters of Europe, with Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus and
Russia hit especially hard.
As the horror unfolded, the
Soviet authorities said nothing publicly, in keeping with a tradition of
preventing people from learning of tragedies that could tarnish the image of
the Cold War-era superpower.
They evacuated the 48,000
inhabitants of the town of Pripyat, located just three kilometres from the
plant, only the following afternoon.
- Soviet silence -
The first alarm was raised on
April 28 by Sweden, which detected an unexplained rise in its own radiation
levels.
Only in his second year on the
job, Communist Party Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev -- winner of the 1990
Nobel Peace Prize for championing democratic and economic reforms -- did not
publicly admit the disaster until May 14.
With the scale of what had
happened now out in the open, the authorities in 1986 relocated 116,000 people
from the 30-kilometre exclusion zone that surrounds the now-dormant plant.
Subsequent years saw 230,000
others experience the same fate. Yet five million Ukrainians, Belarusians and
Russians still live in areas where radiation levels are high.
Some 600,000 people who became
known as "liquidators" -- comprised mostly of the military, police,
firefighters and state employees -- were dispatched by Moscow with little or no
protective gear to help put out the toxic fire.
They were also responsible for
erecting a concrete sarcophagus over the remains of the damaged reactor to
prevent further radiation leaks, and for cleaning up the surrounding area.
- Disputed toll -
Thirty years later, the number
of people who died in those chilling days and subsequent years from radiation
poisoning remains a matter of intense dispute.
A controversial UN report
published in 2005 estimated that "up to 4,000" could eventually die
in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus from the after effects of the reactor's
meltdown.
Yet a year later, Greenpeace
environmental protection group estimated the number of deaths already caused by
radiation poisoning at a staggering 100,000.
The United Nations Scientific
Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation officially recognised around 30
deaths among those urgently sent to fight and contain the disaster in the days
following the blast.
Somewhat extraordinarily,
Chernobyl continued producing electricity until December 2000, when an
independent Ukraine was pressured by the West to shut down the last active
reactor for good.
- Monster cage -
With the concrete structure hastily
erected around the devastated site cracking and in danger of collapsing, work
begun in 2010 on a 25,000-tonne steel protective barrier.
About twice the area of a
football pitch and soaring 110 metres (360 feet) above ground, the structure is
slightly taller than Big Ben in London and weighs three times more than the
Eiffel Tower.
The funding for the
2.1-billion-euro ($2.4 billion) monster cage has come from more than 40
countries and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and 165
million euros more are expected from the G7 group of world powers and the
European Commission.
But a 100-million-euro funding
gap for storing the spent nuclear fuel remains.
Even if that money comes
through, it remains unclear who will foot the bill for the new dome's
operations after it is installed.
With most of the main work now
completed, the structure is being fitted out with high-tech equipment that, if
everything goes according to plan, will be able to decontaminate the hazardous
material inside.
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