Ukrainians mark anniversary of Chernobyl disaster

[bananas]

Source: Agence France-Press

Ukrainians on Friday lit candles and laid flowers to remember the victims of the world’s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl 27 years ago, as engineers pressed on with efforts to construct a new shelter to permanently secure the stricken reactor.

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Dozens of people laid flowers and set lit candles in front of portraits at the monument to the Chernobyl victims in the small town of Slavutych, some 50 kilometres from the accident site, where many of the power station’s personnel used to live.

At the same time in the capital Kiev, officials and relatives of the victims also held a pre-dawn remembrance ceremony in front of a memorial.

“The memory of the tragedy calls for unity and consolidation of the efforts of the government and society to solve the problems in implementing projects to create an environmentally safe system at Chernobyl,” said President Viktor Yanukovych in a statement.

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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/26/ukrainians-mark-anniversary-of-chernobyl-disaster/

[madokie]

1. How long will it be before this area is safe for human inhabitants again?

[davidn3600]

6. 1000+ years

Some optimistic estimates put it at about 600 years.

[Ter]

7. Is there anything that can be done to speed it up?

Like around 20-50 years or so?

[bananas]

2. News Analysis: Chernobyl disaster poses long-term environmental challenges

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2013-04/26/c_132342756.htm

News Analysis: Chernobyl disaster poses long-term environmental challenges
English.news.cn 2013-04-26 16:33:51
by Alona Liashenko

KIEV, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian scientists are still evaluating Chernobyl-related problems now, 27 years after one of the world's worst nuclear disaster occurred at the power plant.

<snip>

Union-Chernobyl Ukraine, a Kiev-based NGO, said over 780,000 people have died of the radiation impact, with nearly 130,000 of them being clean-up workers.

LONG-TERM RISKS

Some health professionals expect an outbreak of radiation-related illnesses in the next few decades in Ukraine.

<snip>

"The nation's health is deteriorating," Mykhailo Kurik, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Ecology, told Xinhua, adding that the nature and environment were damaged even more severely than humans.

<snip>

NEW FEARS

In mid-February, a 600-square-meter section of the roof at the Chernobyl site collapsed, sparking fears of another disaster. The collapse occurred 70 meters above the sarcophagus that contains the radiation from the damaged No. 4 reactor.

<snip>

Yury Andreev, a former Chernobyl engineer, said the new sarcophagus cannot solve the global problems.

"Since the reactor still has fuel, it is dangerous even under the sarcophagus. To eliminate the possibility of radiation leakage, the sarcophagus should be buried into the ground to prevent the migration of radionuclides," Andreev said.

[bananas]

3. Devastation and Hope - Chernobyl at 27

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/26/chernobyl-at-27/

WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 26-28, 2013

Devastation and Hope
Chernobyl at 27

by JOSEPH J. MANGANO and Dr. JANETTE D. SHERMAN, MD

The 27th anniversary of the catastrophic nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl reminds us of both a sad legacy and a positive impact on the future.

<snip>

Beginning just six years after the 1986 meltdown, medical journal articles began to show rising numbers of people with certain diseases near Chernobyl. The first of these was children with thyroid cancer. Officials at a 2005 meeting in Vienna estimated 9,000 persons worldwide had developed cancer from the meltdown. But many anecdotes and studies had piled up, suggesting the real number was much greater.

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In 2009, the New York Academy of Sciences published a book by a trio of Russian researchers, headed by Alexei Yablokov; one of us (JDS) edited the book. Yablokov’s team gathered an incredible 5,000 reports and studies. Many were written in Slavic languages and had never been seen by the public. The book documented high levels of disease in many organs of the body, even beyond the former Soviet Union. The Yablokov team estimated 985,000 persons died worldwide, a number that has risen since.

Government and industry leaders in the nuclear field assured the world that the lesson of Chernobyl had been learned, and that another full core meltdown would never occur. But on March 11, 2011 came the tragedy at Fukushima, releasing enormous amounts of radioactivity from not just one, but three reactor cores, and a pool storing nuclear waste. Again, the radioactivity circled the globe. Estimates of eventual casualties are in the many thousands.

In an odd way, Fukushima triggered the positive impact of Chernobyl. The two disasters are a major reason why few new nuclear reactors are being built, and why existing units are now closing. All but two (2) of 50 Japanese reactors remain shut. Germany closed six (6) of its units permanently and its government pledged to close the others by 2022. Swiss officials made a similar vow.

<snip>

Joseph J. Mangano MPH MBA is Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project.

Janette D. Sherman MD is an internist and toxicologist, and editor of Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment.

[Earth_First]

5. Gee...and here we are in the US pressing for new reactors..

Typical behind the curve thought processes of our esteemed leaders.

[Bosonic]

4. In pictures: Dark Pripyat (slideshow of adjacent town)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-22246328