[ RadSafe ] Russian scientists downplay fallout from Chernobyl disaster

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Russian scientists downplay fallout from Chernobyl disaster
Wildlife finds home in Chernobyl zone
No humans, and the wildlife loves it... 
Greenpeace Challenges UN on Chernobyl 
Wayne cleanup a success    
Reid's Bill Would Help Nevada Test Site Workers
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Russian scientists downplay fallout from Chernobyl disaster

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian scientists downplayed the impact of the 1986 
Chernobyl nuclear disaster, saying victims suffered more emotional 
and sociological trauma than actual illness caused by radiation. 
 
"Most of those who took part in rescue operations at the plant after 
the accident believe that the impact of radiation on people's health 
is open to debate," the director of the Institute of Nuclear 
Problems, Igor Lingue, said.

He was speaking at a news conference marking the 20th anniversary of 
the worst nuclear accident in history.

"Compared to the radiation caused by Chernobyl, the other factors 
triggered by the accident such as psychological stress, the 
disruption of their lives and financial losses proved to be greater 
problems for the population," he added.

Lingue said of the 600,000 so-called liquidators -- soldiers, firemen 
and civilians who were deployed over the next four years to clean up 
after the disaster -- "only 5,000 have died in the past 20 years".

This meant that their mortality rate was no higher than that of 
Russia's male population, he added.

Lingue said major social problems ensued however because of the 
emergency evacuation of some 300,000 people after the fourth reactor 
at Chernobyl blew up.

"We put them up in deserted towns, in makeshift housing. Sometimes 
they were not accepted by the local populations."

A World Health Organisation report released in September estimated 
the overall death toll from the catastrophe in what is now a part of 
Ukraine on April 26, 1986, at 4,000.

The figure has been contested by anti-nuclear lobbies.

Greenpeace said on Tuesday that the radiation caused by the explosion 
was likely to eventually cause an additional 93,000 cancer deaths in 
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

But the French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN) has come out in support 
of the UN report, calling it "the most thorough ever assembled on the 
consequences of the accident".
--------------------

Wildlife finds home in Chernobyl zone

Aljazerra Apr 18 - The radioactive no-go zone around Chernobyl has 
become a rich natural reserve in the 20 years since the accident at 
the nuclear power plant, with eagles hovering in the air, and lynx, 
wolves and wild horses wandering around. 

After the April 26, 1986, accident at the Soviet plant, 4,000sq km of 
land surrounding the Chernobyl plant was soaked with radiation. The 
area was evacuated and closed to humans.
   
In the two decades since, nature has had an almost free rein over 
this patch of land straddling the border between Ukraine and Belarus. 
The results have been impressive.
   
Take the Przhevalski horse, believed to be the only true modern 
descendant of the wild horse. In 1998, 17 of them were introduced to 
the area.
   
Today, officials who accompany visitors to the zone say the  steeds 
number 80 to 90, and the area around Chernobyl is one of the few 
places in the world where they roam free.
   
Almost unperturbed by man, the flora and fauna have developed with 
virtually no human interference. About 350 "self-settlers" still live 
inside the zone, but this mainly elderly group generally keeps to its 
eight villages. 
  
A visitor may see elk, fox, otter, beaver, wild boar, grey crane and 
the endangered great spotted eagle all in one day. Regular visitors 
say bears have been seen.
   
Perfect habitat

With so few people, the zone is the perfect habitat for  endangered 
species. The Chernobyl International Radioecology Laboratory has 
recorded the presence of more than 400 animal species there, 
including 280 kinds of birds and 50 endangered species.

Despite apocalyptic predictions at the time of the Chernobyl 
disaster, the animals living inside the forbidden zone are not 
abnormal, disproportioned mutants.

The ecosystem surrounding Chernobyl has passed through several stages 
since the accident, said Rudolph Alexakhin, director of the 
Agricultural Radiology Institute in Moscow.

During the first year-long phase, plants and animals most affected by 
the radiation died. 

Some areas were so soaked with radioactivity that they had to be 
razed, such as a pine forest that became known as the Red Forest for 
the levels of radiation registered there.
   
Over the next six years, nature slowly recovered, Alexakhin said.
    
Today it is coming back.

Serhiy Franchuk, a guide for the Chernobylinterinform - the state 
enterprise that provides the obligatory guides for all visitors - 
says that the pines planted in place of the Red Forest are thriving.
  
But even after two decades, signs remain that this is no  ordinary 
wilderness zone.
   
The invisible, odourless and tasteless radiation permeates the buried 
buildings, cars and cattle, the earth that covers them and the rivers 
that flow nearby.

It will do so for a long time to come.
--------------------

No humans, and the wildlife loves it... 

Chernobyl, Ukraine Apr 18 - All that's missing are all-terrain 
vehicles and souvenir stands. With lynx, wolves, eagles and wild 
horses, the radioactive no-go zone around Chernobyl has become a rich 
natural reserve in the 20 years since the accident at the nuclear 
power plant.

Dangerously soaked with radiation following the April 26, 1986 
accident at the then Soviet plant, some 4 000 square kilometres of 
land surrounding the Chernobyl plant were evacuated and closed to 
humans.

In the two decades since, Mother Nature has had nearly free reign 
over this patch of land straddling the border between Ukraine and 
Belarus. The results have been impressive.

Access is still forbidden to areas considered the most contaminated 
Take for example the famed Przhevalski horse, believed to be the only 
true modern descendant of the wild horse. In 1998, 17 of them were 
introduced to the area.

Today officials who accompany visitors to the zone say the steeds 
number between 80 and 90, and the area around Chernobyl is one of the 
few places in the world where they still roam free.

Nearly completely undisturbed by man - some 350 "self-settlers" still 
live inside the zone, but this mainly elderly group generally keeps 
to its eight villages - the flora and fauna here have developed with 
virtually no human interference.

In one day, a lucky first-time visitor may see elk, fox, otter, 
beaver, wild boar, gray crane and endangered great spotted eagle. 
Regular visitors say bears have also been spotted in the area.

With so few people, the zone is the perfect habitat for endangered 
species. The Chernobyl International Radioecology Laboratory has so 
far recorded the presence there of more than 400 animal species, 
including 280 kinds of birds and 50 endangered species.

And despite apocalyptic predictions at the time of the Chernobyl 
disaster, the animal species living inside the forbidden zone are not 
strange, disproportioned mutants.

"The mutants never resembled the monsters described in the media and 
all died out quickly," said Sergei Gashak, an ornithologist at the 
Chernobyl lab.

The ecosystem surrounding Chernobyl has passed through several stages 
since the accident, said Rudolph Alexakhin, director of the 
Agricultural Radiology Institute in Moscow.

During the first year-long phase, plants and animals the most 
affected by the radiation died. Some areas were so soaked with 
radioactivity that they had to be completely razed, such as a pine 
forest that became known as the "Red Forest" for the levels of 
radiation registered there.

Over the next six years, nature slowly licked its wounds following 
the disaster, he said.

Today it is coming back with a vengeance.

Serhiy Franchuk, a guide for the Chernobylinterinform - the state 
enterprise that provides the obligatory guides for all visitors - 
claims that the pines planted in place of the "Red Forest" are 
thriving.

Along with the recovering flora and fauna, a tourism industry has 
taken root - hundreds of human visitors have come since the 
authorities began accepting tourist groups three years ago.

The curious have mostly come from abroad and have included Americans, 
Germans and Japanese, guides say.

They usually come in small groups during the summer, to be driven by 
guides to take a look at the power plant and at a village of the 
mostly elderly who have shrugged off government restrictions and 
radiation levels to return to the place they lived prior to the 1986 
accident.

Franchuk is especially amused by the tourists' moribund fascination 
with the town of Pripyat, a town that counted 45 000 residents at the 
time of the accident but that today is a Soviet ghost town overrun by 
vegetation.

Among the most bizarre of his visitors, Franchuk last year 
accompanied a newly-married couple from either Britain or the United 
States who wanted to end their honeymoon in the city.

Many of the people who work in the zone in up to 15-day stints, hope 
that a protected natural preserve can someday be established here.

But even after two decades, signs remain that this is no ordinary 
wilderness zone.

There are checkpoints on entry and access is still forbidden to areas 
considered the most contaminated; the cemetery of buses, fire trucks 
and helicopters that helped evacuate the zone's residents and today 
are awaiting incineration; and the frequent beeps of the dosimeter 
every time the level of the surrounding, invisible radiation jumps.

And there is of course the radiation itself - invisible, odorless, 
tasteless, it permeates the buried buildings, cars and cattle, the 
earth that covers them, the rivers that flow nearby. And it will do 
so for a long time to come.
-----------------

Greenpeace Challenges UN on Chernobyl 
  
KIEV -- The environmental watchdog group Greenpeace said Tuesday in a 
report that more than 90,000 people were likely to die of cancers 
caused by radiation from the Chernobyl explosion, sharply challenging 
a UN report that predicted the death toll would be about one-tenth of 
that. 

The report's conclusion underlines the uncertainty that remains about 
the health effects of the world's worst nuclear accident as its 20th 
anniversary approaches. 

A reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded on 
April 26, 1986, spewing high levels of radioactive fallout over much 
of Europe. The fallout was particularly severe in the northern 
reaches of Ukraine, western Russia and in much of Belarus.

Areas immediately around the now-inoperative plant remain off-limits, 
but other areas that got significant fallout are inhabited and health 
anxiety is common in those areas. 

A report last year by the Chernobyl Forum, which comprises the United 
Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency and several other UN 
groups, said fewer than 50 deaths could be confirmed as being 
connected to Chernobyl and that the number of radiation-related 
deaths among the 600,000 people who participated in fighting the 
consequences of the accident would ultimately be around 4,000.
  
The increase in cancer deaths among the 5 million exposed to lower 
levels of radiation would be so low that it would be statistically 
difficult to identify, the report's authors said, but they estimated 
it could be around 5,000.

But Greenpeace, in a report that cited data from Russia, Belarus and 
Ukraine -- and extrapolated from those figures -- disagreed and 
suggested the Chernobyl Forum report was deliberately misleading.

"The nuclear industry is the most dangerous in the world, and they 
are definitely trying to minimize the results of the Chernobyl 
catastrophe," said Ivan Blokov of Greenpeace's Russia office. 

"We have a report showing the incredible damage caused to humans. ... 
Nearly every system of the organism is damaged."

Many of the consequences of Chernobyl remain controversial and 
difficult to identify, particularly because of the deep economic 
depression and unhealthy lifestyles -- such as heavy drinking and 
smoking -- common in the region.

Vyacheslav Shestopalov of Ukraine's Academy of Sciences, however, 
cautioned against blaming everything on nonradiation factors.

"It is not only stress or a bad economic situation: There is also 
radiation," he said.

Volodymyr Bebeshko, a professor at the Ukrainian Center for Radiation 
Medicine, said that he participated in the UN's Chernobyl Forum but 
refused to endorse the findings. 

"Quite honestly, it doesn't reflect reality," Bebeshko said. "They 
are very clearly trying to minimize the consequences."

Bebeshko said the studies had found increases in not only thyroid 
cancer, but also breast cancer in the wives of the so-called 
"liquidators" -- those who were asked to deal with the effects of the 
explosion -- and large increases in leukemia and other blood 
disorders.

Greenpeace said statistics from Belarus indicated there would be 
270,000 cases of cancer attributable to Chernobyl radiation 
throughout the region and that 93,000 of those cases were likely to 
be fatal.

Greenpeace also cited a report by Veniamin Khudolei of the Center for 
Independent Environmental Assessment of the Russian Academy of 
Sciences that found sharply increased mortality in western Russia 
over the past 15 years, suggesting that the increase was due to 
Chernobyl radiation.

"On the basis of demographic data, during the last 15 years, 60,000 
people have died additionally in Russia because of the Chernobyl 
accident, and estimates of the total death toll for Ukraine and 
Belarus could be another 140,000," Greenpeace's international office 
said in a statement.

Greenpeace also predicted that the radiation fallout from Chernobyl 
would cause hereditary diseases -- something the UN report said it 
had found no evidence of. 

"In animals, we have seen very serious genetic consequences coming 
not only in the first generation but in further generations," Blokov 
said.

The report also finds that "radiation from the disaster has had a 
devastating effect on survivors" other than cancer cases -- "damaging 
immune and endocrine systems, leading to accelerated aging, 
cardiovascular and blood illnesses, psychological illnesses, 
chromosome aberrations and an increase of deformities in fetuses and 
children."
---------------------

Wayne cleanup a success    

WAYNE -- From radioactive threat to future ballfield. Andrew Drol 
would have been delighted.

On a warm and sunny spring morning, chain-link gates were opened 
Monday to a 6.4-acre, rectangular patch of land once contaminated by 
radioactive thorium. For two decades after its industrial heyday, the 
site had sat fenced off and dormant, inspiring fear and alarm in the 
neighborhood as its tainted soils spread offsite.
  
Then, in a $125 million project, it was dug out and finally refilled. 
Soon it will be a place to play.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. announced Monday that the property, formerly 
owned by industrial giant W. R. Grace, would be given to the township 
where residents like Drol, who died in 1999, had fought to have it 
cleaned up. 

"For 35 years, this stretch of land has been empty and unused because 
of thorium," Pascrell said. "It's no secret that open space is at a 
premium. Now there's a bright future for kids playing on these 
fields."

The land -- listed as a Superfund site on the Environmental 
Protection Agency's National Priorities List -- will be officially 
transferred to the township in June. Mayor Scott Rumana says it will 
take some time and planning, but eventually the bumpy area of brush, 
cattails and dandelions will be turned into ballfields. 

"Clearly we don't want to have housing on it," Rumana said. "And we 
have such a demand for ballfields." 

Both Pascrell and Rumana acknowledged that residents such as Drol, 
whose home on Lucas Lane overlooked the site, were instrumental in 
mobilizing a grass-roots movement to demand the cleanup. 

Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive element. When it decays, 
it often turns into lead or radon gas, linked to liver disease and 
cancer. At one point in the fight, a township-sponsored health survey 
found that residents living near the Grace site when it was operating 
reported higher cancer death rates than people living at least a mile 
away.

"He really worked hard at it," Renee Drol said Monday of her husband. 
"He wouldn't let go. He wrote letters. We held meetings. He worried 
about the health problems -- that's why he wanted it to get cleaned 
up." 

Drol said her husband, who died of a heart attack at age 69, would 
have been thrilled to hear the land would become a park.

The site, at Black Oak Ridge and Pompton Plains Cross roads, was 
formerly owned and operated first by Rare Earths Inc. and then W. R. 
Grace and Co. The contamination happened mainly as a result of 
thorium processing conducted there from 1948 to 1971, but other 
metals such as radium and uranium were also present.

Grace ceased its Wayne operations in 1971. The property sat unused 
until 1981 when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission began investigating 
and sampling sites, such as the one on Black Oak Ridge Road, where 
the government had licensed companies such as Grace to process 
thorium and bury its waste materials.

In 1984, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the land a 
Superfund site and the U.S. Department of Energy acquired it. 

Initially, the DOE scooped up contaminated soil that had migrated to 
25 properties in the vicinity, including Sheffield Park. The DOE 
piled 38,500 cubic yards of off-site, radioactively contaminated soil 
under a blue tarp on the main site. For a decade, the mountain of 
soil sat, waiting for a disposal site to become available. It was 
contained, officials said, and not harmful to residents unless 
inhaled or ingested. 

But residents such as Drol refused to accept looking out their back 
windows at a 35- to 40-foot-high pile of radioactive dirt as long as 
a football field. They went door to door, collected petitions, held 
town meetings and even went to Washington. They called for 
completion, arguing that the site endangered their health and lowered 
their property values. 

They got the attention of Pascrell, who was elected in 1996 and made 
the cleanup a priority.

In 1997, the Army Corps of Engineers took over. The above-ground 
thorium-laced soil from off-site locations was shipped to Utah and 
the corps began to excavate the site itself.

Workers dug as deep as 22 feet, removing about 70,000 cubic yards of 
contaminated soil and replaced it with "certified clean fill" from a 
quarry north of Wayne off Route 23, said corps project manager Allen 
Roos. Meanwhile, researchers dressed in "moon suits" continuously 
tested levels of radioactive material in the air, water and soil. 

Four years later, in 2001, the site was declared clean. Since 2002, 
officials have monitored the site through a long-term groundwater 
testing program. The last test is scheduled for June. 

Test results have shown that the measure of radioactivity in soil 
buried below the clean fill is well below the federal environmental 
safety standards (of 5 picocuries per gram of thorium) and "only 
slightly above what's naturally occurring in the area," Roos said. 

If the June tests report similar results, the land will be 
transferred to the township.

The township will pay nothing, officials said, but it will have to 
figure out how to level the site and address drainage issues before 
turning it into a park. Russ Schubert, township director of parks and 
recreation, said his department has drawn up preliminary plans for 
four fields: two for soccer and lacrosse and two for softball and 
baseball. The township does not have preliminary figures for the cost 
of the project, officials said. 

The corps' cleanup project has cost $95 million in federal funds. In 
addition, Grace paid $30 million toward the cleanup after settling a 
lawsuit -- which residents and the township participated in -- with 
the U.S. Department of Justice in 1998. 

A similar thorium cleanup, conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers, 
is being conducted in Maywood. That Superfund site is much larger -- 
about 11 acres with 88 properties in the vicinity -- and scheduled 
for completion in 2012, Roos said.

One issue remains in Wayne: 

"There is some potential for additional contamination underneath 
Black Oak Ridge Road at the intersection with Pompton Plains Cross 
Road," Roos said. "Any potentially contaminated soil is capped and 
contained well underneath the roadway," he said, "but the corps is 
negotiating a land-use control contract with the county so that if 
any work is done in the future, we would come back in."

In the meantime, residents who remembered the years of pounding the 
pavement to get something done were happy to hear the land would be 
used for a park.

Chris McDiarmid of Lucas Lane said she hopes at least one of the 
fields would be named after Andrew Drol.

"If it wasn't for him," McDiarmid said. "It wouldn't have gotten 
done."
----------------

Reid's Bill Would Help Nevada Test Site Workers
  
KLAS TV News  Mar 17 - Nevada Senator Harry Reid introduced a bill he 
hopes will make it easier for former Nevada Test Site workers to get 
medical and financial assistance for illness. Many of the workers say 
they contracted cancer after being exposed to radioactive materials 
on the job. 

Reid's bill would streamline the process for applying for $150,000 
payments authorized by the U.S. Congress in a 1990 law dealing with 
those claims. 

About 3,300 former test site workers or their survivors have applied 
for the compensation payments. But those who worked at the Nevada 
facility have had the lowest rate of claims accepted.

-------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614 

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306
Fax:(949) 296-1144

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at earthlink.net 

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/ 
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/