Chernobyl remembered - article

[Norman Cohen <ncohen12@comcast.net>]

> Andrew Hund wrote:

>

> Chernobyl remembered

> 26apr02

>

> SLAVUTICH, Ukraine: About 250 people gathered to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion, the world's worst nuclear accident, in this town near the doomed facility.

>

> Participants at the rally observed a minute of silence at 1.23am (8.23am AEST), the exact time when Chernobyl's nuclear reactor number four blew up 16 years ago.

>

> They laid wreaths and candles near the monument to the 26 people - many of them rescuers - who died in the weeks immediately following the blast.

>

> Many of them still live in Slavutich, a town of 25,000 located 50km from the nuclear power plant, that was built in 1987, one year after the blast, for people working at containing the consequences of the accident.

>

> "It is our duty to pay a tribute to those who gave their lives so that we could continue to live here. I want to remain in this town, because there is hope and a future for youth here," Sasha, a 21-year-old resident, said.

>

> Although the plant was totally shut down over a year ago, 5,000 people still work there, mainly studying the consequences of the accident and ensuring the facility's security.

>

> On April 26, 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine blew up, spewing out a radioactive cloud which spread over much of Europe.

>

> An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 people have since died.

>

> But three other reactors continued to be in service until one of them was shut down in 1991 following a fire and another was taken out of service in 1996.

>

> The plant, located north of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, was finally shut down in December 2000 under a $US2.3 billion ($4.25 billion) deal with the world's richest nations.

>

> Nearly six million people continue to live in contaminated zones, including 2.3 million Ukrainians, 1.8 million Russians and 1.6 million Belarussians, according to UN figures.

>

> Agence France-Presse

>

> http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4204385%255E1702,00.html

>

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