Re: World must pay for Chernobyl

[Keith Welch <welch@jlab.org>]

>
>> "It is a tragedy on a planetary scale and the whole world must pay for
>> the damage," President Kuchma, cited by Interfax Ukraine news agency,
>> told reporters in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

Am I the only one that's more than a little fed up with this?  I translate
it like this: "Because we here in the good old former USSR neither designed
nor operated this facility with (expensive) proper safety features and
procedures, we now demand that everybody else pay for our arrogance and
stupidity."

A picture has been portrayed that this accident was somehow an inevitable
consequence of "playing with fire".  Further, that the developed countries
somehow owe some sort of support or are in some way responsible because
they too "are courting the same evil".  As if we need to cleanse our
consciences because it didn't happen here.  The media has done nothing but
perpetuate this idea.

No one seems to remember that these nuc plants fall short in safety design
(not even a containment beyond the vessel), and that the cause of the
chernobyl accident was an ill-conceived and botched test.

I think the rest of the world ought to demand payment from THEM for
contaminating our property.

There, I feel much better now.


Keith Welch
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Newport News VA
welch@cebaf.gov
Ph: (757)269-7212
FAX:(757)269-5048