The Tragic Legacy of Chornobyl

By Orest Zakydalsky

On March 31, 2006, at the Munk Centre for International Studies (University of Toronto), Dr. David Marples delivered a lecture entitled “Chornobyl: 20 Years Later”. The event was sponsored by the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine.

Dr. Marples is the Director of the Stasiuk Program for the Study of Contemporary Ukraine at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta and author of Chernobyl and Nuclear Power in the USSR (1987), copies of which were generously donated by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and distributed to the audience at the lecture.

In his lecture, Dr. Marples focused on the current situation in Ukraine as it relates to the Chornobyl disaster of April 26, 1986. Dr. Marples noted that the Chernobyl Forum Report, compiled by eight United Nations agencies, the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian governments, and the Atomic Energy Commission, publicized last year and chaired by Burton Bennett, stated that there were no profound medical effects to the population at large. The report stated that by mid-2005, fewer than 60 deaths among the population could be attributed directly to the disaster and that, in the future, up to 4,000 people could die from radiation exposure.

The report identified several concerns relating to Chornobyl.  The impact of the disaster on victims’ mental health was cited as the most serious of these problems.  Poverty of evacuees was another concern.  By 2000 some 350,000 Russians Ukrainians and Belarusians had been relocated because of the disaster and many of these people live in dire straits. Many are not self-sufficient as programs meant to assist them create dependence on the state.

Dr. Marples argued that the situation, in the last ten years, has actually gotten much worse than the Chernobyl Forum’s report indicates. In Belarus, the land affected by the fallout has been declared fit for re-habitation by Presidential decree. Marples noted, however, that 8 per cent of the territory of Ukraine and 22 per cent of the territory of Belarus was contaminated. 

He also pointed out that there are very serious unresolved issues. For example, the sarcophagus that covers the reactor core is leaking radiation and a permanent roof needs to be built.

The health effects seem to be much graver than that suggested by the Chernobyl Forum Report. The official death total is highly dubious; thousands of cleanup workers were resettled all around the former Soviet Union and there has been no long-term tracking of the health problems they have suffered. The radiation doses have lowered peoples’ immunity; they are now much more susceptible to other diseases, such as AIDS. There has been a substantial rise in leukemia, other cancers and childhood diabetes since the disaster. In Belarus, 15 per cent of the population is under medical observation as a result of Chornobyl, but the Belarusian government continually hides the extent of these problems.

Dr. Marples further pointed out that Ukraine has suffered a catastrophic population decline since Chornobyl. The psychological trauma endured by many as a result of the disaster has made people fearful of having children. This is one of many hidden legacies of the disaster. The economic costs, as well, have been substantial. Dr. Marples argued that Chornobyl had cost the Ukrainian government some $128 billion dollars by 2000.

As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, it is imperative that we remember that Chornobyl is not simply something that happened in the past. The legacies of this horrible event continue to have profound effects on the citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Many problems are far from solved; forgetting this will only exacerbate these difficulties. Thus, when we remember Chornobyl, we must remember not only those who have perished because of it, we must also remember those who continue a daily struggle against the effects of the worst nuclear catastrophe in history.

Orest Zakydalsky is a graduate student at the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the University of Toronto. He is studying institutional changes in the democratization process in Ukraine.