Remembering Chornobyl 25 Years Later

By Ihor Ostash

Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada

Almost a generation has passed, but the world’s worst nuclear accident continues to haunt the people of Ukraine.

The Chornobyl disaster had a great social impact: 2.3 million people are recognized as being affected by the accident, including more than half a million children. In the last 13 years, the number of such people decreased by 26 per cent, while the number of those considered disabled by the accident increased by almost 80 per cent.

According to a report of the United Nations Chornobyl Forum, more than 4,000 thyroid cancer cases were reported in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine in 1990-1992. There was also a high level of chronic diseases of the digestive, neurological, skeletal, muscular, and circulatory systems among those affected. But it is difficult to determine whether these illnesses were linked to radiation or to other factors, such as changes in age, a declining quality of life, and post-accident countermeasures, such as relocation.

In the exclusion zone, direct economic losses to Ukraine amounted to about $1.4 billion, while between 1986 and 1991, the cost of mitigating the consequences of the disaster was about $6 billion. During the next 20 years expenses exceeded $10 billion – in some years reaching 8 to 10 per cent of the entire state budget. But it is very difficult to precisely calculate all indirect costs caused by the loss of contaminated agricultural lands, water, and forest resources. According to estimates from experts, total losses for Ukraine will reach $179 billion by 2015.

December 20, 1995 marked the beginning of the end for Chornobyl, when a memorandum of understanding between the Ukrainian government and the governments of the G7 countries and the Commission of the European Community was signed in Ottawa to close the plant. Five years later, on December 15, 2000, at 1:17 p.m., the Unit 3 reactor was forever shut down by an order of the Ukrainian president. The plant stopped electric power generation.

Construction of infrastructure facilities is now under way within the framework of the international technical assistance program, according to the 1995 memorandum.

In 1997, the Shelter Implementation Plan was launched by the G7 countries, along with Russia, the European Union, and Ukraine, together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The new shelter is intended to safely confine radioactive substances for at least 100 years. This 20,000-tonne structure will enclose the residual waste contained within Chornobyl’s reactor.

Taking into account the lack of prospects for constructing new energy or other economic facilities on the site, it’s not likely that the Chornobyl area will be brought to “green field” condition. It’s accepted that the most reasonable final purpose for the site would be as a “brown spot.” According to the Chornobyl decommissioning program, decommissioning the plant and transforming the shelter into an ecologically safe system will take about 70 years.

Started December 15, 2000, the Chornobyl shutdown stage will be completed in 2013, after nuclear fuel is removed from Units 1, 2, and 3. The main activities currently being carried out at the units are the final shutdown of systems and equipment, and the partial dismantling of decommissioned equipment. There are 312 systems and subsystems being shut down; 33 of them stopped operating in 2008.

Post-Chornobyl, Ukraine continues to pursue a responsible nuclear policy. Another important step was reached in April 2010 at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych announced a decision to get rid of the country’s stocks of highly enriched uranium by the next summit, scheduled for South Korea in 2012.

Ukraine is planning to hold several events this spring dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Chornobyl catastrophe. They include a nuclear safety summit and an international conference. We are expecting high-level representatives from Canada and other countries at these events. And we hope that donor states will make a financial contribution to cover a lack of finances to make the plant safe – the current shortfall amounts to $1 billion.

The Chornobyl catastrophe proved – and the recent disaster in Japan confirmed – that nuclear accidents lead to global consequences and influence vital interests of many countries. The resources needed to overcome the consequences of such catastrophes go far beyond the economic and technological capabilities of an individual country and require a joint effort by the world community.