Chernobyl Sufferers in Ukraine and Their Social Problems: Short Outline
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Chernobyl Sufferers in Ukraine and Their Social Problems: Short Outline Volodymyr TYKHYI Environmental Education and Information Center POB 136, Kyiv 245070, Ukraine; [email protected] 1. INTRODUCTION. Such slogans were patriotic, but politically neutral and 1.1. Change of nationhood and political system in thus safer then direct appeals to independence. Major Ukraine after the accident. political forces were using issues like consequences of Chernobyl disaster, secrecy around this problem, At the moment of the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe absence of real consultations with sufferers to prove Ukraine was one of 15 republics of the Union of Soviet the necessity of real changes of the state system. Socialist Republics (USSR, or Soviet Union). Ukraine Soviet Union was facing extremely severe was the second biggest republic (population 51 economic problems in 80-s, caused by the lasting million) after Russia (population 144 million in 1986). Afghanistan war, huge expenses for armament race Soviet Union was a strongly centralised state with one and dramatic 1985 drop in world crude oil prices - one and very powerful ruling Communist Party (CPSU), of the main export commodities and the source of hard which dominated in all structures - governments, local currency income. authorities, army, businesses, culture, society as a Chernobyl disaster, mitigation of impacts of which whole. required huge material and labour investments played Formally republics were self-governed, but in an important role in developing economic crisis. reality all important decisions were taken in Moscow Victims of radiation increased the number of suffering by the Central Committee of CPSU and the so called people which needed urgent help - like invalids of Union Government. All management system was Afghanistan war, like victims of military conflicts in known as “command and control”. The backbone of Azerbaijan, refugees from Georgia, sufferers of Spitak vertical authority was the Communist Party earthquake in Armenia, population in the area of Aral committees of all levels - Central, Republic, Oblast, sea. district. There were also party committees at In August 1991, after the unsuccessful attempt of a enterprises, organisations, villages and city quarters, coup-d’etat in Moscow, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada which controlled implementation of decisions of (Parliament) proclaimed the Act of Sovereignty of higher levels. All resources, including financial - for Ukraine. The communist party lost its role and in less industries, housing, food etc. - were distributed by than a year the USSR has disintegrated. Ukraine had central government in Moscow. Local governments become an independent state with full responsibility and industries were lobbying interests of their regions for all positive and negative issues, including the and enterprises in Moscow. legacy of Chernobyl catastrophe. Actually the only one way of influencing the state First and subsequent governments of independent (and at that time everything was state!) policy was Ukraine faced enormous problems with liquidation of raising an issue at the meeting of a low-level party Chernobyl consequences. These problems were committee. Of course, only ideas supported by high exacerbated by enormous inflation during 1992-1995 level party authorities had some chances to be and general breakdown of national economy due to implemented. various reasons. Rapidly decreasing quality of life of In 1985 a new and dynamic leader of CPSU, all population did not allow for proper measures to Mikhail Gorbachev launched “perestroyka” - protect those for suffered from Chernobyl. It is hard to reconstruction of the whole system. This had lead to a judge whether there existed adequate political will and substantial weakening of the authority of Communist capacities to sort out the problems and properly solve Party. One important feature of perestroyka was them. “glasnost” - opportunity to publicly express one’s opinion, reveal information etc. This opportunity was 1.2. Sufferers from Chernobyl catastrophe used to disclose facts and consequences of Chernobyl a) liquidation of the consequences of disaster: disaster, and eventually to make this problem an issue “liquidators” of a public policy. Glasnost was used by active The first statement about Chernobyl catastrophe political forces in republics, first of all Baltic from the USSR Council of Ministers said “An accident republics, to begin a struggle for independence. has taken place at the Chernobyl power station, and Similar movements began also in Ukraine, Bielarus one of the reactors was damaged. Measures are being and other republics. Very often “green” slogans taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident”. (protests against nuclear power plants, polluting industries) were first in programs of these movements. 235 Those who “were taking measures” are the first big zone they were doing what was needed - but being category of sufferers - “liquidators”. dressed in military uniform. The first who immediately was affected by reactor As it is clear from above mentioned, people were # 4 explosion was personnel of Chernobyl NPP and draft from all parts of Soviet empire - and eventually fire brigades - many of theses people died, and dispersed on its wide spreads. No one knows exact hundreds lost their health. Urgent measures to prevent figures - how many “liquidators” worked in further aggravation of disaster involved thousands of Chernobyl. Some estimates give numbers around other specialists and workers. For example, to cool and 600,000. According to the recent data, in Ukraine live strengthen the basement of reactor building a tunnel about 180,000 liquidators. And, of course, much less is under the damaged reactor was dug by miners from known about liquidators’ radiation doses. Donetsk oblast - hundreds of them are suffering now b) population from different diseases. To dampen the fire and The second huge category of the sufferers is contain the radioactivity, 5 thousand tons of lead, population - we will speak of Ukraine. First of all, boron and sand had been dropped from helicopters in these were people of nearby cities and villages. the heart of the burning reactor this meant irradiation Immediate victims became those who had rest or work among pilots and others who participated in this out of houses. Some of them contracted even acute operation. radiation diseases, radiation burns - and all received During May-November 1986 a giant construction enormous doses of iodine on thyroid glands. But this of sarcophagus was erected. To build it out of more was only the beginning - they lost their houses, than 400,000 cubic meters of concrete, 7,000 tons of property, jobs, their native land, after all. steel tens of thousands of construction workers, The 50,000 population of the city of Pripyat was engineers, drivers were drafted to work just near the evacuated two days after the accident, and in later debris of unit 4, where radiation levels were very high. months and years still more people were forced to The deadly decision to start again reactor # 3, leave their homes. People were resettled to newly situated on the same basement with # 4 and sharing a constructed villages, many found shelter with their lot of vital communications, had led to over-irradiation relatives and friend all over Ukraine. They lived as of thousands of workers who constructed necessary refugees, very often in unfriendly surrounding - some walls and rearranged thousands of pipelines and illiterate men looked at evacuated as lepers. electric circuits. Evacuation from contaminated areas continued for Of course, all these men working at the reactor 4 many years. Plan of Ukrainian Council of Ministers for and around needed food, housing, transportation etc. 1990-1991 previewed evacuation of 45,000 people Army and militia (police) regiments were guarding the from contaminated zones. On contaminated territories fenced out 30-km exclusion zone. Most of them had of Ukraine in 1990 lived about 1,5 million people. All only basic understanding of what’s happening and of them were suffering from Chernobyl. often their doses were very high. People in contaminated areas were not allowed to During the years after the accident buildings, roads, eat wild berries and mushrooms (and this is the machines and equipment needed permanent territory where traditionally “gifts of woods” are very desactivation - and again this involved hundreds of important part of diet), they were not allowed to use drivers, dosimetrists, washers. In the course of milk of their cows and goats, and the traditional desactivation houses in tens of villages were economy of collective-farms producing milk, meat, demolished and buried, and all the so called “red potato, linen collapsed. forest” (hundreds of hectares) adjacent to the power It is hard to say whether evacuated people were in a plant, was cut and buried in specially dug huge ditches. better situation than those living in contaminated areas People needed food and basic services, so logistical (except some limited number of NPP personnel and problems were solved on the highest level - in other privileged categories, who received comfortable Moscow, with involved tens of thousands people lived apartments in Kyiv and other big cities). The quality of at a time in the city of Chernobyl 30 km from nuclear new settlements, built for the evacuated under a big power plant. The biggest canteen in Chernobyl, time pressure was often very low, and many people organised in a huge ward constructed