Chernobyl in the news

This list is by no means complete.

If you have any additions (especially if from on-line sources) please let me know.

NOTE: for pedagogic reasons, and defying local convention, the more recent items are toward the end of the page.

23 Apr 1991, Years later, Chernobyl victims still suffer: Earth Day 1991 in Boston has been transformed this year from a single day of remembrance and celebration to an entire week of multi-issue awareness. This Friday at noon, a commemorative event which remembers both the planet and its residents has been scheduled at Boston City Hall Plaza. Five years have passed since an estimated 50 tons of radioactive material were released at Chernobyl, Ukraine (10 times the amount of fallout at Hiroshima), The New York Times reported [4/14/91].
Two days after the explosion, the Swedish national radio reported that "10,000" times the normal amount of Cesium 137 existed in their air space, prompting Moscow to officially respond. The following day over 135,000 people were evacuated from within an 18-mile radius of the accident.
14 Apr 1992, Study Finds Chernobyl Radiation Worse than Originally Reported: Many more people were bombarded by high doses of radiation from the Chernobyl accident than officially reported, and even those who received small doses are in jeopardy, a pioneering Russian-American study has found.
"We have gotten a completely new picture of the medical consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe," said Dr. Vladimir M. Lupandin, a Russian physician who was one of the leading investigators in the survey.
22 Oct 1993, Chernobyl Reactor to Keep Operating: Ukraine's Parliament, more worried about energy shortages than environmental safety, voted Thursday to keep the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant working and to resume the country's stalled atomic energy program.
1 Feb 1994, Sich Discovers Chernobyl Worse than Prior Reports: Alexander R. Sich, a graduate student in nuclear engineering, reported that the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown was much worse than Soviets had previously admitted. His doctoral thesis provided a definitive study of the disastrous meltdown near Kiev, Ukraine, that occurred nearly eight years ago. Sich spent 18 months researching near the site of the April 26, 1986 explosion, speaking with experts, examining official reports, and exploring the crumbling concrete sarcophagus that encases the remains of the reactor. Contrary to existing reports, Sich concluded that the helicopter airlifts of 5,000 tons of clay and other materials to smother the smoldering reactor core was unsuccessful.
7 Oct 1994, Sich Scales Back Chernobyl Findings: Alexander R. Sich PhD '94, a former graduate student in the nuclear engineering department, scaled back his findings that the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown was far worse than previous Soviet reports. This was in response to a subsequent investigation last spring. "The British code that he used for the calculation said that there were more curies of radiation released than there actually were," said Professor of Nuclear Engineering Norman C. Rasmussen PhD '56, Sich's doctoral thesis adviser.
Sich's thesis, published last January, originally reported that between 185 and 250 million curies were released as a result of the 1986 meltdown. Official Soviet reports said that the release was 50 million curies. A curie is the amount of radiation released by one gram of radium.
14 Apr 1995, Ukraine to Close Chernobyl In Exchange for Non-Nuclear Plant: Ukraine will close the accident-plagued Chernobyl nuclear station by the year 2000 and replace it with a gas-fired power station, a visiting delegation of Western officials announced Thursday. "The new millennium will begin with a closed Chernobyl station," said a delighted Michel Barnier, France's environment minister, after hashing out the agreement in a meeting with Ukrainian President Leonid D. Kuchma and representatives of the European Union and the Group of Seven industrialised nations, known as G-7.
20 Nov 1995, Health Consequences of The Chernobyl and Other Radiological Accidents: Some six months before the tenth anniversary of the greatest catastrophe in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the World Health Organisation will convene the WHO International Conference on Health Consequences of the Chernobyl and other Radiological Accidents. The scope and date of this Conference were carefully chosen to relate to a number of other events.
[Conference announcement]
10 Jan 1996, IAEA/WHO say thyroid cancer reports up 200% in Ukraine: Cases of thyroid cancer among children in the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia have risen 200% [sic] since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. The IAEA, citing data from the WHO, said that in 1995 680 cases were reported.
1996 International Congress on Radiation Protection: In April 1996, the international radiation protection community will gather at Vienna to attend the Ninth Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association. The primary purpose of IRPA is to encourage communication among professionals and hence improvements in standards of protection and safety throughout the world. One of the reasons for choosing Vienna as Congress site was that this location would attract many more participants from the countries of Eastern Europe. The intention during the meeting will be to promote discussion and interaction on the areas of most current concern. These include the effects on health exerted by ionising radiation at high and low levels; control philosophy and the practical means of implementing it in places as diverse as uranium mines, factories, hospitals, aircraft, and the area round Chernobyl; dosimetry and instrumentation.
[Conference announcement]
1 Feb 1996, [More] Fallout Detected in Scandinavia: Norway registered radioactive fallout for a week in January that could be from a nuclear reactor abroad, an official said in Oslo on Wednesday.
Finland, which was one of several countries to be hit by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in the Soviet Union in 1986, also measured fresh fallout in the same period but Finnish officials said the radioactivity was within normal limits.
13 Feb 1996, Belarus Puts $265 Billion Pricetag on Disaster: Belarus, the country worst hit by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Tuesday put a $235 billion price tag on dealing with its aftermath and Ukraine demanded faster action from the West to close the stricken power plant.
Belarus's Chernobyl minister said foreign aid since the 1986 catastrophe provided a tiny fraction of what was needed to clean up huge stretches of contaminated forests, re-settle thousands of people and tackle health problems.
Feb 1996, Columbia Health Sciences Chernobyl cataract study: The Office of External Relations has begun the first stage in producing a guide of Columbia Health Sciences faculty for use by reporters in the print and electronic media. The guide will list faculty by name and area of expertise and will enable reporters to locate faculty within particular clinical areas, health topics, and scientific subjects and disciplines.
10 Mar 1996, Russian children remain under medical surveillance: Nearly 800K Russian children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident ten years ago remain under medical surveillance, while 3K are in hospital. Interfax quotes Russia's Health Min'y as saying these figures apply only to Russia, while the accident occurred in Ukraine, doing more damage there and in Belarus. The Min'y says the health of children and pregnant women living in contaminated zones continues to worsen. It said there is an increase in diseases affecting the endrocrine glands, as well as tumour of the nervous system.
15 Mar 1996, Radiation Contaminates Three in Georgia: Two policemen and a railway guard were exposed to heavy doses of radiation after opening a container of nuclear waste out of curiosity, a news report said Friday.
18 Mar 1996, Chernobyl Disaster, Ten Years Later: Former Soviet republics affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster face a peak in cancers caused by radioactivity in about nine years' time, Belarus's Chernobyl minister said Monday. Ivan Kenik, speaking outside a conference held in the run-up to the disaster's 10th anniversary, said Belarus had little experience with radiation-linked illness, notably thyroid cancer in children, and needed Western help to cope.
21 Mar 1996, It's time to get back properly into the uranium export business: It has been interesting to hear the arguments, both public and private, about the supposed dangers, in particular, of supply [of Australian uranium] to Indonesia. After the outpouring of repressed racism and xenophobia which followed the French decision to resume testing, it should not be surprising that most of the arguments about the supposed dangers of the proposed Indonesian nuclear power station are essentially racist.
There is the belief that somehow Indonesian scientists and engineers would have to be inferior, that management would inevitably be corrupt and inefficient, and that we would be seeing some kind of re-run of Chernobyl - only worse because somehow the Indonesians would be worse than the Russians (or Ukrainians).
2 Apr 1996, Chernobyl Conference -- 10 years on: The Chernobyl 10th anniversary conference in Vienna started with a moment of silence for the past and future victims of the world's largest nuclear accident. Scientists at the conference have been asking if the use of nuclear energy is still responsible. Delegates say 15 other reactors of the Chernobyl design are still in use in E Europe and making them safe will cost $bns.
3 Apr 1996, Ten years after Chernobyl, plutonium taints Ukraine waters: The legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident not only lingers in the minds of millions of people living nearby. It also taints their drinking water.
Plutonium and other dangerous radioactive particles released in the accident have been working their way into the ground water in the wetlands of northern Ukraine for the past 10 years, and officials warn they have now found their way to Ukraine's major waterways.
9 Apr 1996, CHERNOBYL: 10 YEARS AFTER: Almost ten years ago, on April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor exploded in Chernobyl, northern Ukraine. At a commemorative conference in New York today (Tuesday), experts say the death toll from the explosion is still rising.
9 Apr 1996, Chernobyl Meeting Looks At Impact Of Disaster: An international conference on the 1986 Chernobyl disaster opened Tuesday with a minute of silence for the victims past, present and future of the world's worst nuclear accident.
More than 700 delegates, politicians and nuclear experts packed the conference hall for the opening speeches of the co-sponsors, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Union Commission and the World Health Organisation.
9 Apr 1996, I-A-E-A/CHERNOBYL: Delegates from many countries are attending a conference on the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl 10-years ago in Ukraine. From Vienna, the Ukrainian government says it is committed to closing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant within four-years if it receives enough international aid to do so.
9 Apr 1996, Experts Link Chernobyl to Rise in Cancers: The Chernobyl nuclear accident caused a sharp rise in thyroid cancers and may be linked to leukemia among workers cleaning up the radioactive fallout, experts said Tuesday. Ten years after the fire and blast at the Ukrainian reactor spewed radiation over most of Europe, 700 delegates, politicians and nuclear experts met to discuss the long-term impacts of the world's worst nuclear accident.
10 Apr 1996, Dozens of Ukrainian Towns Flooded: Rivers across Ukraine overflowed their banks and flooded dozens of towns on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of some 1,000 people. Officials are particularly concerned about flooding in the 18-mile zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant - the site of the world's worst nuclear power accident, an explosion in 1986.
12 Apr 1996, I-A-E-A/CHERNOBYL: International nuclear experts have ended a four-day conference on the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine 10 years ago. There were disagreements about the long-term health consequences of the world's worst nuclear accident, and there was no clear progress toward nuclear power safer.
13 Apr 1996, Chernobyl, mon amour: Inside a toxic timebomb: Eduard Pazukhin is mesmerised by a dangerous, glittering beauty that makes his heart bump and jitter like a Geiger counter. And he admits it with a crooked, self-deprecating smile. "My love is Chernobyl. My heart is here."
Chernobyl is the siren that calls him to the most contaminated place on earth, inside the sarcophagus built to confine the mess after plant's fourth nuclear reactor blew up 10 years ago.
He calls it a passion, like having a wife as beautiful as Sophia Loren. He snatches up a photograph of the crazy ruined interior of Chernobyl number four reactor and kisses it with spontaneous delight.
16 Apr 1996, G7 Hopes to Boost Yeltsin at Nuclear Summit: A summit in Moscow this week will try to cut the risks of nuclear disaster a decade after Chernobyl but Western leaders hope it will also give Russian President Boris Yeltsin a boost in his struggle to keep power.
Yeltsin, who faces a tough fight against a resurgent Communist Party in June elections, plays host to leaders of the world's rich industrialised nations Friday and Saturday for a meeting on improving nuclear safety. The Kremlin summit, to be chaired jointly by Yeltsin and French President Jacques Chirac, brings together the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7).
18 Apr 1996, Nuclear safety summit -- Moscow: Russian police sealed a village near Moscow today, where children were found playing with discarded "nuclear material". The discovery comes just before of a nuclear safety summit that's to meet this weekend in Moscow.
18 Apr 1996, How Safe is Chernobyl Today?: In the rush to seal off the radiation flow from Chernobyl's destroyed fourth reactor, construction crews built a 300,000 ton concrete-and-metal enclosure, or sarcophagus, around it in just seven months.
A decade later, engineers say, the results of that urgent construction effort are starting to show. The sarcophagus was built as a temporary structure with a thirty-year life, but the difficult conditions under which it was constructed make it unlikely it will last that long.
18 Apr 1996, "Big increases" in radiation near Chernobyl: [Australian] ABC TV News reports there are renewed signs of contamination and that observers say the needles on their radiation meters had shown "big increases" inside the exclusion zone within 30 km of the Chernobyl power plant. [American] NBC Nightly News reported that a 40% increase in radiation had been detected 18 km NE of the plant, but that there was "no threat to its operation".
18 Apr 1996, Despite the Disaster, Nuclear Power Grows in Former Soviet Union: When Soviet scientists opened the world's first nuclear power station 42 years ago in Obninsk, a science city 100 km south of Moscow, officials hailed it as the dawn of a new age of energy.
Soviet leaders told the country that the "peaceful atom" would soon arrive in homes and factories everywhere, bringing unlimited electric power and a better life.
21 Apr 1996, SUMMIT CHERNOBYL: Among developments at the nuclear summit was a renewed promise from Ukraine to shut down the Chernobyl power plant by the year 2000. But a combination of harsh economic realities and political sensitivities could make it difficult to turn that pledge into reality.
22 Apr 1996, CHERNOBYL CLOSURE: Ukrainian officials say one of two reactors still in operation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will be permanently closed by the end of this year. In the Ukraine capital, Kiev, the news came as events are in progress to mark the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
24 Apr 1996, Chernobyl -- 10 ya and today: Needles on rad meters showed "big increases" said Russian scientist Edward Bazulkin. On similar reports, US NBC mentioned a "40% increase" in radiation. The increase was caused by fires burning inside the Chernobyl "exclusion zone", around 18 km to SW of the Chernobyl plant. Officials there say there was no threat to its operations.
25 Apr 1996, CHERNOBYL AND THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY: The consequences of the explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which occurred ten years ago Friday (4/26), are still very much with us. Some agreements on tightening nuclear security were reached at the Moscow summit meeting last weekend, but there was no final agreement on the closing of the Chernobyl power plant itself, since the West has offered just three-billion dollars for the work involved in shutting it down, and Ukraine wants at least four-billion dollars to include construction of alternate sources of electricity. Meanwhile, other nuclear plants in the former Soviet bloc continue to operate, even as the nuclear power industry worldwide is in rapid decline.
25 Apr 1996, CLEANING CHERNOBYL WITH PLANTS: Ten years after the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl, three million hectares of land surrounding the reactor in Ukraine and Belarus remain contaminated with radioactive metals, posing a continuing threat to the millions of residents in the area. The soil is permeated with the deadly metals of nuclear energy -- mainly uranium, cesium, and strontium. Can anything grow safely there? The answer is yes. Scientists are perfecting methods that use plants to absorb the heavy metals through their roots, with the eventual promise of renewing the contaminated land partly through agriculture.
25 Apr 1996, Ten years later, Chernobyl is as deadly as ever: In November 1993, the War and Peace Foundation arranged for Vladimir Chernousenko, the Ukrainian nuclear physicist who supervised the "cleanup" of Chernobyl, to come to the United States and reveal the true magnitude of the disaster. April 25, 1996, marked the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. A victim of radiation poisoning resulting from the accident, Chernousenko is now dying of cancer.
25 Apr 1996, Genetic mutations pass on to Chernobyl's next generation: Couples exposed to high levels of radiation after the Chernobyl disaster produced children with twice as many genetic mutations as unexposed parents, new research conducted by Russian and British scientists shows.
25 Apr 1996, Minor radiation leak at Chernobyl as Ukrainians mark 10th anniversary: A minor release of radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was reportedly caused by careless work by staff, officials said yesterday, the eve of the 10th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident. Mr Oleg Goloskokov, a spokesman for the station 140 km north of Kiev, said the radiation had been cleaned up and there was no threat to the environment.
25 Apr 1996, Minor Leak From Radioactive Dust Discovered in Chernobyl Reactor: A minor radiation leak was discovered today in a reactor destroyed at Chernobyl 10 years ago in the world's worst nuclear accident. Plant operators reported that a small amount of radioactive dust leaked into the water filtration system of reactor No. 3 from the adjacent reactor No. 4, which was shattered by explosion and fire 10 years ago Friday.
26 Apr 1996, CHERNOBYL CEMETERY: Russian president Boris Yeltsin paid tribute today (Friday) to the men and women who ten years ago gave their lives trying to put out the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power station. In Moscow, other top officials gathered at the cemetery where many of the firefighters are buried.
26 Apr 1996, Russia moves to expand nuclear program: As a small radiation leak was reported at Chernobyl, experts say the site of the world's worst nuclear accident to date faces more serious problems. The concrete "sarcophagus" that was hastily constructed to contain radioactivity is continuing to crumble, while the levels of radioactivity are so high inside the building that remote observers see visible specks on their TV monitors. Meanwhile, nearby towns are still inhabited, despite being inside a 30 km "exclusion zone".
Critics say Russian nuclear scientists have until now overlooked the hazards posed by the Chernobyl accident. The reaction of one of the officials overseeing the disaster aftermath is reportedly typical. He has recently been told he has cancer. "It's my turn", he told TV journalists. "I never thought it could happen to me". Estimates range widely, but some say up to 800K children might eventually suffer some form of cancer as a result of the accident.
Elsewhere, 7 new Russian reactors are under construction -- 3 are set of export to other countries.
Interviewed recently, Mikhail Gorbachev said his government had done all it could do at the time to minimise the effects of the accident. But critics point out it took 48 hours for the SU to acknowledge that anything had happened, and that was after an increase in radioactivity was noticed in Sweden. They also say the disaster was down-played at the time, with May Day parades in the Chernobyl region went ahead under clouds of fallout, just 5 days after the accident. There was no evacuation even from the immediate neighbourhood of the power plant for up to 2 days after the accident.
Gorbachev said he had called on officials to be open about the problem, but critics counter he didn't speak publicly about the accident until 2 weeks after the event. He blamed the West for making more of the disaster than it was.
Gorbachev told reporters scientists on-site at the Chernobyl plant had not been able to decide immediately how bad the problems were and that, as a lawyer, he could do nothing but wait for their advice.
27 Apr 1996, Chernobyl memoriam: Tens of thousands in Ukraine and other former Soviet States formally remembered the Chernobyl nuclear accident today.
In Chernobyl, the "survivors" grieved. Hundreds of "liquidators" -- those that laboured to clean up contamination in the immediate aftermath of the disaster -- remembered others that had died from radiation-linked illnesses. Shots were fired to salute those not present. Reporters were told as many as 6,000 Liquidators had died in Ukraine alone.
Elsewhere, officials used official observances to re-affirm the decision to close the Chernobyl plant in return for Western aid. "The planet is too small for someone else's troubles to be ignored", President Leonid Kuchma told one gathering.
Critics say that although many Liquidators and civilians had received "significant doses of radiation", no significant attempt had been made to keep track of them.
According to some US estimates, up to 1/2 mn deaths across Europe were "likely" in the next few years, as a result of the Chernobyl accident.
30 Apr 1996, CHERNOBYL TENTH: Last week was the tenth anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident. It happened on April twenty-sixth, nineteen-eighty-six. An explosion and fire destroyed one of the reactors at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Center. Chernobyl is in Ukraine. At the time, Ukraine was a republic of the Soviet union.
2 May 1996, CHERNOBYL'S TENTH ANNIVERSARY: The world noted the tenth anniversary last week of a fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant which spewed radioactivity for thousands of hectares. The accident caused authorities the world over to re-think the feasibility of nuclear power.
2 May 1996, IAEA Says 438 Nuke Plants Operating Worldwide: Five new nuclear power plants came into operation since 1994 and a mothballed plant in Armenia came back on stream, bringing the total number around the world to 438, the United Nations nuclear agency said Thursday. ``Cernavoda was launched by the Canadian prime minister (Jean Chretien) and the Rumanian authorities last week, just before the anniversary of Chernobyl (on April 26),'' said IAEA spokesman David Kyd.
8 May 1996, Confrontations and arrests during banned Chernobyl demonstration in Minsk: President Aleksandr Lukashenka of Belarus has announced that he intends to ban all rallies and demonstrations in Belarus, following the "Chernobyl-96" commemorative rally in Meinsk on 26 April, the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Lukashenka described the rally as a "riot", and its organisers as "persons armed to the teeth" against whom he intended to take "very serious measures".
22 May 1996, Japan Closes Landmark '50s Mercury Poison Case: Japan Wednesday brought to a close the mercury poisoning case that awoke the world to the dangers of widespread industrial pollution three decades before Chernobyl. District courts in several major cities mediated an end to the battle over the Minamata disease, named after the southwestern Japanese village where hundreds of people died and thousands were hurt from eating mercury-tainted seafood between 1953 and 1960.
11 Jun 1996, International Group Formed to Tackle Chernobyl Problems: The major French engineering concern, the SGN/Eurisys Group, today announced its formation of an international group prepared to help organise extensive long-term decommissioning and remedial work in and around the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
The company said in a statement that it was calling for a new approach, following four years of work in a number of areas on the Chernobyl remediation programme.
1 Jul 1996, 'Minimal' Radiation Leaks at Chernobyl: A small amount of radiation was released in one of two working reactors at the Chernobyl power station, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, plant staff and Ukraine's nuclear authority said Monday.
1 Jul 1996, Minimal Radiation Leaks at Chernobyl: A small amount of radiation was released in one of two working reactors at the Chernobyl power station, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, plant staff and Ukraine's nuclear authority said Monday.
Galina Nosach, an engineer at the station 90 miles north of Kiev, said the leak occurred in a corridor in the main room of Chernobyl's reactor No. 1.
1 Jul 1996, Chernobyl reactor 4 leaking: A small amount of radiation was released in one of two working reactors at the Chernobyl power station, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, plant staff and Ukraine's nuclear authority said Monday.
24 Jul 1996, Chernobyl, Greece and Leukemia: Researchers say radioactive fallout from the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, has had a health impact in Greece. VOA reports that an article in the professional journal "Nature" [July 25th issue] reports that the nuclear blast apparently has increased the incidence of leukemia in infants born shortly afterward.
25 Jul 1996, One Dead in at Ukraine Nuclear Plant Accident: Two accidents in three hours hit one of Ukraine's five nuclear power stations, killing a man, causing contamination and sparking new worries about safety 10 years after the Chernobyl disaster. Viktor Stovbun, a senior official at Ukraine's nuclear power authority Derzhkomatom, said a worker died of burns and other injuries when a pipe carrying steam broke and struck him on Wednesday at the Khmelnitsky station in western Ukraine.
3 Sep 1996, Ukraine economy -- new currency going smoothly: With the changeover to the new money pre-occupying the person in the street, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl arrived in Kiev for a two day visit. He brought a large business delegation with him. Mr. Kohl said Germany wants to be a partner with an independent Ukraine. His talks with President Leonid Kuchma are focusing on the Chernobyl nuclear plant and several development projects.
24 Sep 1996, Ukraine Reviews How To Make Chernobyl Safer: Ukraine's chief negotiator on closing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant said Tuesday authorities were reviewing how to make the "tomb" around its ruined fourth reactor safer after a chain reaction last week. Environment Minister Yuri Kostenko's comments were the first admission that increased readings of neutron activity amounted to a limited chain reaction inside the reactor 10 years after it exploded in the world's worst nuclear accident.
More Than 220,000 Belarussians Affected by Chernobyl: Almost a quarter of Belarus remains contaminated by radiation from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, a government report has found. The report issued Monday said more than 220,000 Belarussians have suffered physical ailments as a result of the 1986 explosion - the worst commercial nuclear power accident in history.
2 Nov 1996, Ukraine, G7 Close Gap But No Chernobyl Deal: Ukrainian and Western experts on Thursday narrowed differences on how to finance the shutdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power station but put off a final agreement pending further talks. Both sides said progress had been made in the latest round of talks with G7 industrialised countries. But they admitted an agreement to close the site of the world's worst nuclear accident by the turn of the century could be pushed back from this month to the end of the year.
22 Nov 1996, Officials Seize Tons of Radiated Exports: The commission for radiation control in St Petersburg and the surrounding blast seized more than 7 million tons of imported food products believed to have been affected by Chernobyl nuclear radiation over the last eight years, officials said.
Yuri Shukin, the commission president, said Tuesday that the commodities, amounting to an average of 1.4 tons for every one of St Petersburg 5 million residents, include 90,000 tons of highly polluted food products meant for export from Russia.
10 Dec 1996, Nuclear plant rejected by voters: Plans to finish building a nuclear power station on the Volga River may have to be shelved because of a local referendum rejecting the project. Voters in the region of Kostroma, 370 kilometres north-east of Moscow yesterday voted in a referendum on the nuclear power station. The final results had not been announced, but preliminary ones indicated 80 per cent had rejected it.
17 Jan 97, Nuclear Power in Australia? Why not?: Summary of article in the Nov 1996 issue of Spectrum (general magazine of the Insitution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers).
[from Brett Watson, sci.environment]
18 Jan 97, Nuclear Roulette/Son of Star Wars/Chernobyl=DEATH: In 1995 the United Nations reported that in contaminated areas of Ukraine, illnesses of all kinds are up 38 percent above normal levels. In Gomel, over the Belarus border about 150 kilometers northeast of Chernobyl, government statistics show thyroid cancer rates among children to be fully 200 times higher than before the (nuclear power plant) accident. Massive increases are also reported throughout Belarus and Ukraine as a whole. Writing in 'New Scientist', Dilwyn Williams, professor of histopathology at England's Cambridge University and president of the European Thyroid Association, predicts that thyroid cancer will ultimately strike more than 40 percent of the downwind children who were less than a year old when exposed.
[summary from Richard X Frager, alt.politics]
Aug 3 1998, Chernobyl No. 3 shutdown: The last remaining reactor at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant shut down automatically on Sunday after the safety system detected a malfunction in a transformer, a plant official said on Monday, adding that no radiation was released.
Aug 6 1998, Chernobyl No. 3 restarted: The only working reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been restarted after four days of repairs, officials said Thursday. Reactor No. 3 shut down automatically Sunday because of an electric transformer malfunction and was restarted Wednesday afternoon, the state nuclear energy company Energoatom said.
24 Apr 1999, Chernobyl's Lethal Legacy Hits New Generations: More than a decade after the explosion of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power station, the poisonous radioactive legacy of the accident is crippling the health of younger generations, officials said Tuesday.
``Statistics show rising numbers of radioactivity-related diseases,'' Olha Bobyleva, deputy health minister, told a news conference.
``We have also registered a growth in the number of general diseases, especially among children and pregnant women.''
Bobyleva said four children had died of thyroid cancer, with the total number of cases of this disease reaching 1,200 among those who were under 18 in 1986 when Chernobyl's fourth reactor exploded.
25 Apr 1999, Belarusians Recall Nuke Disaster: Thousands of Belarusians rallied peacefully Sunday to mark the 13th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and protest against government policies.
The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant on April 26, 1986, in neighboring Ukraine - the world's worst nuclear accident - spewed radiation across parts of Europe. A substantial chunk of the contamination fell on Belarus.
About 7,000 protesters marched through the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Sunday carrying red-and-white nationalist flags and banners calling for more attention to the lingering consequences of the accident.
The cash-strapped former Soviet republic has struggled to pay for cleanup and health care for fallout victims.
25 Apr 1999, Chernobyl's Legacy Messy As Ever: Thirteen years after reactor No. 4 exploded at the Chernobyl atomic power plant in then-Soviet Ukraine, the legacy of the world's worst nuclear accident remains as messy as ever.
The downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991 provided hope for people still coping with the consequences of the April 26, 1986 explosion, offering promise that Chernobyl radiation victims would receive better treatment, that the leaky concrete-and-steel shelter covering the ruined reactor would be repaired, that an independent Ukraine would close the ill-fated plant for good.
They're still hoping.
26 Apr 1999, Chernobyl's Messy Legacy Lingers: Chernobyl radiation victims are still praying for better treatment. The leaky concrete-and-steel shelter covering the ruined reactor still needs repairs. And Ukraine says the plant won't be closed unless the West gives it $1.2 billion for two new reactors.
On the 13th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident, a grim legacy lingers from the explosion and fire at reactor No. 4 of Chernobyl's atomic power plant.
26 Apr 1999, Ukraine Halts Animal Program: Ukraine has suspended a controversial program to settle wild horses, bears, deer and other animals in overgrown forests in the evacuated zone surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
The animals were to be brought into the 19-mile-radius ``exclusion zone'' to eat dry grasses to reduce the chance of forest fires that could disturb soil containing radiation and send up contaminated smoke.
Opponents said the program is not feasible and a waste of money, prompting the government to rethink the idea.
27 Apr 1999, Radioactive Fruit Found in Moscow: Health inspectors in Moscow markets have found radioactive cranberries, apparently infected by lingering radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
A total of 1,450 pounds of cranberries were confiscated and destroyed after inspectors said they contained highly radioactive cesium, according to a report in the English-language Moscow Times. The contaminated berries looked and tasted like normal fruit.
Many of the berries came from Ukraine and Belarus, the report said.
20 May 1999, ORBCOMM to Monitor Conditions Surrounding Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant: ORBCOMM Global, L.P., the first commercial provider of global low-Earth orbit satellite data and messaging communications services, today announced that it will be working with ORBCOMM Ukraine on two programs to monitor environmental conditions surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power station. The programs, designed by ORBCOMM Ukraine in conjunction with the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, will employ ORBCOMM monitoring equipment to collect and transmit vital sensor readings of electrical, water and radiation conditions in the Chernobyl zone.
31 Aug 1999, Ukraine To Complete 2 Nuke Reactors: Ukraine will need more than two years to complete two new nuclear reactors before the Chernobyl power plant can be closed, unless Western nations help finance the project, the country's nuclear energy chief said Tuesday.
11 Dec 1999, Chornobyl reactor malfunction cuts Ukraine power supply: The Chornobyl nuclear-power plant has malfunctioned, prompting operators to reduce electrical output by 10 per cent Saturday, a Ukrainian news agency reported. No radiation leakage was reported.
24 Dec 1999, No increase in leukemia in Chernobyl children: ``Eleven years after, there is no (blood-related) problem in exposed kids,'' study [of 244 children] lead author Dr. Mohammed Zarrabi told Reuters Health. Zarrabi, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, held earlier this month in New Orleans.
[Typically, an epidemiological study requires (say) 1000 "hits" to measure rate differences between populations of several percent. In the context of this study a "hit" would mean "a child that developed leukaemia". Between 2 groups of around 250 children even an *actual* difference in leukaemia rates of several times would not show as a "statistically significant" difference between the groups].
31 Dec 1999, Russia, Chernobyl Pass Millennium Bug Test: Russia passed the millennium bug test and even the troubled Chernobyl atomic power plant in Ukraine was running normally as clocks struck midnight in eastern Europe.
21 Apr 2000, Chernobyl Kills And Cripples 14 Years After Blast: Fourteen years after the world's worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl power plant is still reaping a harvest of deaths, Ukraine's Health Ministry said Friday. Some 3.5 million people, over a third of them children, have suffered illness as a result of the contamination and the incidence of some cancers is 10 times the national average. ``The health of people affected by the Chernobyl accident is getting worse and worse every year,'' Deputy Health Minister Olha Bobyleva told a news conference.
23 Apr 2000, Ukraine Chernobyl Survivors Mark 14th Anniversary: About 1,500 Ukrainian survivors of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and their families marched through Kiev on Sunday to mark the 14th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident.
24 Apr 2000, Novel explores Chernobyl's ``Dead Zone'' villages: They are called the ``Dead Zone'' -- villages evacuated after the explosion at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine spewed a deadly radioactive cloud into the sky on April 26, 1986, changing the lives of millions. Ukrainian American author Irene Zabytko's first novel, ``The Sky Unwashed,'' looks at the aftermath of the world's worst nuclear disaster through the eyes of some elderly women who defy government orders and return to their irradiated homes.
25 Apr 2000, Worst Effects of Chernobyl To Come: The United Nations released a new assessment of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown Tuesday, saying the worst health consequences for millions of people may be yet to come. ``At least 100 times as much radiation was released by this accident as by the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined'' at the end of World War II, said a 32-page booklet released to mark the 14th anniversary of the disaster. And, the report said, a total of 600,000 emergency workers who helped in the cleanup and later built a cover to seal the destroyed reactor ``must be constantly monitored for the effects of exposure to radiation.''
[In another local report (SBS TV), a study of 21,000 people living in the Polish area most affected by Chernobyl fallout has claimed significant on-going health effects from the disaster. The study found about 1/2 of women in the region had enlarged thyroid glands, and about 10% of the children had benign growths that required monitoring for possible development of future cancer].
26 Apr 2000, Ukraine Mourns Chernobyl Anniversary: In public gatherings, official statements and televised reports, Ukrainians on Wednesday marked the Chernobyl nuclear disaster with a degree of openness that contrasted sharply with the secrecy that once surrounded it.
26 Apr 2000, Chernobyl Tram Displays Grim Past: Among the hundreds of trams that crisscross Kiev's streets, only one offers passengers a journey inside a mobile museum of the world's worst nuclear accident.
The Chernobyl tram has rolled through the streets of the Ukrainian capital for five years. After being out of service for several months for repairs, it returned on the eve of Wednesday's 14th anniversary of the accident, taking the memory of the disaster back to the streets.
27 Apr 2000, French Court Studies Chernobyl Case: France's High Court said on Thursday it would need at least a month to say if it will take up a case against ex-cabinet ministers accused of failing to warn the public against the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The case was brought by Yohann Van Waeyenberghe, 31, from the Champagne capital of Reims, who claims his thyroid cancer was caused by fallout in eastern France from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, justice sources said.
10 May 2000, Chernobyl Legacy Still Lingering - Scientists: The legacy of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is lingering with unexpectedly high levels of radioactivity which will last for 50 more years -- 100 times longer than expected, scientists warned Wednesday.
They have shown that radioactive cesium from the fallout of the 1986 accident can remain in the environment much longer than scientists had previously anticipated.
``By looking at the levels of radioactivity of fish in lakes in Cumbria (northern England) and Norway, we have found that levels of one particular element, radioactive cesium, are still unexpectedly high,'' Dr Jim Smith, of the Center for Ecology and Hydrology in Dorchester, southwestern England, said in a statement.
11 Aug 2000, Reactor Shut Down At Ukraine Nuclear Plant: One of six reactors was disconnected Friday at the Zaporijia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Europe's largest plant, because of a malfunction in its hydraulic engine system, plant officials said.
The problem in reactor three, which occurred shortly before 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT), "did not cause any rise in the level of radioactivity," a plant engineer told AFP by telephone.
17 Aug 2000, "Chernobyl in slow motion" seen in Barents Sea: Part of the Barents Sea, where last-ditch rescue attempts are being made to save the crew of the Russian submarine Kursk, is so full of nuclear waste that it risks becoming a "Chernobyl in slow motion," according to the Norwegian environmental protection group Bellona.
19 Sep 2000, Chernobyl Newborns at Risk From 1986 Reactor Blast: Babies born now in Chernobyl face as great a risk of radiation-related illnesses as the children who lived there when a nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, Israeli experts said on Tuesday.
Research conducted by Israel's Selikoff Center for Environmental Health and Human Development showed that the longer children stayed in the Chernobyl area in Ukraine, the more likely they were to become ill.
The results of the study were released at a news conference by the Hassidic Jewish Chabad movement's Children of Chernobyl project, which marked the arrival of the 2,001st Jewish child it has brought to Israel from the region in the last 10 years.
4 Oct 2000, Chernobyl Wheat Has Higher Than Expected Mutations: Fourteen years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, wheat grown in Ukraine near the nuclear power station is six times more likely to show mutations than crops grown in uncontaminated soil, scientists said Wednesday.
A report in Nature journal by Olga Kovalchuk of the Friedrich Miescher Institute at the Novartis Research Foundation in Switzerland, and colleagues, compared a wheat crop grown near Chernobyl with a genetically identical crop 19 miles away.
After one generation the Chernobyl crop showed a rate of mutation six times higher than the crop grown in the clean soil, the report said.
25 Oct 2000, Chernobyl Cleanup Workers Protest: Dozens of men who took part in the cleanup after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster marched around the Kremlin on Wednesday to protest an amendment they say will cut their benefits.
``They constantly want to change our law and change it for the worse,'' Vladimir Naumov, head of the Chernobyl-Russia Union in the central Russian city of Tula, said as he marched with some 60 protesters.
As the protesters marched, the lower house of parliament rejected the amendment and returned it to committee for more work.
9 Nov 2000, Ukraine Still Commited to Chernobyl: Ukraine has reaffirmed its commitment to close the Chernobyl power plant, after receiving assurances the international community would help fund alternative power sources.
18 Nov 2000, Chernobyl Plant Workers Worried: A month before the shutdown of its last reactor, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - the site of history's worst nuclear accident - is a kingdom of gloom.
Anxious, bitter workers spill out their worries, fearful that Ukraine's government will quickly forget about them and abandon promises to help them weather the loss of their livelihoods.
Dec 15 2000, Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Shut Down for Good: Engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power station flicked its stop switch for the last time on Friday, officially closing the plant which became a chilling symbol of the dangers of atomic power.
President Leonid Kuchma relayed an order to the control room of reactor Number Three, where duty operator Serhiy Bashtovoi turned a switch marked BAZ for ``rapid emergency defense.''
That lowered control rods into Chernobyl's last functioning reactor to begin the long process of decommissioning a plant which, in 1986, caused the world's worst nuclear accident.
Western governments and environmentalists breathed a sigh of relief and Ukraine took a step away from the disaster's legacy.
Dec 17 2000, Chernobyl Is a Vast Wasteland: CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (AP) - At first glance, it looks the same as the outside world: forests, fields and streams, peaceful village houses. But barbed-wire fences, radiation warning signs and checkpoints caution visitors that they are entering a different land.
It's called the ``Zone,'' a term lifted from a Soviet science fiction novel written by the Strugatsky brothers more than a decade before the April 26, 1986, Chernobyl nuclear plant accident.
Dec 17 2000, Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Shut Down for Good: CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power station flicked its stop switch for the last time on Friday, officially closing the plant which became a chilling symbol of the dangers of atomic power.
President Leonid Kuchma relayed an order to the control room of reactor Number Three, where duty operator Serhiy Bashtovoi turned a switch marked BAZ for ``rapid emergency defense.''
Dec 21 2000, Payments to Chernobyl survivors halved: The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, has voted to halve the maximum benefits paid out to survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Dec 25 2000, Chernobyl Plant To Be Built Soon: A plant to process liquid radioactive waste from the Chernobyl nuclear power complex will be built by the end of 2001, officials said Monday.
Construction of the processing plant began at Chernobyl about six months ago and is expected to be ready for operation in December 2001, said Valeriy Hovorov, a Chernobyl spokesman.
The plant will treat the water that was used in Chernobyl reactors and has been partially decontaminated and stored in tanks. At the new plant, the liquid waste will be solidified and placed in containers for storage, the Chernobyl press office said.
The $16 million plant, funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will employ about 100 people.
Feb 20 2001, Ukraine's Kuchma, Under Pressure, Visits Chernobyl: CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Embattled Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma sought refuge from his hostile capital Tuesday by traveling to the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant where he lashed out at Western funding bodies.
Thousands of demonstrators as well as opposition politicians and rights groups have been calling on Kuchma to resign following a scandal in which tape recordings of a voice similar to his ordered officials to kidnap a journalist who is feared murdered.
Feb 26 2001, Russia Opens Nuclear Power Plant: ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) - More than 20 years after its conception, Russia's first new nuclear power plant since the Soviet era was launched Friday by top officials who called it a breakthrough for the industry after years of opposition.
Mar 30 2001, Glitch Found at Russian Reactor: MOSCOW (AP) - Operators discovered a minor glitch at Russia's newest nuclear power plant during start-up tests, Russia's state-owned nuclear power company said Monday.
Mar 30 2001, French Try to Prove Chernobyl Caused Ailments: PARIS (Reuters) - A group of French people with thyroid ailments began legal moves on Thursday to try to prove they fell ill because France failed to warn citizens of the radioactive fallout of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The 53 plaintiffs, backed by two pressure groups, lodged a complaint against persons unknown at the Palace of Justice in Paris on grounds of alleged poisoning and associated counts.
Mar 30 2001, Key Director at Chernobyl Fired: The director of the concrete-and-steel sarcophagus that encases Chernobyl's ruined nuclear reactor has been fired, an official said Monday.
Following international pressure, Ukraine closed down the Chernobyl nuclear plant for good in December, but work to prevent further environmental damage is continuing at the station.
Mar 30 2001, Nuke Reactor in Ukraine Shut Down: A reactor at Ukraine's Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was briefly shut down following a short circuit, officials said Thursday.
The plant's reactor No. 6 was halted late Wednesday and was restarted four hours later following repairs, the Emergency Situation Ministry said. No radiation leaks were reported.
May 7 2001, Scientists Using Chernobyl Disaster: UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Fifteen years after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, scientists and are using the site to develop new technologies to prevent the leakage of radioactive dust and particles.
Artur Korneyev, deputy head of the Chernobyl project, said a special material called EKOR developed to coat the sarcophagus in a destroyed reactor could in the future be used to prevent hazardous waste leakage worldwide.
June 8 2001, Nuclear Imports Said to Threaten Russian People: LONDON (Reuters Health) - Russian academics and environmentalists expressed concern this week that three bills allowing imports of spent nuclear fuel to the country, which received final approval of the Lower House of Russian parliament this week, could threaten public health.
July 16 2001, French Prosecutor Orders Chernobyl Sickness Probe: The Paris public prosecutor's office ordered an investigation on Monday into whether French citizens fell sick because of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, judicial sources said.
The decision follows legal moves begun by a group of 51 plaintiffs with thyroid ailments who allege French authorities failed to warn the public of the dangers of radioactive fallout from the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Feb 7 2002, Chernobyl's Long Shadow: UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Nearly 16 years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, 200,000 people still live in highly contaminated areas and 4.5 million residents in three countries are receiving financial help - draining national budgets, according to a U.N. study released.
Apr 1 2002, Millions Still Affected By Chernobyl: Nearly 16 years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion in Ukraine, tens of billions of dollars are needed to address the disaster's aftermath and to help the 5.7 million people living in areas contaminated by fallout, a top United Nations official said in Moscow.
May 23 2002, Ukrainian reactor shut down after minor accident: Reactor No. 2 at the Zaporizhia nuclear power station automatically shut down due to flaws in the operating system, news reports said Thursday.
12 Jun 2002, Donors praise Ukraine for cutting red tape for Chernobyl project: International donors funding the construction a new shelter for the damaged Chernobyl reactor said Wednesday that Ukraine had taken important steps to reduce red tape and clear the way for the dlrs 768 million project.
26 Jun 2002, Chernobyl Suspected in Rise in UK Child Deaths: Deaths and deformities caused by the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the world worst civil nuclear accident, may have extended beyond the Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, British scientists suspect.
28 Jun 2002, Loads of Radioactive Berries Seized: Nearly 1,500 pounds of berries from an area heavily hit by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster were seized this month from Moscow markets because of radioactive contamination, an official announced on Friday.
16 Jul 2002, Wildfires burn in Chernobyl-affected parts of Belarus, raising radiation levels: Dozens of wildfires are burning in parts of Belarus that were worst affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, raising radiation levels in the area, officials said Tuesday.
30 Oct 2002, Repaying her rescuers A Chernobyl victim is now a nurse at the hospital complex where she was treated.: Ivchenko was only 5� years old on April 26, 1986, the day the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, sending a deadly cloud of radioactivity over her neighborhood in Kiev, 37 miles downwind from the leaking reactor.
Soviet officials did not tell residents about the explosion or warn them about the invisible cloud of radioactivity engulfing them, so Ivchenko and the other children continued to play outside. On May 1, everyone showed up for a big celebration, soaking up additional rays of sunshine and radioactivity.
3 Dec 2002, Chernobyl victims protest demanding unpaid benefits: Waving banners and shouting at passing lawmakers, some 200 survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear accident protested outside Ukraine's parliament Tuesday, demanding payment of compensation and increased social protection.
17 Dec 2002, Thousands of Ukrainians demand reopening of Chernobyl nuclear power plant: Braving freezing weather, thousands of Ukrainians gathered Tuesday in the capital Kiev to call for the reopening of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and demand Western governments provide funding promised when the plant was closed two years ago.
05 Sep 2005, Major UN report counts human cost of Chernobyl: The huge cloud of radiation that spewed from the broken reactor at Chernobyl in 1986 will kill 4000 people, says the most authoritative report yet on the nuclear disaster.
The radiation also caused 4000 thyroid cancers amongst young people and contaminated more than 200,000 square kilometres of Europe. And the stress of events triggered widespread mental health problems amongst the populations of the worst-hit countries.
06 Sep 2005, POVERTY, MENTAL HEALTH GREATEST STUMBLING BLOCKS FOR CHERNOBYL SURVIVORS, UN: Among those people considered most in need are an estimated 4,000 out of 600,000 emergency workers, evacuees and residents who may die from acute radiation syndrome (ARS) or radiation-induced cancer and leukemia. Since the 1986 disaster, 50 emergency workers died of ARS, and 4,000 children have contracted thyroid cancer. Despite its sometimes physically debilitating effects, thyroid cancer is treatable and only nine children have died from the disease.
Stressing the need to scale back large subsidy programmes for residents, better information needs to be provided by the governments of Belarus, Russia, and the Ukraine, "not only about how to live safely in regions of low-level contamination, but also about leading healthy lifestyles and creating new livelihoods," said Louisa Vinton, Chernobyl focal point at the UN Development Programme, (UNDP).

Kym Horsell /
Kym@KymHorsell.COM

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