Cover Up
This article from Novosti, the Russian News and Information Service, is really frightening. I was under the impression that the new sarcophagus (Shelter-2) for reactor #4 at Chernobyl was already under construction. As it turns out, the only work being done right now is to patch up the old one (Shelter-1). What worries me is that they’ve got human beings working essentially on top of an unstable reactor containing 185 tons of radioactive fuel. Estimates place the reactor’s radioactivity level at 17 million curies.
Keep in mind that before the original sarcophagus was built, many people were brought in to clean the rubble off the roof of the reactor building. These men among all the liquidators - the title given to those who helped clean up after the accident - were exposed to the most radiation. Some were exposed to more than five times the maximum annual dose of radiation allowed for workers in nuclear facilities. After the clean-up, the sarcophagus had to be constructed. They initially tried to use robots, but the radiation made the electronics malfunction to the point of being useless. So they switched to humans. These humans weren’t much further away from the reactor than those who’d been on the roof.
It is estimated that approximately 600,000 people were officially involved in the liquidation process after the Chernobyl accident, but it’s impossible to know how accurate this number is. Soviet secrecy and general bureaucratic disorganization make it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were involved in the effort.
Only 28 liquidators died officially from Acute Radiation Sickness (ARS). That is not an accurate number of how many would eventually die or suffer major complications from ARS. The problem with pinpointing the exact number of deaths directly related to Chernobyl is that the accident was not a closed experiment. The liquidators had different genetic make-ups, different health histories and they went on to do different things. So, though many may have died from cancer, this can’t be directly attributed to Chernobyl because the liquidators may have had a history of cancer in their family, been cigarette smokers or had exposure to any number of other carcinogens. There are so many variables involved in the life of a human being that many lives lost or shortened by the Chernobyl accident will never be attributed directly to it. The official figures (and there are several, depending on who is providing them) are obviously gross understatements. Even the psychological problems of the liquidators (many suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) can be attributed to other things like the fall of Soviet Communism and the often dire economic situation in the Ukraine.
During the initial construction of Shelter-1, few precautions were taken due to the emergency nature of the situation. Men were sent on the roof with little, if any, protective gear and ordered to just quickly throw some rubble down and run. This time around, there are stricter safety precautions in place. Workers are still complaining of radiation sickness. The reason for this is thought to be that the safety procedures are not being precisely followed. This is completely ironic because it was breach of procedure that led to the Chernobyl catastrophe in the first place. And we’re back to my last post where I discussed people not learning from their own or other’s past mistakes.
And, just in case you’re not at least a little bit alarmed by this situation, I’ll leave you with this extremely comforting statement made last Monday by Yevgeny Velikhov, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and president of the Kurchatov Institute: "We in Russia have a powerful Emergencies Ministry, like the U.S. Homeland Security Department. But staff working there are familiar with man-made radiation explosions only in theory, and if this theory is applied in practice, chaos and confusion may ensue."
Keep in mind that before the original sarcophagus was built, many people were brought in to clean the rubble off the roof of the reactor building. These men among all the liquidators - the title given to those who helped clean up after the accident - were exposed to the most radiation. Some were exposed to more than five times the maximum annual dose of radiation allowed for workers in nuclear facilities. After the clean-up, the sarcophagus had to be constructed. They initially tried to use robots, but the radiation made the electronics malfunction to the point of being useless. So they switched to humans. These humans weren’t much further away from the reactor than those who’d been on the roof.
It is estimated that approximately 600,000 people were officially involved in the liquidation process after the Chernobyl accident, but it’s impossible to know how accurate this number is. Soviet secrecy and general bureaucratic disorganization make it difficult to ascertain exactly how many people were involved in the effort.
Only 28 liquidators died officially from Acute Radiation Sickness (ARS). That is not an accurate number of how many would eventually die or suffer major complications from ARS. The problem with pinpointing the exact number of deaths directly related to Chernobyl is that the accident was not a closed experiment. The liquidators had different genetic make-ups, different health histories and they went on to do different things. So, though many may have died from cancer, this can’t be directly attributed to Chernobyl because the liquidators may have had a history of cancer in their family, been cigarette smokers or had exposure to any number of other carcinogens. There are so many variables involved in the life of a human being that many lives lost or shortened by the Chernobyl accident will never be attributed directly to it. The official figures (and there are several, depending on who is providing them) are obviously gross understatements. Even the psychological problems of the liquidators (many suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) can be attributed to other things like the fall of Soviet Communism and the often dire economic situation in the Ukraine.
During the initial construction of Shelter-1, few precautions were taken due to the emergency nature of the situation. Men were sent on the roof with little, if any, protective gear and ordered to just quickly throw some rubble down and run. This time around, there are stricter safety precautions in place. Workers are still complaining of radiation sickness. The reason for this is thought to be that the safety procedures are not being precisely followed. This is completely ironic because it was breach of procedure that led to the Chernobyl catastrophe in the first place. And we’re back to my last post where I discussed people not learning from their own or other’s past mistakes.
And, just in case you’re not at least a little bit alarmed by this situation, I’ll leave you with this extremely comforting statement made last Monday by Yevgeny Velikhov, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and president of the Kurchatov Institute: "We in Russia have a powerful Emergencies Ministry, like the U.S. Homeland Security Department. But staff working there are familiar with man-made radiation explosions only in theory, and if this theory is applied in practice, chaos and confusion may ensue."
posted by Sara Ch. at 3:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home