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Wed, Feb 08 2012
23 years since the Chernobyl catastrophe
COMMEMORATION: Emergency workers who fought the blaze at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, stand during a commemoration ceremony marking the anniversary of the nuclear accident, in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, April 26 2009.
April 26 2009 marks 23 years since the worst-ever nuclear power plant incident in Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, that caused deaths and serious illnesses locally and is believed to have harmed the health of millions all over Europe.
On April 26 1986 at 1.23am, reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant suffered an unstoppable chain reaction and exploded, causing the catastrophe. Two people died on the spot.
As plume of highly radioactive fallout was sent into the atmosphere over extensive geographical areas covering most of Eastern, Northern and Central Europe.
The released fallout was four hundred times higher than the one released in the World War 2 bombing of Hiroshima.
More than 336 000 people living in the Chernobyl area had to be evacuated, included the entire population of the nearby Pripyat town.
A 2005 report, prepared by the Chernobyl Forum, attributed 56 direct deaths from the explosion (47 accident workers, and nine children) and estimated that there may be 4000 extra cancer deaths among the about 600 000 most highly exposed people.
On April 26 1986 at 1.23am, reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant suffered an unstoppable chain reaction and exploded, causing the catastrophe. Two people died on the spot.
As plume of highly radioactive fallout was sent into the atmosphere over extensive geographical areas covering most of Eastern, Northern and Central Europe.
The released fallout was four hundred times higher than the one released in the World War 2 bombing of Hiroshima.
More than 336 000 people living in the Chernobyl area had to be evacuated, included the entire population of the nearby Pripyat town.
A 2005 report, prepared by the Chernobyl Forum, attributed 56 direct deaths from the explosion (47 accident workers, and nine children) and estimated that there may be 4000 extra cancer deaths among the about 600 000 most highly exposed people.
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NEVER AGAIN!!!
Greenpeace is rightly concerned with the future and the safety of our planet. No more mediocre technology and unsafely installations should be allowed to endenger our lives and the nature! Chernobil is a lesson that can not and should not be forgotten by the future generations!
If you underfund and oppose the creation of an unstable reactor, expect disaster. Agreed, it's not safe.
On the other hand, another state of the art and well maintained nuclear power plant is a great idea for Easter Europe as a whole Bulgaria/Greece/Romania/Wherever it's built). Stability and an abundance of energy will benefit Eastern Europe greatly, this will translate well for neighbors and EU at large.
So shut your western pie-whole with the negativity and help get some German/French/Whom-have-you's nuclear scientists to help in the project paranoid shmatko.
[...]
Read the full comment FYI As of February 2009 there is a total of 196 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of 169,711 MWe in operation in Europe and 14 units with 12,815 MWe were under construction in five countries.
Why not have a geopolitically important South Eastern European country like Bulgaria upgrade what it has? Just because a Soviet one failed in Ukraine 23 years ago?
Yeah,thanks a lot,Greenpeace. I hear that Greenpeace had recently issued a report that said the Belene reactor that's being built in Bulgaria is the most dangerous reactor in the world. It hasn't even been finished yet,and Greenpeace is already saying it's unsafe.
The mentioned "conclusions" from the Chernobyl Forum have since already been demented by the WHO and IAEA, hosts of the forum and responsible for the misleading press release that mentioned these numbers. The study quoted in that press release mentioned 9600 casualties from a study to a limited group of victims.
Greenpeace conducted a larger inventory, including also (non translated) Russian studies. This overview study of peer reviewed science on the issue can be found on http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/repo
Read the full comment possibly hundreds of thousands.
It is important to remember all victims of this catastrophe and never play down the real dimension of suffering, especially when Bulgaria plans to construct new nuclear power stations.