October 2008 Archives

On October 23, staff of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant took part in a training exercise designed for actions to be taken in case of a radiological accident. The training included the evacuation of several stations at the facility in case of high radiation in the area of the plant.

During the training, staff left their jobs wearing personal respiratory protection and taken to the local train station. Personnel displayed excellent skills for the implementation of emergency preparedness signals involving transport crews and dosimetric investigation.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant regularly holds such exercises in strict accordance with the facility’s plan in response to the 1986 accident. These trainings are aimed at increasing the readiness of personnel to competent and timely action in the face of emergency situations.

Photos: courtesy of ChAES

Back in February, I wrote about a new project associated with Pripyat.com called “Virtual Pripyat”, a site that acts as an address book/directory of Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Last spring I helped translate parts of the site into English and am pleased to say that, even though it is still a work-in-progress, the English-language version of "Virtual Pripyat" is now available (as you can see in the above screen shot). Note: you will see some Russian interspersed with the English.

English is currently limited to parts of the Pripyat and Chernobyl town directories, but it is a good start. Check it out when you get a chance - you may learn a little bit more about Pripyat or other towns/villages in the Zone. There are also a lot of great photos from both before and after the accident.

Due to a severe economic downturn, Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchennko postponed the upcoming pre-term parliamentary election by one week, to December 14.

Yushchenko issued a decree to allow the now dissolved Parliament to work for several days on legislation to aid the country’s economy, which has been hit hard by the world financial crisis. The decree also set up a 1 billion hryvnia fund ($200 million) to help Ukraine’s banking sector.

The election delay is most likely due to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s attempts to block preparations for the vote. The original December 7 date cannot be met due to appeals filed by Tymoshenko in court.

Following Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s dissolution of Parliament and calling for new elections on December 7, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko filed suit in court to block the election. A Kyiv court ruled in favor of Tymoshenko, but a higher court reversed that decision. Additional hearings are expected next week.

The court hearings along with Tymoshenko’s initial refusal to free up funds for the election have put the December 7 date in peril. Andriy Magera, deputy head of Ukraine’s Central Election Committee confirms the problem, indicating that the delays are causing the body to miss deadlines for getting things ready for the vote, making it more difficult to meet the target date.

As usual in Ukrainian politics, things get more chaotic, confusing and unbelievable. First, a Kyiv court initially suspended Yushchenko’s decree calling for a new election. In a bizarre move, Yushchenko in a blatant abuse of power, acutally had the nerve to issue decree 922/2008, which abolishes and reorganizes the Kyiv District Court that suspended his decree. A higher court has since overturned the district court’s ruling, leaving the election in limbo.

In another incident, a criminal case has been filed against members of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT), alleging they pressured the Kyiv District Court to block the election. According to acting Security Council Chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the court chairman said he had been subject to intimidation by BYuT members. Specifically, four BYuT members stayed in the court chairman’s office throughout October 11, threatening to throw him out the window and beating on his hands to prevent him from using his computer. The judge now has round-the-clock protection.

On October 16, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers finally approved the disbursement of funds for the early election. The relevant amendments to the state budget should come up for a vote in the Verkhovna Rada next Tuesday.

Finally, Tymoshenko announced her willingness to accept any conditions from President Yushchenko to re-form the majority democratic coalition and cancel his decree for the pre-term election.

I really don’t know what to say about all this. It is hard to believe Yushchenko would reorganize a court just because he did not like their decision. I also find it shocking that BYuT members would actually threaten a judge to rule in their favor.

Unfortunately, things have gotten to the point where nothing in Ukrainian politics should surprise us. Obviously, the country’s politicians will do anything to get their way.  Whether looking back to the Kuchma regime, the 2004 Orange Revolution or today’s shenanigans, it’s all more of the same. A reader from Ukraine recently wrote me and said if the election occurs, even if people do not go to the polls and vote, fraudulent votes on their behalf will still be counted. I just don’t understand how the Ukrainian people can continue to put up with this kind of activity. I guess reform is still a long ways away.

On August 20, 2008, some of my friends from Pripyat.com took an MI-2 helicopter ride over the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. They took photos of Pripyat, Chernobyl town, the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, the Pripyat cargo port, the Yanov railway station, animals and the military town Chernobyl-2.

The above photos are low-res copies from Pripyat.com. You can view all the photos in their original size on the Pripyat.com website,

In yesterday’s Lithuanian election almost 89% of voters were in favor of ignoring the country’s European Union agreement and keep the Ingalina-2 nuclear reactor operational until 2012.

The proposal was non-binding, however the 47% turnout was also below the 50% mandated for a referendum to be considered valid.

Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear energy company, will begin construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant in southwestern Ukraine. Construction is expected to begin in 2010.

The new units, Khmelnitsky-3 and Khmelnitsky-4, are expected to be V-320 model, 1000 MWe VVER pressurized water reactors. The first of these units is expected to begin operations by the end of 2016.

Khmelnitsky-1 came online in 1987 and Khmelnitsky-2 on August 8, 2004. Currently, the Khmelnitsky facility produces around 6-7 billion KWh per year, or approximately 9% of Ukraine’s electricity.

Ukraine currently has 15 operational nuclear reactors at four facilities providing approximately 46.4% of the country’s electricity. Current total capacity is 13835 MWe.

Photo courtesy of Energoatom

President Viktor Yushchenko’s office has announced Ukraine’s next parliamentary election will take place on December 7.

I wonder how voter apathy will affect this election. Not in terms of which party people vote for, but whether citizens will even turn out to vote. With Parliament being dissolved seemingly every year, people must be wondering if their votes even count anymore. While the situation is discouraging, I hope Ukrainian citizens still show up at the polls. Voting is a right they should not take lightly.

I’m actually looking ahead of this election and focusing my interest on next year’s presidential election. It will be interesting to see who the candidates will be and which one Ukrainians believe can truly turn things around.

In an October 8 televised address, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko formally dissolved Parliament. According to Ukrainian law, a new election should take place within 60 days, so expect it sometime in December.

Yushchenko stated that due to the lack of a ruling coalition, the Ukrainian people must have their say. He also said that “The democratic coalition - I am sure of it - was ruined by the ambitions of a single person.” Yushchenko was referring to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Most surprising is that the address must have been taped, as Yushchenko had left earlier in the day for an official trip to Italy. It seems extremely cowardly to announce the dissolution of Parliament via a taped message while being physically out of the county.

The new election will be a problem for the pro-Presidential Our Ukraine People’s Self Defense Bloc, whose popularity has dropped from 14.5% last year to 9.4% today. That will translate into fewer seats in the Verkhovna Rada. Complicating matters more is the possibility that People’s Self Defense may run independently, splitting the vote and possibly leaving one of the two groups out of Parliament.

Some analysts point out that the removal of Tymoshenko as Prime Minister is the only potential gain for Yushchenko. By removing Tymoshenko from office, it takes her out of the limelight, possibly decreasing her popularity prior to next year’s presidential election. One political analyst, Volodymyr Fesenko, suggested Yushchenko’s strategy is to have a Prime Minister who does not want to run for president after Parliament is elected.

Yushchenko may be correct in thinking that Tymoshenko has been seeking more power, but he is power-hungry himself. He seemed to be completely disinterested in rebuilding the democratic coalition, instead focusing on seeking a second term in office. It seems as though he was thoroughly threatened by Tymoshenko’s popularity and wanted to do anything to put her down.

The problem is that Yushchenko is totally mistaken if he thinks that removing Tymoshenko as Premier will clear his way to a second term as President. His own popularity is at an all-time low and I see little chance for him to be re-elected. Besides Tymoshenko, former rival and head of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych enjoys more popularity than Yushchenko.

By destroying the coalition and removing Tymoshenko from the premiership, Yushchenko has ruined any chance of gaining Tymoshenko’s support for another term in office. His only hope now is to make a deal with the Party of Regions, where they would support his presidential campaign in exchange for making Yanukovych Prime Minister again. That would be interesting, since the two could not get along during Yanukovych’s previous term as Prime Minister.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again ... the biggest losers are the Ukrainian people, who have to suffer through another election that promises no improvement to the situation. If no coalition could be formed since the September breakup of the democratic coalition, why does anyone think a new coalition can be formed after another election?

The saddest thing is that Ukraine will hold its third election in the last three years, and then hold a presidential election next year. Many Ukrainians are so disenchanted by continued political deadlocks and elections that I wonder if another “revolution,” such as the 2004 Orange Revolution, is even possible today. What a shame!

Photo: Official Website of the President of Ukraine

Reactor 2 at Lithuania’s Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, an RBMK-1500, 1300 megawatt reactor, is currently scheduled for closure in 2009. Amid mounting pressure from its citizens, the Lithuanian government is considering breaking its agreement with the European Union to shut down the reactor.

The reactor currently supplies 70% of Lithuania’s electricity, as well as power to Latvia and Estonia. Many Lithuanian leaders and citizens want to renege on the agreement, fearing the closure will cause a problematic reliance on Russia for the country’s electricity needs.

On October 12, Lithuanians will vote in a non-binding referendum to delay the reactor’s closure. President Valdas Adamkus, an independent, opposes the referendum. However a July poll conducted by Veidas magazine showed 78.3% of respondents favored a delay, while only 9.6% were against it.

The Lithuanian government favors a delay until at least 2012, saying the closure would hurt the country’s economy. Ignalina-1, another RBMK-style reactor, was shut down on December 31, 2004 as part of Lithuania’s accession treaty.

The European Union opposes a delay, fearing the continued operation of any RBMK-style reactors, the same type involved in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Since the agreement is part of Lithuania’s 2004 accession treaty to join the European Union, any change must be discussed in an intergovernmental conference, approved by the 27 member states and ratified by their parliaments - a process that is “virtually impossible.”

A new “Baltic States” nuclear power plant, built with Western technology, will be built at the Ignalina site, but the two 1600 megawatt reactors will not be operational until 2015.

Photo courtesy of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant

The following 5:36 video was shot two years ago by Sergeij Koschelew, a video operator for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Sergeij's duties include documenting the state of the Sarcophagus.

Toward the end of the video you can see daylight coming through holes and cracks in the roof - a prime reason why the New Safe Confinement is being built.

This video originally accompanied a story posted on the German internet site Stern.de on April 13, 2006:



The following is a rough translation of much of the video's narration. The translation is taken from the person that posted this video on Youtube:

Inside the Sarcophagus the radiation levels are as high as 3400 Roentgen per hour [1 R = 2.58 * 10^-4 C/kg]. The working time of the engineers is determined by the radioactivity they are exposed to. When the dosimeter each of them carries starts to beep alarmingly, they need to leave the reactor immediately.

Sergeij K. who recorded this footage usually stays a little longer. The white dots that can bee seen on the pictures that look like snow are also caused by the radiation which the digital cameras are quite prone to.

The clock in this control room stopped at the exact time the incident took place: 1:23 am, april 26th, 1986

Despite the strongly limited time, work is done without hurry to avoid mistakes. The mounting teams know exactly where the other ones interrupted their repairing right there.

Inside the exploded reactor block, additional staircases were installed to reach most of the locations but this isn't possible. Totally, only one third of the entire reactor block has been explored. The sectors have names and numbers which the workers shout out to one another.

Every now and then men can be heard wading through water. Rain and melting water are the biggest enemy of the Sarcophagus. These caused gradual decay during the past 20 years.

Sergeij likes to compare the inside of the Sarcophagus to a mine field. Each step can decide upon what radiation dose one is exposed to. At this place it is really dirty as can be seen by the black speckles on the yellow gloves.

"Dirty" is what the workers call the radiation reaching extreme levels. The cotton dress and the plastic overall offer only limited protection against (alpha) radiation. The helmets are considered much more important because pieces of stone could fall down from the ceiling. The once molten, highly radioactive material has been cast to bizarre forms. Temperatures exceeded 1000 degrees Celsius at the time of the disaster. Sergeij gave names to these lumps. This one he calls "elephant's foot".

Sergeij is now right underneath the ceiling of the Sarcophagus. It's cracked, corroded and full of holes. it's area measures 100 square meters. The extent can be by the light shining inside.

Should The Sarcophagus one day collapse, a large nuclear dust cloud would be generated. Experts consider it the safest way to build another Sarcophagus around the first, older one. A hall larger than the Statue of Liberty, called "Arche", that would cost
about 650.000.000 Euros.

Here, the white dots caused by radioactivity can be seen again. This sprinklers were installed to bind the floating, radioactive dust particles. At least a little protection in this hazardous job.

Preliminary findings from researchers at Case Western Reserve University indicate that fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine caused larger amounts of Plutonium to be found in Sweden than in Poland.

The research funded by the National Science Foundation, included the examination of soil samples taken from various locations in both countries, measuring the presence of Cesium (Cs-137), Plutonium (PU-239,240) and Lead (Pb-210).

The soil samples provided insights into:

• How the radionuclides were delivered to the soil
• Where the radionuclides came from (causal event)
• The half-life of the radionuclides
• Absorption rates into materials such as clay particles and organic materials (Cesium and Beryllium are absorbed more heavily into clay while Plutonium and Lead are absorbed more readily into organic materials)
• Types of soil that either keep radioactive particles at the surface or allow them to permeate to levels below the surface.

Findings related to the downward migration of radionuclides from the Chernobyl blast reveal information about:

• Public health ramifications of issues such as food change transfer, exposure and cleanup.
• Geologic aftereffects such as erosion rates and the amount of time radionuclides remain in the watershed,
• Understanding the differentiation of radioactive elements from a one-time event such as Chernobyl or fallout created by nuclear weapons testing.

These findings are very interesting, especially if you consider the following map indicating regions of heaviest fallout from the Chernobyl disaster. According to the following map from researchers at Pennsylvania State University, Poland received much higher amounts of fallout than Sweden.

What makes these findings more fascinating is that, due to existing weather patterns on April 26, 1986, the initial plume of radioactive materials completely avoided Poland, but did reach Sweden, where workers at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant detected higher than normal levels of radiation and traced the source back to Chernobyl. Radiation did reach Poland until April 27, after weather patterns changed.

Photo: iStockPhoto - Marcus Lindstrom

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her political faction, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc  (BYuT), have unconditionally agreed to all conditions set forth by their former partner, Our Ukraine People’s Self Defense Bloc (OU-PSD), for the reformation of their parliamentary coalition. The coalition fell apart in September when members of OU-PSD  left the coalition after a series of disagreements with Tymoshenko.

Pre-conditions for the reformation of the coalition include:

• Abolishing the state service bill and referendums/governmental deputy immunity
• The formation of a joint agenda between the groups
• Creation of a coordinated position on the Russia/Georgia conflict/Condemning Russian aggression in Georgia
• Taking into consideration President Viktor Yushchenko’s remarks on 5 vetoed laws
• Reforming Ukraine’s laws to be compliant with European Union laws
• Abandonment of laws decreasing presidential powers

If you think this is a good sign, think again. Tymoshenko said of the agreement, “All the steps they proposed we accept... all conditions, ultimatums and arm-twisting.” She also expects Yushchenko to issue new “ultimatums” in the near future.

Most discouraging is one other remark Tymoshenko made about the agreement:

“We do not agree with them. We just accept them to preserve the democratic coalition and uphold democratic policies.”

Those are not words that can provide anyone with a decent level of comfort. Upon hearing that comment, my immediate reaction was that the words are hollow and if the coalition re-forms, it will lead to more of the same bickering that broke-up the coalition in the first place, leaving the government in an unstable condition. Tymoshenko is not about to change her ways, and obviously agrees to meet the stated conditions only to avoid the hassle of a new election.

Another Tymoshenko remark:

“We will currently demonstrate to the Ukrainian people who wants and who does not want the restoration of the democratic coalition..."

allows her to say she is not the cause of the country’s political problems. Clearly, she has put all responsibility for the coalition and/or a new election squarely on Yushchenko’s shoulders.

I just don’t believe Tymoshenko’s actions and comments are meaningful. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Yushchenko’s actions have been the right way to do things. I simply can’t see how these two can possibly work together in any functional way for any length of time.