Mourners, candles mark Chernobyl anniversary

SLAVUTYCH, Ukraine – Mourners bearing candles marked the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster yesterday, honouring those who died as leaders pledged to ensure it would never happen again.

Hundreds of people, each bearing a candle and some with red carnations, filed slowly through the streets of Slavutych, the town built to house the Chernobyl plant’s workers after the world’s worst nuclear accident on April 26, 1986. At 1:23am Moscow time – about the time of the explosion and subsequent fire that sent radiation billowing throughout Europe – a minute of silence was declared.A bell tolled and alarm sirens blared.A middle-aged man, tears welling in his eyes, shook his head in disbelief as he stood alongside younger mourners.The blast in Chernobyl’s fourth reactor contaminated large swaths of territory in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.Ukraine has been left to deal with a legacy of ill health among its people and a reactor that, though entombed in a concrete “sarcophagus”, will remain radioactive for centuries.”Today’s ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the accident do not, unfortunately, mean we can say farewell to Chernobyl,” parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said at a special session of the chamber devoted to the anniversary.”(It) will remain with the Ukrainian people for more than one generation to come.”Nuclear power, out of favour for years after the accident, is now making a comeback as governments like the United States and China seek cleaner and cheaper alternatives to oil and gas.Soviet authorities took two days to inform the world and their own people about the accident.Firefighters and conscripts were sent in to extinguish the fire and clean up radioactive material, some equipped only with shovels.Thousands of people suffered health problems from the radiation.The “sarcophagus” is leaking and needs to be replaced – an undertaking likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.In Moscow, 13 protesters from environmental group Greenpeace chained themselves to railings on Red Square.They wore T-shirts spelling “No to Chernobyls”, reflecting green groups’ concern about plans to build new reactors.Police arrested them.The World Health Organisation puts at 9 000 the number of people expected to die due to radiation exposure from Chernobyl, while Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93 000.- Nampa-ReutersAt 1:23am Moscow time – about the time of the explosion and subsequent fire that sent radiation billowing throughout Europe – a minute of silence was declared.A bell tolled and alarm sirens blared.A middle-aged man, tears welling in his eyes, shook his head in disbelief as he stood alongside younger mourners.The blast in Chernobyl’s fourth reactor contaminated large swaths of territory in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.Ukraine has been left to deal with a legacy of ill health among its people and a reactor that, though entombed in a concrete “sarcophagus”, will remain radioactive for centuries.”Today’s ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the accident do not, unfortunately, mean we can say farewell to Chernobyl,” parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said at a special session of the chamber devoted to the anniversary.”(It) will remain with the Ukrainian people for more than one generation to come.”Nuclear power, out of favour for years after the accident, is now making a comeback as governments like the United States and China seek cleaner and cheaper alternatives to oil and gas.Soviet authorities took two days to inform the world and their own people about the accident.Firefighters and conscripts were sent in to extinguish the fire and clean up radioactive material, some equipped only with shovels.Thousands of people suffered health problems from the radiation.The “sarcophagus” is leaking and needs to be replaced – an undertaking likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.In Moscow, 13 protesters from environmental group Greenpeace chained themselves to railings on Red Square.They wore T-shirts spelling “No to Chernobyls”, reflecting green groups’ concern about plans to build new reactors.Police arrested them.The World Health Organisation puts at 9 000 the number of people expected to die due to radiation exposure from Chernobyl, while Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93 000.- Nampa-Reuters