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PAYING THE PRICE
APRIL 25, 1995
TRANSCRIPT
Ten years ago, the world faced the nuclear tragedy of Chernoybl for the first time. Now Julian Manyon of Independent Television describes the experiences of those living near the ruins of the world's worst nuclear accident.
JIM LEHRER: Now an update on another kind of tragedy that shook the world 10 years ago, the explosion at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. Julian Manyon of Independent Television News reports.JULIAN MANYON: This evening in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, a service of remembrance for the tragedy of Chernobyl. (singing) What they sang first was "Prayer for Ukraine," a hymn for a land grievously damaged by the world's worst nuclear accident. Ten years ago, it was a disaster that made the world shudder: A nuclear reactor gutted by explosions and fire was spewing its radioactive contents into the air. The emergency teams were suicidally brave and pitifully equipped. These men were told to count for 90 seconds while they shoveled the radioactive debris and then ran back. When it was over, a vast box of steel and concrete was hastily thrown up around the wreckage. It's known as the sarcophagus, and today men still have to go inside it to monitor the solidified lava flows of melted nuclear fuel and concrete that generate massive doses of radiation. The responsibility for guarding the radioactive poisons that are locked inside this sarcophagus will last not a decade but hundreds, even thousands, of years. Experts believe that a new, more permanent concrete tomb should be built, but so far, there's no money to do it. And meanwhile, the real effects of what happened here are gradually becoming more clear. There is still debate over whether the accident is to blame for some of the birth deformities and childhood leukemias reported in the region. But one medical effect is now accepted. More than a thousand children have contracted thyroid cancer, ten times the normal rate. The cancer can be surgically removed if detected early, but a life of uncertainty will follow. Anna Koslovo runs a children's charity which she set up when her son Viktor came down with the disease. Among the children's paintings at an exhibition she's staging about Chernobyl is a self-portrait of one of the victims. Anna's son has had two operations, but cancerous cells are still there, and he now needs a third.
ANNA KOSLOVO, Chernobyl Children's Fund: (speaking through interpreter) It's very difficult for me to talk about it. It's an old wound in my life, and now it's opening up again. It hurts me very much. I'm sorry.
MR. MANYON: There are also feelings of guilt, for Anna was employed at the Chernobyl reactor at the time of the accident. Another terrible legacy of Chernobyl is the still-contaminated zone around the plant. In the empty landscape, radioactive equipment used during the disaster lies abandoned. This week, several deserted villages caught fire, the smoke columns carrying radioactive particles into the air. Two reactors are still working at Chernobyl, one of them physically attached to the reactor that exploded and it's now-sealed control room. Preventing another disaster here is now an international concern. Western governments want the plant to close by the year 2000. But the plant's director says they'll need large-scale financial help.
SERGIE PARASHIN, Director, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station: (speaking through interpreter) There is a lot of talk about closure, but nuclear safety is not based on talk. It needs money, and when we mention money, everyone loses interest.
MR. MANYON: The world still faces a huge bill for what happened here. In fact, the paying of the price has scarcely yet begun.
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