[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 57 (Thursday, April 29, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E710-E711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING CHERNOBYL

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                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 2004

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember those who lost 
their lives and those who are suffering the aftereffects of the world's 
worst nuclear accident--Chernobyl, April 26, 1986.
  The suffering extends outside Ukraine's borders to Russia, Belarus 
and beyond. I ask my colleagues to take a moment to honor those 
innocent lives that will be forever changed by such a horrific event.
  I applaud the efforts of the United States Department of Energy, the 
International Atomic Energy Association, and other donor nations in 
remediation and containment efforts in Ukraine. Estimates indicate that 
these projects may last at least 100 years. Our commitment must remain 
firm.
  I am including for the Record an article highlighting some of the 
challenges ahead and devastation many have already faced.

                     [From CBS News, Apr. 26, 2004]

                         Remembering Chernobyl

       Across the former Soviet Union, people lit candles, laid 
     flowers and held demonstrations Monday to mark the 18th 
     anniversary

[[Page E711]]

     of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which spread radiation 
     over much of northern Europe.
       In all, 7 million people in the former Soviet republics of 
     Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are estimated to suffer physical 
     or psychological effects of radiation related to the April 
     26, 1986, catastrophe, when reactor No. 4 exploded and caught 
     fire.
       An area half the size of Italy was contaminated, forcing 
     hundreds of thousands of people to be resettled and ruining 
     some of Europe's most fertile agricultural land, the United 
     Nations said.
       Hundreds of Ukrainians filled the small Chernobyl victims' 
     chapel in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, at 1:23 a.m. Monday 
     (6:23 p.m. Sunday ET), the exact time of the explosion. 
     Later, they laid flowers and lit candles at a small hill 
     where marble plates are inscribed with the names of hundreds 
     of victims.
       Nearly 1,000 mourners gathered Monday afternoon at Kiev's 
     memorial to Chernobyl victims, a soaring statue of five 
     falling metallic swans. Some placed flowers and photos of 
     deceased relatives at its base.
       ``Nothing can be compared with a mother's sorrow,'' said 
     Praskoviya Nezhyvova, an elderly retiree clutching a black-
     framed photograph of her son, Viktor. She said he died of 
     Chernobyl-related stomach cancer in 1990 at age 44.
       Volodymyr Diunych, a driver who took members of the hastily 
     recruited and inadequately equipped cleanup crews to the 
     site, recalled watching as residents were evacuated ``in an 
     awful rush'' days after the disaster. Meanwhile, the Soviet 
     Union's traditional May Day celebrations went ahead in Kiev, 
     80 miles south of Chernobyl, only five days after the 
     accident.
       Soviet authorities had withheld much information on the 
     world's worst nuclear accident, both from its own people and 
     from the rest of the world. Only last year, Ukraine's 
     security service declassified secret files documenting 
     malfunctions and safety violations at the plant that caused 
     the release of small doses of radiation from time to time 
     long before the explosion.
       Ukraine shuttered Chernobyl's last working reactor in 
     December 2000, but many problems remain.
       Ukrainian experts say that the concrete-and-steel shelter 
     that was hastily constructed over the damaged reactor needs 
     urgent repairs, but authorities claim that there are no 
     serious safety threats. Meanwhile, many people injured or 
     displaced because of the explosion complain about inadequate 
     government support.
       Sergei Shchvetsov, the head of Russia's Chernobyl Union, 
     said that 40,000 people disabled in operations to clean up 
     the blast live in Russia and the ``volume of benefits to 
     which (they) are eligible is narrowing every year,'' the 
     ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
       Greenpeace activists held a small protest outside Russia's 
     Department for the Inspection of Radiation Security, carrying 
     signs that read ``No more Chernobyls.''
       Meanwhile, in the Ukrainian town of Slavutych--built to 
     house Chernobyl workers displaced by the accident--people 
     held a solemn memorial meeting early Monday to honor the 
     memory of their relatives, friends and colleagues.
       The accident occurred after officials put the reactor 
     through a test in which power was reduced and some safety 
     devices were disabled.
       More than 2.32 million people have been hospitalized in 
     Ukraine as of early 2004 with illnesses blamed on the 
     disaster, including 452,000 children, according to Ukraine's 
     Health Ministry. Ukraine has registered some 4,400 deaths.
       The most frequently noted Chernobyl-related diseases 
     include thyroid and blood cancer, mental disorders and 
     cancerous growths. The United Nations said in a statement 
     that in some areas of Belarus, thyroid cancer among children 
     has increased more than 100-fold when compared with the 
     period before the accident.
       Two years ago, the U.N. reported that 200,000 people still 
     live in highly contaminated areas and 4.5 million residents 
     in three countries are receiving financial help--draining 
     national budgets.
       The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor 
     contaminated 23 percent of Belarus, 5 percent of Ukraine and 
     1.5 percent of Russia, according to the report. It also 
     spewed a radioactive cloud across Europe.

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