10th anniversary of Chornobyl: our responsibility to remember

by Dr. Tetiana V. Hardashuk

The Chornobyl accident occurred on April 26, 1986, and resulted in the release of radioactivity into the lower atmosphere. An initial plume, which included gaseous materials and particulates, spread northwest into Belarus, and a second plume spread southwest into Ukraine, and then east into Russia, all of which was still part of the former Soviet Union.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl accident. It is a time to commemorate the victims of this tragedy, and to summarize and rethink how to overcome the accident's consequences. It is a complex problem that includes environmental, health, social, psychological, cultural and ethical aspects.

Environmental impacts

Initially, the radionucleides released by the explosion were deposited both on vegetation (direct fallout) and on soil. However, the retention time on plant surfaces is relatively short and the contaminants ended up in the soil. Today all radionucleides are either retained in the soil or have been washed into rivers and lakes.

The deposits of radionucleides in soil are a big problem for forestry ecosystems. Plants actively and passively absorb radionucleides via their root systems. Radionucleides are readily absorbed by forest flora, especially by plants with shallow root systems, as opposed to mature trees with deeper root systems. Also, organic acids are found in soils containing organic matter, which dissolve the radionucleides, and which then are leached into deeper layers for tree root uptake.

All radionucleides have unique physical and chemical characteristics. Therefore, their uptake by plant root systems will be radionucleide-specific. Large plants and trees are more sensitive to initial radionucleide fallout than are small plants. Coniferous trees are more sensitive than deciduous ones. About 400 hectares of pine forest in the path of the first plume of the Chornobyl explosion died immediately as a result of direct fallout.

Serious concerns remain due to the extreme toxicity of radionucleides, especially during logging and processing operations, because there is some possibility that rain and wind will splash contaminants onto the base of plants.

According to official data presented in the National Report on the State of the Environment in Ukraine in 1993, more than 4 million hectares of forest were polluted by nuclear precipitation. About 157,000 hectares (about 400,000 acres) of the contaminated forests have been excluded from economic activity.

Health, psychological and social aspects

About 3.1 million Ukrainians are victims of the Chornobyl accident. Currently about 5,500 families (e.g.. 1,100 families with children) continue to live on the territories seriously contaminated by the disaster. The people at these contaminated sites are under continuous psychological stress. They should be forced to move to safe regions.

Many families have already been removed from their native places. The Chornobyl area, known as the Polissia region, was famous for its old-growth forests rich with mushrooms, berries, medicinal herbs, etc. The people's lifestyle and their welfare strongly depended on the forest. Their dependency on the forest resulted in the very specific spiritual and material culture of the Ukrainian Polissia region.

After the accident, people were moved to completely different environments. Everything was different - landscapes, buildings, and, consequently, lifestyles and customs, etc.

Today most of them long for their native lands. This ongoing homesickness also has resulted in stress as well.

Therefore, the crucial social task is not only to provide people from the Chornobyl zone with housing, jobs, and medical and other social services, but also to make their environment as similar to their native one as possible.

Some steps have already been taken by the Ukrainian government. Additional measures are planned for this year. Wide-scale public participation in the practical implementation of these measures is an essential step towards overcoming the negative impacts of the Chornobyl accident.

"Trees for Commemoration"

The National Ecological Center of Ukraine, in cooperation with the American Forests' Global Relief International, has initiated a project titled "Trees for Commemoration."

The goal of the project is to increase the wooded areas in the places where people from the Chornobyl zone were relocated.

The project will have the following outcome:

• The total wooded area of Ukraine will be increased. (It is important to note that forested areas once covered about 30 percent of the total territory of Ukraine; today the figure is 14.3 percent.)
  
  
• The environmental and sanitary conditions of the new developed settlements will be improved.
  
  
• The living environment of those relocated will be restructured to more closely resemble their native one, and this will contribute to the moral and psychological health of the settlers.
  
  
• Tree plantings will commemorate the people who died in the years after the Chornobyl accident and thus will symbolize the continuation of life in the face of tragedy.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations, local residents and authorities of different levels will be involved in the project's development and implementation.

Dr. Tetiana V. Hardashuk is a founder the National Ecological Center of Ukraine and executive director of the citizens' group Green Ukraine.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 7, 1996, No. 14, Vol. LXIV

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