PRESS CONFERENCE ON CHERNOBYL DISASTER

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON CHERNOBYL DISASTER

Opening a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine) told correspondents that the effects of the Chernobyl disaster -- the worst nuclear power plant accident in history -- continued to haunt the most deeply affected countries.

Before introducing the Deputy Minister for Emergencies and Protection of Population affected by the Chernobyl disaster, Volodymyr Kcholosha, the spokesman outlined related United Nations activities currently under way concerning the Chernobyl accident.

He said that the issue was being considered today by the General Assembly, specifically on strengthening international cooperation and coordination of efforts to study, mitigate and minimize the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. There would be a special international meeting on Tuesday, 25 November, in the Economic and Security Council (ECOSOC) Chamber convened by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations Coordinator of International Cooperation on Chernobyl, Yasushi Akashi. Its aim was to generate further support for the populations of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine, the areas affected by the nuclear power plant accident.

Mr. Kcholosha said that although it had been 11 years since that most terrible day, the problems caused by the catastrophe had not lessened. Among them was the worsening health of the people affected by the accident, particularly of those who were evacuated. The most serious medical problems afflicted the children. Illnesses, including oncological diseases, had increased tremendously, causing deaths among children. The most prevalent cancers were the incidences of thyroid cancer.

He said that the contamination of a large portion of land, both forest and farmland, had rendered it unusable. There was also an indication that radiation was entering the water system, contaminating the drinking water and the irrigation processes. Another problem concerned the economic status of the affected territories. The many people who had been evacuated from the affected areas included workers, farmers, children and pensioners. The economic rehabilitation of the territory was, therefore, of great importance.

The psychological rehabilitation of the population was another area of concern, he said. Following the accident, initial reports of the dangers were minimized, in an attempt to calm fears. A few years later, when the real scope of the disaster had begun to emerge, people began to exaggerate the disaster. Such differing predictions had caused a complex psychological situation among the population. People had stopped believing the authorities, as well as the press. Symptoms of stress were also evident.

Chernobyl Press Conference - 2 - 24 November 1997

In addition to the health problems, Ukraine bore the sole burden of sheltering the facility, he said. Without the assistance of the international community, Ukraine could not cope with those problems. The International Chernobyl Shelter Pledging Conference for Governments, held in New York on 20 November, had sought support to deal with the epicenter of the catastrophe. He expressed gratitude to the donors and to the United Nations for its attention to the matter, and expressed the hope that, in the future, Ukraine would not face the problem alone.

A correspondent asked about reports that women entering child-bearing age who were adolescents at the time of the accident were having reproductive- related difficulties. Mr. Kcholosha said that, unfortunately, those young women who had been adolescents in the affected territories at the time of the accident indeed had health problems relating to their reproductive functions. There was a higher rate of difficulty in that regard among those young women than among the segments of the population that had not been affected.

Asked about the refusal of the Russian Federation to support the environmental safety of the sarcophagus covering the remains of the destroyed reactor, he said that he was unfamiliar with such a statement by the Russian Federation at last week's meeting. Nevertheless, the Russian Federation had contributed towards overcoming the consequences of Chernobyl. Its initial contribution had been significant. Regarding its contribution towards safeguarding the reactor's covering, only time would tell.

To a follow-up question about the prospects for the special international meeting on Chernobyl scheduled for tomorrow, he said that the Chernobyl item had received significant attention at the last General Assembly session. A United Nations needs-assessment mission was dispatched to the three affected areas of Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation to evaluate the situations and to report on its findings at a United Nations- sponsored international seminar earlier this year.

A number of evaluation and assistance projects were considered at that seminar, he continued. Eight to 10 projects had been given priority, and their further support would be sought tomorrow at the donor conference. In the area of health care, those included the health of the clean-up teams, of the children affected by thyroid cancers and other similar diseases, and of the children born to parents from the cleanup teams. Also considered were regional projects to protect the forests, disseminate information, and support the psychological rehabilitation centres. Environmental projects involved the protection and clean-up of water resources, and mitigating the absorption of radioactivity.

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