WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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It was 26th of April

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Saturday and from unofficial
sources simply from our friends

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they called me from Chernobyl and
informed me of what had occurred

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an accident at Chernobyl and I must
recollect how events developed

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on that tragic night on the 25th to the
26 from the first minutes of a disaster.

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[music]

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I think that if people actually knew how much
radiation was released after the Chernobyl disaster

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that released more radioactive
nuclei into the world

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and all the atomic weapons tests
which took place before 1962.

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Then they what understand what a tragic
page of human history we\'re living in

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but unfortunately people just
don\'t know the real truth.

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[music]

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In May 1986 Vladimir Chernousenko was
called in by the Soviet government

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to lead a team of scientists
to liquidate the disaster.

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He and others built the sarcophagus, the
containment structure around the damaged reactor

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designed to prevent the further release
of radiation. Today he spends his time

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telling the world the real
truth about Chernobyl.

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I\'ve traveled through nearly all of the
contaminated regions of our country and I can say

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what I\'ve seen there as terrible.
As a result of the accident,

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almost all of the territory of the Ukraine
has been contaminated (inaudible) Russia

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and apparently a third of Russia.

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Valodymyr Yavorivsky is one of the
leaders in Ukrainian government.

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He is chairman of the parliamentary
commission on Chernobyl.

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He is dealing with the massive consequences of the
accident everyday. The whole question of Chernobyl

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and its after-effects was simply
silenced throughout the world

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and nothing was heard of it, so we
lost four years. Chernobyl itself is

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a massive disaster and put it
simply Ukraine is the country

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that was the victim of a nuclear war. We must
evacuate all of the people who are now living

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in a contaminated regions immediately.

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These are areas where it is not
healthy to live even one day

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and they\'ve been living there for seven
years. Then there is the issue of

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the crumbling sarcophagus. The sarcophagus
is sinking into the unstable ground

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that it is sitting on and it is threatening
to contaminate the continental water supply.

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Told to not come back for 600 years.
Dr. Murray Feshbech is

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a foremost specialist on Soviet Health
and Population. He co-authored the book

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Ecocide in the USSR. He is research professor
of demography at Georgetown University

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and former adviser to Lord Peter
Carrington, the general secretary of NATO.

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The amount of radioactivity
released by Chernobyl

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is not 50 million which is the standard
figure. I\'ve used and everybody else used

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but maybe as much as 80 million
(inaudible) now. Put that in context

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came my released Three Mile Island,
released out of its containment structure,

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the grand total of 15 (inaudible) period.

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The main specific point about
this is that when not just north

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we know about and into Russia
but through Belorussia,

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but also in the other directions within the
Ukraine area and down in the whole direction

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it got to Norway and
Sweden, it got to Wales

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but it\'s still not eating the sheep where I lived
in Brussels at that time, it also got some

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certain amount or fallout
into Turkey, into Georgia

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the south and again across here into

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the more eastern directions as well.
We have now

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an investigation of this claim by the
Belarusians that thyroid cancer is rampant

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and very dangerous. They sent in the World
Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

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out of Copenhagen, sent in a team
of physicians and epidemiologists

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to investigate these 104 histologic slides.

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The results of the investigation
by various stocks team is that

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the rate of thyroid cancer
developing is not the novel usual

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or standard rate of one per
million population but instead is

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80 cases of thyroid cancer of this
type per 1 million population

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and is a very aggressive type. Dr. John
Gofman is a physical nuclear chemists

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and a physician and has studied the health
effects of radiation for over 20 years.

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He was one of the Manhattan Project
scientists who worked on the development of

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the first atomic bomb. He had access to some
of the early reports from many countries

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affected by the Chernobyl fallout.
He recently traveled to Sweden

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where he received the Right
Livelihood Award. Gavle is a city

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in Sweden that received the
highest radiation dose

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from the fallout of Chernobyl and I
spent an afternoon at the laboratory

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which measures today the foodstuffs
in that area and I can report

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a very interesting set of facts.
There are freshwater lakes

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in the Gavle area. Nobody
fishes there anymore

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because the fish themselves serve
as a concentrating mechanism

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in building up their body cells. They
serve as a concentrating mechanism

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for Radioactive Cesium-137 and as a result

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the fish flesh is about a thousand times

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as contaminated as the water in
which the fish are growing up.

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So fishing has disappeared
in Gavle and as for hunting,

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nobody hunts anymore in
the Gavle area because

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the elk and deer are simply far too
contaminated and with respect to products

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such as berries and mushrooms,
I was watching them,

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actually analyzing the data and
the story is, they\'ve hardly

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any lower in contamination than
they were right after the accident.

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So the long-term problem
is severe and there are

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hotspots places or you don\'t even know
there\'s more radiation than in another area.

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This is a difficult an ongoing problem

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and it should be, it should be a lesson

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to the world the contamination of the Earth

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is not an easy cleanup proposition.

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Dr. Natalia Preobrazhenska a cell biologist

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from Kiev, Ukraine was interviewed in
1990 at a conference in Washington D.C.

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She described the monumental problems faced by
Ukraine as a result of the ongoing contamination.

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There is external radiation
and internal radiation

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due to ingestion of radioactivity.
There\'s a great anxiety

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about the water supply because the soil
around the Pripyat River was contaminated

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and some of the radiation leaks
into the river and this causes

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food chain contamination from water to
soil to vegetation to animals to people.

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(inaudible) or states of
the Ukrainian Republic

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are contaminated by radionuclides.
There are many cities towns

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and villages that are contaminated
and we are tremendously anxious

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and worried about the genetic
mutations of the future generations.

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The mutations have appeared on animals and
plants already. The leaves grow giant,

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giant in size and the trees are
growing monstrously deformed.

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This is only five years hence.
We expect to see

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the appearance of monstrosities in human
births in about 15 to 20 years from now.

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From the first moments of the catastrophe,

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everything connected whether
it was classified as secret.

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The entire dangerous zone was surrounded
by the troops of the MBD and the KGB

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and no information came out from the
zone of Chernobyl to the outside

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and we couldn\'t find things out either.
So the first week was torturers

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because we couldn\'t get concrete information
and only after two weeks, after it became

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apparent to them that they alone wouldn\'t be
able to cope with a magnitude of the problem

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without our help. They gave the Academy
of Sciences permission to help in solving

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the catastrophe and so in May, I
went to Chernobyl to organize a team

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from the Academy of Sciences
to deal with the disaster.

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The main task of our special group
was to work out a special program

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in a very short period of time, a program which
so far did not exist anywhere in the world,

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a program to liquidate such an event.

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[music]

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Nicholai Zakabluk has been the chief
of the electricity department

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at the Chernobyl power plant since 1975.

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My participation in the Chernobyl
disaster in liquidation begins

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from the first minutes of this disaster. I was
100 meters from the reactor when it happened.

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The first sign was an explosion and
it raised a lot of dust everywhere.

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After a few minutes, there was a second
explosion and everything on the roof fell in.

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After the explosion, I tried to repair the
electrical system of the control loop

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which manages the nuclear processes.

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Soon we were successful in repairing

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the electrical system of the power station
because we had to control all the processes.

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Our job was important to help the beginning
of the liquidation of the disaster.

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Everybody understands that without
electricity, it is impossible to do anything

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and if it was not possible to keep the
electrical system of the power station normal,

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it would have been a much more
dangerous situation than it was.

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It would have been impossible to keep
the fuel and the other reactors cool

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and they would have exploded also. All
the electrical cables were covered by

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radioactive water and our task was to
make sure that the water did not rise

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and flood all the other electrical systems.
The success of the other workers

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depended on our work. Other workers
such as the people who cleaned up

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the contaminated areas and the work of the
coal miners who dug under the reactor

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to prevent the hot fuel from contaminating
the underground waters. All the area

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half of Ukraine would have been
poisoned by the underground waters.

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[music]

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I got a big dose of radiation
much more than 100 (inaudible).

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I\'m only 40 years old and I\'m a
master of sports. I was very healthy

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and of course now I am sick.

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This period from the 26th of
April to the 1st of May was

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one of absolute shocked, absolute
incomprehension, absolute horror.

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No one had any idea what to do.
The next stage

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from about the 2nd through the 16th of
May was when they wanted at any price

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to close off the ruptured fourth block which was
burning so that the radioactive core wouldn\'t escape.

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I\'d say what would\'ve been proper to stop

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after this and do not subject million
people to the dangers of this zone.

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Manure taken from the regular army.
These were boys of 18-21 years

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absolutely defenseless with no
protection against radiation.

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They were forced to pick up
graphite with their bare hands

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and of course these boys began to die quite
soon. They worked from about the end of April

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to the beginning of June

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and reservists replace these regular
army boys only around the 10th of June,

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I mean older men. Until the 10th

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these kids worked intolerable inhumane
conditions. There weren\'t enough

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with the special metering device which monitor
radiation exposure so just one monitoring device

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which serve company. The soldiers
spread over a good sized area

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and the officer would know
only his own radiation dosage.

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No one knew what the others are suffering.

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While they made a decision that no one should be
exposed to more than 2 roentgen during 24 hour.

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At a time when conditions were so
bad that they might be exposed to

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80 or 100 roentgen in this period.
This posed an extreme threat

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to their health. More than 19 thousand
of these boys worked at Chernobyl.

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It was clear that after suffering
such high radiation exposure

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thousands would die before long.
He might note that

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the maximum permissible dose for a soldier of
the special force that is allowed to enter

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into an epicenter of a nuclear
explosions is 25 roentgen.

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But here we were dealing with 12
to 15 thousand roentgen per hour.

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Then the government decided to enclose the
reactor in a sarcophagus at any cost.

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Equipment was brought in from abroad but
the electronics and robotic machinery

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couldn\'t withstand these conditions
of tens of thousands of roentgen.

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Our government made one more deathful decision
to send to people again into this area.

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Let me give you an example of what
it is like in one day of the life

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of one of these soldiers. As
a result of the explosion

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of the fourth block it\'s radioactive
contents were spewed out

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at around and pumped the other three
blocks and part of it\'s radioactive core

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was thrown out into the atmosphere not 3%

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as our government has represented it.
But instead more than seventy 70%

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and so young boys were sent
to collect this material

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with their bare hands, then place
it back in the fourth block

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which would then be enclosed from above
within the roof the sarcophagus.

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Any work at all there was
unthinkable even a minute

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would be fatal in 30 seconds a soldier
would run into the danger zone,

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gather, and move some radioactive fragments,
then retreat into the protected area.

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After this 30 seconds of work,

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they release him but they wouldn\'t write down
the actual amount of radiation he received.

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They write some hypothetical amount

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and so many are dying. No one knew
how much of a dose they received

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but it was completely clear but
they\'d never make it home,

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but they would start to fall ill
and die because in just 30 seconds

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they received a fatal dose of radiation.

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The level was so high that even if
there had been some protection,

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it wouldn\'t have worked. We crawled
in our legs and had something

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to cover our mouths if only partially
but it did practically nothing

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and so this was what the
work was like horrendous.

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After the first of September, they sent in
boys with no protection for 30 seconds,

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sometimes a minute, sometimes
two minutes and after that

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they forgot about them.

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Senikova Ivera Petrovia is a widow

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whose husband died at the Chernobyl
plant, a mother of two children.

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She was a resident of the nearby city of
Pripyat when the entire population of 50,000

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was evacuated. The city
remains abandoned today.

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It happened on April 26th unexpectedly.

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Everything was in bloom. It was sunny.
But it was just a beautiful picture

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because we couldn\'t breathe the air and we couldn\'t drink
the water. My husband got a telephone call that night.

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He left the house and did not come back.

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When I asked him in the hospital why
he went there, he said it was my duty.

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If we hadn\'t done what we did, there wouldn\'t
be Ukraine and maybe half of Europe.

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They sacrificed their lives for our future.

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After the bone marrow
transplantation, he became worse.

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His organs did not accept the
transplantation, he was shaking.

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It\'s difficult to explain. He was
alive one month and four days.

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He was a strong man. He died when he was 44

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of acute radiation syndrome.
The disaster happened

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on the 26th of April. Only on the 27th of
April that they started the evacuation.

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The buses came at 2:00 in the
afternoon and took all the people

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and they were told they would be
evacuated for only three days.

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Because my husband was in the hospital in
Moscow, I left with my children for Moscow.

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It wasn\'t until the 29th of April that
they told us on TV about the accident.

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My husband received the
highest Order of the USSR.

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He became a hero of socialist labor.
Three years after he died,

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he received the Order of Lenin.

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As a result of the work
between 1986 and 1991

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more than a million and a half people
entered the special zone and these people

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as time has passed are contending with
sickness, suffering numberless deaths.

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[music]

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Following urgent directives from
Moscow, more than 500 cubic meters

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of radioactive material were simply
buried in the ground and this means that

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it got into the underground water supply.
So that in the years to come

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hundreds of millions of others will
drink water contaminated by radiation.

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[music]

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At the cost of their own health and lives. These
workers decontaminated the nuclear stations

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so that the three remaining blocks could be put
back into operation to give the rest of the world

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are wrong picture of what had
happened that Chernobyl.

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In 1989, Chernousenko traveled to some of the
effected villages with a group of scientists,

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
journalists, and cinematographers
to document for themselves

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
the consequences of the accident. In Narodychi, Ukraine
they spoke to the villagers and local officials.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
The milk should be banned.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
In this whole area, the milk is contaminated.
You\'ve got to stop selling the milk.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
[sil.]

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
Not only (inaudible) but also in Russia,

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
Belorussia, and areas beyond
are all contaminated.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
Now, things are a little bit better.
Things were secret undercover

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
until now, only a myth. If
necessary these people,

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
these officials, why don\'t they come and
live here. We\'ll give them a good apartment.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
So that they can see what\'s going on. We want
them to give us an official seal of approval

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
documents that prove that
it\'s alright to live here.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
I work at the school.
During the past three years

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
there was no medicine and the children
were physically exhausted and simply fell.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
The children were standing and falling.
A 10th grade school girl

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
who wasn\'t sick at all simply fell. How
does that happen? We have a clean village,

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
no absolutely not at all. I have a teacher

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
who has a 6-year-old little
girl, a normal girl.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
She attended school. She used to go and play
in the sand. Her mother would be working

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
and she told her child go play in the sand.
This little girl grew up in the sand.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
How much radiation she observed there?
No one calculated.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
No one looked. She is now lying,
covered in bed, for nearly a year now.

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
She doesn\'t walk. She doesn\'t see.
I am a mother

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
and I am concerned for all children because I in the
first few days was involved in the observation.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
I sat at the apparatus and I
saw all the children\'s doses

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
and they were measuring the doses
of radiation. It was a nightmare.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
Someone came up to us and said you know those
notes that you\'re taking down, destroy them.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
They cannot go beyond this room.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
[non-English narration]

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
Chernousenko and his colleagues

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
took measurements of radiation on the
land and the people in Narodychi.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
[sil.]

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:53.000
[music]

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
[non-English narration]

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
0.994 milliroentgen

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
which is 100 times higher than normal.

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:28.000
[music]

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
With the breakup of the
USSR, new information

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
on the magnitude of the Chernobyl
accident began to emerge.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
International concerned focused on the safety of the existing
nuclear infrastructure in the newly independent republics

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
and on the 16 remaining RBMK
Chernobyl type reactors

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
still in operation. In July
1992, hearings were held

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
in the United States Senate before the
subcommittee on nuclear regulation.

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
So that the problem is much larger than just
the terrible problem that we knew it was.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
The Ukrainian minister of Environment (inaudible)
had said the potential model doses radiation

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
have been suffered by 365,000 persons.
Mr. (inaudible) is not the man

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
who tends to exaggerate per se. He is not
only physician but he is also as I said

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
the Minister of Environment and he said
by this time 7000 persons who witnessed

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
maybe emergency work have died. I highly
detailed studied of German citizens

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
repairing from the vicinity of
Chernobyl following the 1986 accident

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
has documented a dramatic increase in
structural chromosomal aberrations.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
The global problem is better
illustrated, the highest level of

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
radioactive iodine ever recorded in
a single day in the United States

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
was as a consequence of Chernobyl
on May 11th in Vermont

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
in Scotland and in France, by
May 10th the thyroids of calves

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
and cattle were removed from the market.
There has been

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
an increased rate of abortions
in lands as far as Italy,

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
Denmark, and Sweden. The sarcophagus
was crumbling. It\'s rusting away.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
The ground is settling unevenly.
The concrete is weak

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
and it\'s probably I don\'t know
whether it\'ll last five years

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
or ten years but it\'s, it\'s deteriorating

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
and then as time goes on,
the hole would get bigger

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
the dirt over there and all the
other stuff was taken to pitch

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
within 10 miles of the sarcophagus
and barrier. So you have

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
those fission products that were put there

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
and the fuel which is sitting in a pit.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
This pit is not very far

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
above the water table in fact because
of how close the water table is

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
from the surface of the ground, many of these
burial pits may be below the water table.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
When they finished to cleanup activity,

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
a lot of the equipment, vehicles, and things that
were used, that got very heavily contaminated

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
in the cleanup operation.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
We\'re also putting these burial
pits and I would like to emphasize

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
that this was done under conditions

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
where they really did not make sure
that there was good containment

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
of the stuff. They were they
were trying to clear the area

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
so they could work on the larger
problem and as such they created

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
some significant residual problems.
The authorities that were overseeing

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
the Chernobyl disaster,
actually issued orders

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
to cover up the diseases that including
radiation sickness and immediate deaths

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
that resulted from Chernobyl. Now
that\'s been verified now that

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
doctors were under orders to misdiagnose

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
the diseases of which these nuclear cleanup workers
and children were dying in the very early days

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
following the accident.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
In certain areas of Belorussia
from 10 to 15% of the children

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
are now born with mutations. They
have all sorts of anomalies.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
In my first book, I included photographs
of children with mutations,

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
sometimes they have six fingers,
sometimes flippers instead of hands.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
It\'s terrible what you can see there.
These people have been forced to live

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
for more than six years and
half in the contaminated areas.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
On the one hand they are exposed to external
radiation and on the other hand they eat

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
radioactive produced. It\'s impossible to
grow clean produce in contaminated areas

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
and so they gather the contaminated
produce from these regions

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
and send it to other
uncontaminated regions.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
And so a mother of children in Vladivostok for example
who thinks she\'s far removed from this tragedy

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
nevertheless exposes her
kids to radioactivity

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
who contaminated produce like this.
Recently we saw a picture of a fetus,

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
stillborn fetus with three heads.
We also have seen

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
both among, among human
fetuses and among livestock

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
that\'s born in the town of Chernobyl
region in a very grotesque deformities

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
which were never before seen in this area.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
At that time, the KGB and the Central Committee
were still powerful and it was absolutely forbidden

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
to take photographs of these children.
I remembered that police employees

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
took these photographs at night in a
radiology ward and it\'s a good thing

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
as the next morning the subjects had been taken away so
that they wouldn\'t make an impression on the others there

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
and unfortunately that
still continues today.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
In response to the rising rate of illness
and birth defects in the population,

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
groups such as union Chernobyl and the
children of Chernobyl Relief Fund were formed

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
to provide aid to stem what is a
daunting environmental tragedy.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
So we asked the sanitary in which way we can help.
He says if you want gather some antibiotics

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
or vitamins that I can take back with me.
It\'ll be a first step to show

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
the Ukrainians that the Ukrainians and
the Americans and the Western world

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
do care and do know of our
disaster and we within four days

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
gathered 1200 pounds of
antibiotics and vitamins.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
There was a token, since then point

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
individualist out of our
area, sort of gravitated,

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
and we formed the foundation which today is
called Children of Chernobyl Relief Fund.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
We since then have had eight major airways,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
over 22 to $25 million worth
of medical equipment,

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
supplies and medicines were sent. We
have established three hospitals,

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
one in Western Ukraine in a very clean
zone. It was all party hospital,

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
160 bed and it is now called

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
the Chernobyl Hospital. It is Hematology
Oncology Specialized Hospital

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
treats leukemia and various
oncological disorders.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
Today we can say that we are arriving now to
Ukraine on the 1st anniversary of its independence

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
and bringing over $5.5 million
worth of medical supplies.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
Some children have been sent

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
out of the contaminated areas to other countries
for medical treatment such as Cuba and Germany

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
because of the shortage of
care available at home.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Vova a 7-year-old Ukrainian boy who was sent to the United
States. Dr. (inaudible) from Boston Floating Hospital

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
evaluated all the children. She found that

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
Vova\'s condition was the worst and
therefore there was no time to waste

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
and she immediately started treatment with
Vova. Sometimes when my counts are good,

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
they give me a lot of medicine and
sometimes I don\'t go to school

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
\'cause the medicine is too strong

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
but when counts are not so good,
they give me a little dose

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
and I go to school. The children
of Chernobyl Relief Fund

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
has sponsored a hospital development program in
three hospitals in Ukraine and set up and equipped

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
the hospital in Lviv.

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:08.000
[music]

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
There were thousands of
coal miners from Donetsk

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
who were forced to go to Chernobyl in 1986

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
to dig tunnels underneath the reactor to help
seal off the radiation from the water table.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
We provided about five tons of medicine and
medical supplies to one of the hospitals

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
that is treating veterans of
the Chernobyl cleanup effort.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
[music]

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
Union Chernobyl was established
three years after the accident.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
The main task of union Chernobyl is to help
the survivors who most urgently need the help

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
and who are not beyond help. These are the
liquidators who are 23 to 25 years old.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
But they are already invalids.
These are sick children

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
with diseases such as leukemia and I want
to ask people who are still contemplating

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
whether to help or not, start helping
to save those who still can\'t be saved.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
The issue of radiological impact

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
on human health and the environment
has suddenly become more relevant now

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
due to the scale of this disaster.
Chernobyl has become

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
a giant laboratory whose consequences
are being assessed on the world stage

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
for the sake of future generations.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
The phrase that was used by the
physician who accompanied me in 1991

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
to Chernobyl, I think is one that
we must take to the entire world

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
and that is the children

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
fail to thrive. Dr. (inaudible)

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
said to us our government
tells us it is radiophobia.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
It is radiation hysteria.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
It is stress. Exactly what our government

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
in the United States tells us. But she said

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
the laboratory dogs to whom we
give comparable radiation doses,

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
don\'t get hysterical. They get sick

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
just like children. I have received reports

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
from diverse areas of Belarus and Ukraine

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
of the pink handkerchief
syndrome, children who bleed

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
into their handkerchief or nosebleeds.

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
Nosebleeds are serious proposition. There
are some trivial causes of nosebleeds

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
but also excessive bleeding
can be a manifestation

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
of hypothyroidism and
hypothyroidism is a real concern

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
in Belarus and Ukraine as a
result of the radio ion.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
So I don\'t dismiss any of
the complaints I would make

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
careful observations and careful
studies of it. Almost all the children

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
in the contaminated territories are sick. The
stomachs trouble them. The thyroids are out of order.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
Their internal organs are also afflicted
and these are school-aged children.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
What\'s happening is that the action
of the contaminated areas of genotype

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
is making itself evident on
the genotype of children

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
have grown ups at all of nature and this
is a tragedy which we must talk about now.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
Because it\'s a tragedy
which is just beginning.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
For generations the genotype is spoiled.
This is what\'s happening.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
Dr. (inaudible) who visited us
recently and is working feverishly

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
with the institute of pediatrics to
document these problems has asked for

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
as much radiological monitoring
equipment as possible.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
She has been going with a group of
doctors into (inaudible) region

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
which is supposed to be a low level
radioactive region and it\'s discovered that

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
70% of the peasants and the
farmers living in this area

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
are suffering from severe
gastrointestinal problems.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
These are farmers who are tough
strappy scrappy characters

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
who would boast to Dr. Niznick
that before a few years ago,

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
used to be able to eat rocks and we never had
problems with our digestive tracks and they said

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
you know we\'re now eating beets,
potatoes, everything we bow is eaten

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
and yet the cesium levels, strontium
levels in this area are elevated.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
So that even though these may
be low level exposures of

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
the overall contamination in this
area is between 1 and 5 queries

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
per square kilometer. But the problem is
that these people are eating consistently

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
those low doses so there\'s a constant low-level
bombardment to their intestinal tract

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
and that\'s where we\'re very
concerned about spleen damage,

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
liver damage, kidney damage the
whole, the whole panoply of problems

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
that we expect to see. Also we know now

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
that which we didn\'t know much longer ago is
that there are many more areas affected by

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
radioactivity and many of the people may
be living in areas and consuming food

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
produced there which they\'re not aware
of is contaminated radioactive.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
There was one quotation which I like to use

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
that some farmers in one area where there
was some of this others bad stuff,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
we\'re told to not come back for 600 years.
They were told

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
not to come back for 600 years. Now
whether they or their grandchildren

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
14 generations removed the
whatever number is, it\'s not bad

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
because they\'re moving back in there
anyway cost to the desperation.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
This is the first time that a large
population including small children,

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
women, and grown-ups has been exposed
to these small amounts of radiation

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
and with multiple exposure overtime the
danger rises. No amount of radiation

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
is so small as to be safe. Even
the small amounts in Europe

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
and throughout the world will have an influence on the
health of the people there. I\'ve been speaking up till now

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
about our territory about Ukraine and
Belorussia with the higher contamination

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
is making itself evidence sooner
but even though it will show up

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
later in Europe and the rest of the
world it will certainly show up.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
Dr. Jay Gould is the director of the
radiation and public health projects

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
he was a member of the EPA Science Advisory
Board during the Carter Administration.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
I got this extraordinary letter from
an ornithologist named David Desanti,

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
he had been engaged in counting

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
the number of newly hatched birds
that were caught at Point Reyes

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
the world\'s largest bird observatory.
He had been doing this for 10 years

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
and in the summer of 1986 from
May to August, he noticed

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
an extraordinary decline in the
number of newly hatched birds

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
caught in those nets. The drop was

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
statistically significant to the point
where it was less than one chance

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
in many trillion that
could be due to chance

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
and finally although he couldn\'t believe it, he
decided it must have been the radiation cloud

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
from Chernobyl. Its clear to everyone that

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
those were directly involved in these
tragedies, will not describe them accurately.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
They work under a regime of secrecy and
must sign agreements not to divulge

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
tragic situations like this. Therefore in order
for people to get an accurate picture of

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
what\'s really happening there\'s
only one possibility to and create

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
an independent international ecological institute
which could attract the best scientists of the world

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
who could analyze accurately and independently
the actual dangers of various industries

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
beginning with nuclear energy.
In the case of

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
the World Health Organization study of
Chernobyl, they\'re proposing $200 million

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
for the first 10 years.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
I think 10 million 5% of that
$10 million should be given

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
to citizen organizations and environmental
organizations over what we call

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
a watchdog authority the
people who suffered the most

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
from Chernobyl and the people of
Belarus and the people of Ukraine

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
and some part of Russia.
It\'s my opinion that

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
those people ought to be the
mandate this watchdog authority

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
and they have the clout
to do it in this sense.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
There will be no study of
Chernobyl phony or otherwise

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
if the people have Belarus say
bye-bye to government agencies

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
and wish to study.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
With the economies of the
former Soviet states

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
in urgent need of cash there has been a call for
international cooperation to solve a worsening problem.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
Maurice Strong formerly
Undersecretary General

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
of the United Nations was the
chairman of the 1992 UN conference

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
on the environmental in Rio. I\'ve been concerned
about nuclear energy for a long time.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
They\'re the 40 disasters as I didn\'t write

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
the headline incidentally, but are
still there, waiting to happen

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
what has happened since that article is
that there\'s been a tremendous increase

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
in the awareness of this problem and
some of the major industrial nations

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
so-called G7 have responded by offering a
package of assistance to help deal with

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
these safety problems. They still exist
because some of the problems are inherent

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
in the design of the plants and they
have very real flaws in their design

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
and that is not easy to correct. Also
they\'ve been maintenance problems,

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
some of the trained people have left and so
quite a few of the plants are also endangered

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
by inadequate maintenance and
inadequately trained staff.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
They recognize that the plants are unsafe
and should be shut down but in fact

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
there they really don\'t have alternative
sources of electrical power

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
so it is a very very tough choice for them.
I now want to do everything I can

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
to make sure that the 17 Chernobyl
style reactors still remain

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
are decommissioned, so that another
Chernobyl which could happen

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
even on this morning as we\'re speaking,
will in fact never happened.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
US senator Bill Bradley has been
participating in various forms of aid

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
to the CIS. I believe that
it\'s essential to funnel

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
this aid through the European Bank
Reconstruction and Development

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
which means it\'s primarily than an
European effort because it is Europe

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
that is most directly threatened by the
existence of these Chernobyl reactors

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
as everyone knows in the
first Chernobyl experience,

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
the winds blow west and it affected

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
the whole area of Central Europe
and if you found nuclear reactors

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
go again that would be the
region of the most affected.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
The commission that I\'m chairman of has already sounded
the alarm bell about the condition of the sarcophagus.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
The nuclear fuel that
erupted from the reactor

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
flowed out of the reactor like magma from
the volcano and it spread and flowed

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
into the various fissures and essentially
everywhere underneath the sarcophagus

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
and they\'re hardened. It has flowed into places
where it would be impossible for a human

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
or anyone to penetrate and to put
the necessary monitoring equipment

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
to determine its level of radioactivity or
condition in general and because of this condition

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
sometime last year one of the leading
tendrils of this nuclear magma flow

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
in the place where it flowed into
a nuclear chain reaction began.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
Luckily this was one of the areas where
radiation sensors had been put into place.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
As a result of this particular incident
the government has finally admitted

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
under the pressure from the
commission that this entire structure

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
is very dangerous and very unstable both from
the ecological and from the nuclear standpoint.

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
We were forced to announce
an international competition

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
for the redesign of a new sarcophagus
because we had to face the fact

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
that the resources of our scientific
community were simply insufficient to deal

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
with a problem of this magnitude. We wanted to
bring to bear the entire weight of the scientific

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
and engineering community of the world
to neutralize this dangerous instability

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
in the sarcophagus and in the reactor.
What are the odds that

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
one of the other Chernobyl type reactors that exist throughout
the former Soviet Union will go in the next five years?

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
Back in April I was asked
that question by a reporter

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
and I said well, the most likely accident

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
happen on RBMK is a pressure tube failure
and those happen fairly frequently.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
The oldest plant and the
one that seems to have

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
the most problems is the one in Leningrad.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
So if you ask me what\'s the most likely
accident it would be a pressure tube failure.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
If you ask me where I would say
Leningrad and five minutes later

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
the head the pressure tube failure
Leningrad and the vent system plugged up

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
and that was the story
that was added in April.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
For these reasons most experts
both and out of the Soviet Union

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
are practically unanimous and
calling for the shutdown of

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
RBMKs as soon as possible.

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
Another safety concern is
that following the breakup of

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
the Soviet Union, there\'s
a perspective breakup

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
of the nuclear infrastructure within
Eastern Europe but consider Lithuania,

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
and the two RBMKs at Ignalina and Lithuania

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
supply about half of that
country\'s electrical power

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
and Lithuania has no economy for

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
substitution of generating equipment,

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
shutting those reactors down and
bringing other types of technology

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
and it has no indigenous fuel resources.
So it\'s, it\'s got

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
a very tough problem in
terms of the management of

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
those two Chernobyl type reactors.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
That\'s a reality one has to deal with.
They need equipment, they need training,

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
they need every basic aspects of building
the power and energy infrastructure.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
So I think in terms of priorities,
some kind of a measure

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
to hold that together is imperative.
If it falls apart on us,

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
it has consequences for not just
Ukraine and Belarus and Russia

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
and the others that it has Ukraine
consequences for Europe and the United States.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
We who saw with our own eyes what
happened in Chernobyl one to warn

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
all the people of our planet not to repeat this
disaster. We have the great responsibility

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
of the future of our children.

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
Chernobyl is the last example of the
situation which definitely shows that

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
there is no peaceful atom. I would like to
underscore the fact that not only the government of

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
the Soviet Union but the governments of other people
do not realize that humanity is not really ready

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
for the atom or atomically produced energy.
We\'re not really ready for it.

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
The tragedy is that when you do
have another nuclear disaster

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
of the kind that we had at
Chernobyl then the world

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
would rally. Why can\'t we do ahead of time?
Why can\'t we be sensible enough

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
to recall what happened in Chernobyl
and this is also still with us

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
and react ahead of time rather than
waiting for another Chernobyl to happen.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
If the violence of the explosive
release had been a little less

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
so that the radioactivity didn\'t
go up as high into the air

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
like a mile high and if the
winds had all been blowing

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
toward Kiev the amount of
radioactivity released

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
would\'ve certainly meant that Kiev
would have had to be evacuated

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
in total. And so it\'s
just blown in the wind

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
as to whether you\'re going
to lose a big city or not

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
from an accident like Chernobyl and the
fact that it got dispersed over Europe

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
and over parts of the Soviet Union has
led to the Cavalier suggestion that

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
it wasn\'t that bad because you spread the
doses. You\'ll get the same number of cancers

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
but it would have been I
think something to be hold

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
if the winds had been going in that
direction rather than shifting.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
We would have a different legacy
of Chernobyl, a real education.

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
The principal conclusion that I
draw from this event is that

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
undemocratic regimes cannot be given control
of the technological achievements of humanity.

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
There are now 150 thousand
children who are suffering

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
the effects of hyperplegic thyroidal cancer and
leukemia. The nuclear power station was built

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
on unstable ground. What is occurring is
considerable seepage of the contaminants

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
into the groundwater and not only is it
a problem of the local groundwater base

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
but there is a probability that
they could actually contaminate

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
the principal continental water base and therefore
contaminate the water supply of Poland, Czechoslovakia,

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
and even Germany. So this
is not a matter of concern

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
for simply Ukraine and Belorussia.
The main consequence for humanity

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
is a genetic one and not just for humanity
but for livestock and fauna in general.

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
There have already been instances of
gross genetic mutations and lifestyle

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
and teratogenic malformations
in human infants.

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
Scientists say that the true and full effects of this
event will not be felt for yet some generations.

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
Unfortunately even within our country

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
we are unable because of
our economic situation

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
to bring ecologically clean food to the
tens of thousands of people who need it.

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
In total 47,000 hectares of very
fertile land had been abandoned

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
and they are currently being surrendered
to the wild because of contamination.

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
Even the highly developed and affluent
nations would find it difficult

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
to deal with the consequences of a disaster of
this magnitude and we\'re speaking here of Ukraine

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
which is a country that is undergoing
an intense economic crisis.

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
It is also an entirely new
political entity and a new state

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
and essentially is undergoing
an economic revolution.

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
[sil.]

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
Chernobyl is a catastrophe whose
consequences will linger for centuries.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
Humanity has not been psychologically
prepared or otherwise prepared

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
for the kind of disaster that
has occurred at Chernobyl.

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
Between 1971-1986, 152 reactor accidents

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
occurred in 14 countries.
In the ex-Soviet Union

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
there hasn\'t been a single reactor
where something hasn\'t gone wrong.

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
So the conclusion we\'ve reached is that there
isn\'t an entirely safe reactor at any country

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
in the world and that it is impossible
to construct a safe reactor.

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
The danger is built into the very nature
of an industry based upon these reactions

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
which take place in million of a
second, liquidating these dangers

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
is simply impossible and so
it\'s unthinkable to speak

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
of the safety of this industry.

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
Even in a properly functioning reactor each
worker produces tens of tons of radioactive waste

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
that we have to be able to
safeguard to store over centuries

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
over one hundred thousand years and so and
producing the next kilowatt of energy

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
at an atomic reactor, we produce a bomb
for future generations to deal with.

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
In my opinion and that of
my colleagues we must place

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
tens of millions more than 60 million
people under continuing observation

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
then two or three or five years
the whole world will understand

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
the tragic consequences of the various
small doses these people have received.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
This hasn\'t been done yet and millions of
people living in the contaminated areas

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
of my country require medical treatment.
They don\'t have medication.

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
They don\'t have enough medical attention and they
are not being systematically medically observed

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
and now we\'re coming to that
seven year barrier after which

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
a cancer tends to reveal itself. Therefore for millions
of people living in the contaminated territories,

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
Chernobyl is just now beginning
that is why it\'s so important that

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
international attention on Chernobyl does
not weigh on the basis of the information

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
provided by the International
Agency of atomic energy

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
and that gather observations and medical
analysis by independent honest doctors

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
and scientists and when the true
picture is presented to the world,

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
I am convinced that it would be shocked,
at its cruelty, and it\'s tragic nature.

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
Therefore I am forced simply to speak

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
and to explain so that people understand better
what has happened, what is, and what will be.

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
For that it has always seemed to me that issues
connected with a life and health of people

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
cannot be kept secret and must not be
kept secret but unfortunately they are.

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:45.000
[non-English narration]

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
[music]

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
People of the world I appeal to
as a mother of six children,

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
my whole large family, by
hometown (inaudible) is suffering

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
and so does the land around it. They are
both covered by the Chernobyl cloud

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
and the filter some with radio isotopes. I
live under the semester wing of Chernobyl

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
with tears and pain in my soul. My heart
greets for the fate of my children.

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
My pain measurable. My sons don\'t
walk barefoot in the grass,

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
do not touch the sand with your little
hands, don\'t run around in the rain,

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
don\'t swim in the river. Otherwise
you\'ll become ill. Dear little daughter

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
my darling don\'t play on grass
plot, don\'t pick flowers,

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
I beg here otherwise you and
your little rabbit will die.

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
Please help to save my (inaudible). Please
help our children and God willing I hope that

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
you will never have to
experience such a calamity.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:05.000
[music]