perm filename CHERNO.NS[E86,JMC] blob
sn#825021 filedate 1986-09-25 generic text, type C, neo UTF8
COMMENT ā VALID 00014 PAGES
C REC PAGE DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002 a056 0428 24 Jul 86
C00013 00003 a219 1233 24 Jul 86
C00025 00004 a224 1302 08 Aug 86
C00030 00005 a223 1200 09 Aug 86
C00039 00006 a064 0633 15 Aug 86
C00046 00007 a065 0638 15 Aug 86
C00049 00008 a027 0114 16 Aug 86
C00066 00009 a262 1609 16 Aug 86
C00070 00010 a035 0232 18 Aug 86
C00075 00011 a031 0137 21 Aug 86
C00089 00012 a267 1859 22 Aug 86
C00093 00013 a282 1848 24 Aug 86
C00097 00014 a233 1410 25 Aug 86
C00101 ENDMK
Cā;
a056 0428 24 Jul 86
PM-Chernobyl,0288
URGENT
Experiments Conducted In Turbines Led To Chernobyl Accident
MOSCOW (AP) - Badly prepared experiments conducted to see if a
turbine generator could provide energy to an atomic power plant in
case of an accident caused the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, a Soviet
offical said today.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov, responding to
questions at a news conference, said he could not provide full
technical details of the experiments.
He said specifics would be published in a report ''hundreds of
pages'' long, to be presented to the Vienna-based International
Atomic Energy Agency by September.
Soviet authorities have said the April 26 accident at the Ukrainian
power plant occurred as workers were taking down the station for
scheduled maintenance work. They said the plant was at a 7 percent
power level at the time.
''When you shut the station, the generator is still working,''
Gerasimov said. ''The experiment (was) ... if there is an accident,
could the generator provide energy for the station for 40 to 45
minutes.''
''The capabilities of the generators were studied, the generators
that generate kinetic energy,'' he said.
Gerasimov said the experiment was ''a purely technical experiment,
nothing special about it.'' He denied what he said were suggestions
in the Western media that it had military significance.
''The point is not that the experiment was conducted, the point is
that it was conducted without the necessary precautions,'' Gerasimov
said.
The ruling Politburo said in a report issued Saturday that
Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor exploded as workers conducted improverly
supervised and badly prepared experiments on a turbine generator.
The report said 28 people were killed and more than 100,000
evacuated after the accident.
AP-NY-07-24-86 0727EDT
- - - - - -
a063 0544 24 Jul 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld - Writethru, a056,0556
Eds: NEW thruout with more detail on previous Soviet report on
accident, other background, statement on Shcherbina's role as head of
government commission. No pickup. ADDS byline.
By ALISON SMALE
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Badly prepared experiments conducted to see if a
turbine generator could provide enough electricity to run an atomic
power plant in case of an accident caused the Chernobyl nuclear
disaster, a Soviet offical said today.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov, responding to
questi
BUST BUST BUST
AP-NY-07-24-86 0840EDT
- - - - - -
a070 0701 24 Jul 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld - Writethru, a056,0623
Eds: NEW thruout with more detail on previous Soviet report on
accident, Gerasimov saying in later interview he said 40-45 seconds,
not minutes, other background, statement on Shcherbina's role as head
of government commission. No pickup. ADDS byline.
By ALISON SMALE
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Badly prepared experiments conducted to see if a
turbine generator could provide enough electricity to run an atomic
power plant in case of an accident caused the Chernobyl nuclear
disaster, a Soviet offical said today.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov, responding to
questions at a news conference, said he could not provide full
technical details of the experiments.
He said specifics would be published in a report ''hundreds of
pages'' long, to be presented to the Vienna-based International
Atomic Energy Agency by September.
In a later telephone interview, Gerasimov said the experiment was
intended to test how long the turbine generators that produce
electricity at the Chernobyl plant would keep operating after a
reactor shut down and before a backup power supply took over.
''When you shut the station, the generator is still working,''
Gerasimov told the news conference, according to an official English
translation of his comments. ''The experiment (was) ... if there is
an accident, could the generator provide energy for the station for
40 to 45 minutes.
''The capabilities of the generators were studied,'' he said.
However, in the telephone interview, Gerasimov insisted he had said
40 to 45 seconds.
Gerasimov said the experiment was ''a purely technical experiment,
nothing special about it.'' He denied what he said were suggestions
in the Western media that it had military significance.
''The point is not that the experiment was conducted, the point is
that it was conducted without the necessary precautions,'' he said.
Previous Soviet reports have said the No. 4 reactor at the Ukrainian
nuclear power plant was being shut down for routine maintenance at
the time of the April 26 accident.
The reactor surged from 6 percent of capacity to 50 percent in 10
seconds, reports have said.
The cooling system could not handle the overload, and water combined
with graphite and produced hydrogen which exploded, ripping open the
reactor core, setting fire to the building around it, and spewing
radiation into the atmosphere, reports have said.
The disaster claimed 28 lives, injured at least 203 people who
suffer from radiation sickness and forced the evacuation of more than
100,000 people from the area around the faciility. The plant is some
80 miles north of Kiev.
The ruling Politburo said in a report issued Saturday that the
reactor exploded as workers conducted improverly supervised and badly
prepared experiments on a turbine generator.
In a related issue, Gerasimov denied what he said were Western
reports that Deputy Premier Boris Shcherbina, head of the government
commission investigating the accident, had been demoted.
Speculation about Shcherbina's demotion was prompted by a July 3
report by the official news agency Tass identifying Deputy Premier
Vladimir Gusev as head of the commission.
Gerasimov said Shcherbina still was head of the commission. He did
not explain the Tass report, but he said Gusev is now in charge at
the disaster site. Gusev will return to Moscow on Sunday and will be
replaced by another official, Gerasimov said.
At least two other deputy premiers, Ivan Silaev and Lev Voronin,
have spent time at Chernobyl directing cleanup operations, according
to Soviet reports.
Gerasimov said Shcherbina spent 10 days at the Chernobyl site
immediately after the disaster. A Soviet government official has said
Shcherbina spent ''about a day'' in hospital in May after returning
from Chernobyl and was then discharged.
AP-NY-07-24-86 1001EDT
***************
a219 1233 24 Jul 86
AM-Chernobyl-3 Months, Bjt,1137
Three Months After Chernobyl: Ghost Towns and Firings
An AP Extra
By ANDREW ROSENTHAL
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - The Chernobyl nuclear accident has created ghost
towns, cost top government officials their jobs and triggered a
review of the ambitious nuclear program that is the cornerstone of
the Kremlin's future energy policy.
Three months after the reactor exploded in a radioactive fireball
April 26 in the Ukraine, workers are still cleaning up and the
nation's highest authorities are undertaking an unusual public
accounting of an unprecedented disaster.
On July 19, the ruling Politburo blamed the accident on gross
negligence of plant workers and officials it said ignored safety
procedures and undertook experiments without proper precautions.
Most of what is known about the accident comes from official Soviet
accounts; few foreigners have been allowed near the plant.
But a picture of some proportions has emerged of what happened at
1:23 a.m., Saturday, April 26, in Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor near the
town of Pripyat, 80 miles north of Kiev, in the Ukraine.
---
THE ACCIDENT
The No. 4 reactor had been shut down. Without notification, and in
violation of safety rules and without proper supervision, workers
began experimenting on one of the electricity-producing turbines,
according to the Politburo account.
The reactor, cooled by water and moderated by graphite, surged from
6 percent of capacity to 50 percent in 10 seconds. The water cooling
system couldn't handle the overload. Water combined with the graphite
and produced hydrogen that exploded. The blast ripped open the
reactor core and set fire to the building around it.
One official said the first blast was equivalent to a ton of
dynamite and was followed by lesser explosions. Two plant workers
were killed.
Intense heat turned the graphite into glowing embers that burned for
two weeks.
Firefighters battled flames for four hours, some dying, to stop fire
from spreading to the adjacent No. 3 reactor building and to a
central core of cables, the lifeline for both reactors.
Radioactive particles, including iodine-131, cesium and strontium,
formed a cloud that spread across northern and central Europe and
eventually around the world in varying degrees.
---
THE EVACUATION
The 50,000-plus residents of Pripyat, the closest to the reactor,
weren't evacuated until Sunday afternoon, April 27. About 1,800 buses
were brought from Kiev; officials said later the exodus took just a
few hours, but it took eight more days to evacuate the rest of the
18-mile danger zone; no one has explained why.
In all, more than 100,000 people were evacuated, along with
thousands of animals. Some went far away to new jobs and new homes.
Children were sent to summer camps. Some reports say a few evacuees
were allowed back to villages near the edge of the danger zone but
that Pripyat is a ghost town with abandoned wash flapping from
clotheslines. Other reports say thousands of people will get new
homes this fall farther away from Chernobyl.
No one has said when or if the reactor area will be habitable again.
---
THE KREMLIN'S REACTION
For almost 72 hours, the Kremlin told its own people nothing.
Diplomatic queries in Moscow and Europe met curt denials.
But the spreading radiation, detected abroad, couldn't be kept
secret. On Monday, April 28, in late evening, the government
acknowledged the accident.
---
THE CLEANUP
Military pilots dumped sand, lead, boron and dolomite onto the
reactor, choking off the radiation almost completely.
Miners and soldiers dug and blasted a tunnel to build a concrete and
lead platform beneath the reactor block.
Workers are now making a concrete shell for the reactor that is
slated to be in place by late autumn - a tomb that will remain
radioactive for hundreds of years.
Embankments 12 miles long were built to protect the Pripyat River,
which flows by the plant and into the Dnieper, which feeds a
reservoir north of Kiev, and then runs through the city itself.
A new water supply system was built for Kiev, although officials say
water there is safe. Underground streams are to be diverted from the
plant area to avoid washing radiation into the Pripyat River.
Chemical sprays and synthetic ground covering are being used to
decontaminate the plant, the soil and the surrounding villages. Some
topsoil is being removed.
Scientists hope contaminated soil can be planted again, but it is
not clear how.
---
THE HUMAN COST
The latest official toll is 28 dead and 30 hospitalized. An
additional 173 are listed as having radiation disease. Doctors,
including three U.S. physicians and an Israeli, performed 13 bone
marrow transplants and six fetal liver transplants.
One of the Americans, Dr. Robert Gale, has said 50,000 to 100,000
people risk contracting radiation-related diseases, but that the
actual number of cases will be much lower. Yet, he and his Soviet
colleagues are discussing ways to monitor 200,000 people for life.
---
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Politburo said the accident has caused the equivalent of $2.8
billion in damage, shut down factories and farms and contaminated 400
square miles of land.
Western experts say the reactor itself was worth $1.4 billion. The
cleanup also cost hundreds of millions. Losses in farm produce, work
time and factory production are difficult to assess.
The Washington-based research group Planecon says Chernobyl will
cost the Soviets $2.7 billion to $4.3 billion.
Soviet officials say two of the three undamaged reactors will be
working again by October, but there's no word on the third.
An official said alternate sources have been able to make up only a
fraction of the energy lost by Chernobyl's shutdown.
Soviet officials say they're still committed to nuclear energy. But
the entire Soviet program is under review.
The Politburo said safety procedures at nuclear plants, including th
other 11 Chernobyl-type reactors, must be reassessed and workers
retrained.
The practice of locating plants near towns and cities is under
review and safety improvements are planned for all reactors.
---
POLITICAL FALLOUT
The Chernobyl disaster was a test for Mikhail S. Gorbachev's
promises to extend accountability into the Kremlin itself and to
carry out investigations and punishment publicly.
No top party officials have been fired but the Politburo's report
said a state committee chairman, a rank equal to a government
minister, was fired, along with two deputies. A second chairman was
given a strict warning.
Lower down, the plant manager and local party and industry officials
have been sacked. The Politburo has said those responsible for the
accident will be tried.
AP-NY-07-24-86 1532EDT
***************
a224 1302 08 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl,0508
Premier and KGB Chief Visit Atomic Reactor Site
By ANDREW ROSENTHAL
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov and KGB chief Viktor M.
Chebrikov inspected the Chernobyl nuclear plant Friday and urged the
managers of the cleanup operation to use their resources more
effectively, the official Tass news agency reported.
Ryzhkov and Chebrikov flew over the plant in a helicopter and met
with experts working to encase the ruined No. 4 reactor in concrete,
Tass said. They also visited a new town being built 30 miles south of
the plant to house workers who are to restart the facilities' No. 1
and 2 reactors.
The report gave no new details on the situation at the plant, 80
miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine.
It also did not update the casualty toll from the April 26 chemical
explosion and fire at the No. 4 reactor. The ruling Politburo blamed
the accident on worker negligence.
The Politburo said July 19 that 28 people had been killed, but three
new graves since have been found in a section of a cemetery near
Moscow that is reserved for Chernobyl victims, indicating the toll is
31.
Ryzhkov, who also inspected the plant May 3, is in charge of the
overall effort to deal with the aftermath of the disaster.
Chebrikov's role was not clear.
Tass said they took part in a conference in the area.
''It was noted that the implementation of large-scale and vigorous
measures had made it possible to improve considerably and within a
brief period the situation at the atomic power plant and in the
adjoining area,'' Tass said.
It said cleanup work ''is being carried out in an organized way,''
but added, ''It was underlined that it was necessary to use more
effectively the extensive forces and resources directed at
eliminating the consequences of the accident and at restoration
work.''
It did not elaborate.
Earlier this week, the Communist Party daily Pravda complained that
a shortage of concrete was slowing construction of the concrete shell
around the to No. 4 reactor, designed to stop leakage of
radioactivity.
Soviet officials indicated last month that dumping lead, sand and
other materials on the reactor had ''practically stopped'' radiation
leakage, but gave no measurements.
The Pravda article said completion of the shell is crucial to
officials' plans to restart the facility's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors
in October. The future of the No. 3 reactor, which was damaged in the
accident, is uncertain.
Pravda also criticized some of the construction work at villages
being built for those evacuated from an 18-mile radius around the
plant. A total of 100,000 people were evacuated and media reports
have indicated that most won't return home for a long time, if ever.
Soviet television on Friday broadcast an hour-long documentary on
Chernobyl, its first such film about the disaster. It provided a more
detailed look at the cleanup operation and praised those taking part.
AP-NY-08-08-86 1601EDT
***************
a223 1200 09 Aug 86
AM-Kiev-Chernobyl, Bjt,0936
The Specter of Chernobyl Hangs over Kiev
An AP Extra
By ALISON SMALE
Associated Press Writer
KIEV, U.S.S.R. (AP) - As intangible as radiation itself, the specter
of Chernobyl hangs heavily over this beautiful city splashed in
summer green.
On the highway from the airport to the center of town, as on all
roads into Kiev, every vehicle must make a slow pass through a
radiation-measuring device. Those registering suspect levels are
flagged down by men in white or blue-gray overalls for a closer look.
The vehicle check is one of the more visible signs that this city of
2.5 million people lies just 80 miles south of the Chernobyl No. 4
reactor that caught fire and blew up early on April 26.
But 15 weeks after the accident, many other reminders exist of the
disaster that spread a cloud of radiation and is believed to have
caused 31 deaths.
The official death toll as of July 29 was 28, but three new graves
have been found since then in a section of a cemetery near Moscow
reserved for Chernobyl victims.
As many as 2,000 people were screened for radiation exposure, and
about 300 of those were hospitalized.
Now, water trucks rumble along the Kreshchatik, Kiev's tree-lined
main avenue, spraying to remove dust that might contain
radioactivity.
In the central department store, rubber-booted old women sprinkle
water on the floor with straw brooms. Anyone entering a public
building steps on cloths soaked in water to get dust off their shoes.
At the market, peasant women wearing scarves and men in cloth caps
get their farm produce tested every morning at special laboratories.
They must show documents proving that their produce is radiation-free
before their fruits and vegetables can be sold.
Following special yellow signs directing them to Chernobyl, dozens
of trucks traverse Kiev laden with building materials, evidence of a
construction program the official news media say involves 50,000
workers.
In conversations, residents sometimes talk freely of such taboo
topics as the war in Afghanistan or old Stalinist purges. But at the
mention of Chernobyl, people fall silent.
Some of the defensive attitude seems rooted in embarrassment that
the accident happened near Kiev, where residents are eager to show
off their attractive city, and in the Ukraine, whose people take
pride in being resilient.
''No people like to discuss their shame,'' said one Kiev man.
Traditional Soviet secrecy and caution in discussing domestic
failures add to the defensiveness.
A man who said he had been in Chernobyl two weeks ago, a few miles
from the reactor, refused to give any details to a foreigner. ''Look
at me, I'm still alive,'' he said.
Soviet officials would not help The Associated Press arrange
meetings with some of the 100,000 evacuees or a trip to a settlement
being built for those who will work at the plant.
A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official said there wasn't time to
organize meetings, and evacuees were beginning to tire of such
sessions. He declined to be interviewed about cleanup operations,
pleading a busy schedule.
Residents were cautious about going beyond the dominant picture
painted by the state-run media of courage and calm in the face of
disaster.
''There was no panic, but there was concern,'' conceded one man,
recalling early May when many parents scrambled to get their children
out of Kiev.
He sent his 10-year-old daughter alone on a plane to her grandmother
in Siberia.
''It looked like a flight for a children's home,'' he said. ''One
adult for six or seven children.''
Besides the children sent out of town, vacations were organized
hastily for about 200,000 youngsters from Kiev and other parts of the
northern Ukraine and for many thousands of mothers with young
children. They went to summer camps on the Black Sea, nearly 300
miles to the south, and elsewhere.
The children will return around Aug. 21, for the school year
beginning Sept. 1.
Many are back already, playing on the sandy banks of the Dnieper
River, swimming in its waters, lining up with their mothers for
peaches, eggplants and tomatoes on sale in the streets; and eating
ices at street cafes that closed briefly after the accident.
The contented outward picture contrasts with some residents'
lingering doubts about the safety of children in Kiev.
Western tourists have avoided the city, but residents draw comfort
from the knowledge that U.S. bone marrow specialist Robert P. Gale,
who helped treat some Chernobyl victims, brought his children to Kiev
during a visit a week ago.
Uncertainty and some lack of public knowledge about what is going on
in the cleanup zone have bred rumors, none substantiated, including
one that half the city's militia was taken to patrol the 18-mile
evacuation zone around the reactor.
Those who volunteer for a longstanding work program of two or three
years in Siberia or other remote regions are rumored to have lost the
traditional right to keep their Kiev apartments while they are away,
because accommodations are needed for Chernobyl evacuees.
For Ukrainians, Chernobyl is one more struggle in a turbulent
history.
In this century alone, they have seen post-revolutionary civil war
battles, the brutal collectivization of peasants' farms, and mass
destruction by the Nazis during World War II.
But the struggle now is with a new and unknown enemy.
''This is the first time in the world anything like this has
happened,'' said one resident. ''Who knows what will come?''
AP-NY-08-09-86 1458EDT
***************
a064 0633 15 Aug 86
PM-Poll-Nuclear Power, Adv 18,0625
$Adv18
For Release Mon PMs, Aug. 18, and Thereafter
Americans Split Over Use of Nuclear Power to Generate Electricity
With LaserGraphic
By LAWRENCE KILMAN
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Most Americans believe the federal government has
been lax in supervising nuclear power plants, and many worry that the
plants lack adequate safeguards, according to a Media
General-Associated Press poll.
The poll also found the United States is divided over the use of
nuclear energy to generate electricity.
In the poll of 1,365 adult Americans, 36 percent said they supported
the use of nuclear power to generate electricty, 35 said they opposed
it, and 29 percent had no opinion or declined to answer.
Fifty-six percent of the respondents said the federal government did
a fair or poor job in supervising nuclear power plants. One-quarter
thought the government did a good job, and 5 percent thought the
government did an excellent job.
Forty-four percent of the respondents said they believed nuclear
power plants had inadequate safeguards, while 35 percent said the
safeguards were adequate. People who lived closer to nuclear plants
were more likely to believe the plants were safe than those who lived
farther away.
Nearly 8 in 10 respondents said most people didn't know enough about
the effects of radiation to make informed decisions concerning
nuclear power. And the poll also found a strong correlation between
education and support for nuclear energy; support was highest among
college graduates and lowest among high school dropouts, about half
of whom had no opinion about the use of nuclear power.
Among college graduates, 48 percent supported nuclear power, 35
percent opposed it, and 17 percent had no opinion. Among high school
dropouts, 21 percent supported nuclear power, 30 percent opposed it,
and 49 percent had no opinion.
Nearly half of the men and slighty more than one-quarter of the
women supported the use of nuclear power. About one-third of men and
women were opposed, while 18 percent of men and 33 percent of women
had no opinion.
Whites were more likely than blacks to support the use of nuclear
power, and Westerners were more likely to support it than residents
of other regions, the poll found.
About six in 10 respondents thought nuclear power plants were safer
today than they were 10 years ago. Only 16 percent said the plants
weren't safer, while 5 percent said they were about the same. Sixteen
percent didn't know or didn't answer.
Respondents in the Media General-Associated Press poll included a
random, scientific sampling of 1,365 adults across the country June
20-28. As with all sample surveys, the results of Media General-AP
telephone polls can vary from the opinions of all Americans because
of chance variation in the sample.
For a poll based on about 1,300 interviews, the results are subject
to an error margin of 3 percentage points either way because of
chance variations in the sample. That is, if one could have
questioned all Americans with telephones, there is only 1 chance in
20 that the findings would vary from the results of polls such as
this one by more than 3 percentage points.
Of course, the results could differ from other polls for several
reasons. Differences in exact wording of questions, in the timing of
interviews and in the interview methods could also cause variations.
Media General Inc., a communications company based in Richmond, Va.,
publishes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond News Leader;
the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, and the Winston-Salem Journal in North
Carolina. The company's television stations are WXFL in Tampa, WCBD
in Charleston, S.C., and WJKS in Jacksonville, Fla.
End Adv for Mon PMs, Aug. 18
AP-NY-08-15-86 0933EDT
***************
a065 0638 15 Aug 86
PM-Poll Questions, Adv 18,0310
$Adv18
For Release Mon PMs, Aug. 18, and Thereafter
With PM-Poll-Nuclear Power
NEW YORK (AP) - Here are the questions used in the Media
General-Associated Press poll on nuclear energy:
1. Do you support the use of nuclear power to generate electricity
or not, or don't you have an opinion either way?
Support: 36 percent. Oppose: 35 percent. No opinion: 26 percent. No
answer: 3 percent.
2. In general, do you think the nuclear industry in the United
States has adequate safeguards to prevent a serious accident from
occurring, or not?
Adequate safeguards: 35 percent. Inadequate safeguards: 44 percent.
Don't know, no answer: 21 percent.
3. Do you think the federal government is doing an excellent job, a
good job, a fair job, or a poor job in supervising the nuclear power
plants in the United States?
Excellent: 5 percent. Good: 25 percent. Fair: 37 percent. Poor: 19
percent. Don't know, no answer: 14 percent.
4. Do you think nuclear power plants in the United States are safer
now than they were 10 years ago, or not?
Safer: 63 percent. Not safer: 16 percent. About the same: 5 percent.
Don't know, no answer: 16 percent.
5. How far is the nearest nuclear power plant from your home - less
than 10 miles away, 10-25 miles, 26-50 miles, more than 50 miles, or
don't you know?
Less than 10: 3 percent. 10-25: 10 percent. 26-50: 20 percent. More
than 50: 51 percent. Don't know, no answer: 16 percent.
6. Do you think most Americans know enough about the effects of
radiation to make informed decisions concerning nuclear power, or
not?
Yes, know enough: 16 percent. No, don't know enough: 78 percent.
Don't know, no answer: 6 percent.
End Adv for Mon PMs, Aug. 18
AP-NY-08-15-86 0938EDT
***************
a027 0114 16 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl Report, Bjt,0688
Soviet Report: Accident Caused by Worker's Error
TOKYO (AP) - The Chernobyl nuclear disaster was caused by plant
operators who turned off several safety devices to conduct an
experiment, a Japanese newspaper today quoted an official Soviet
report as saying.
Asahi Shimbun, a nationally circulated newspaper, also quoted the
report as saying plant operators were not informed of the dangers of
the procedure and were not prepared to deal with the emergency.
The report said that during the accident about 50 million curies of
radiation were emitted from Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor, or about 3.5
percent of all the radioactive material in its core, according to the
newspaper.
That is dozens of times more than the amount of radiation released
by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II,
the Asahi said.
The April 26 Chernobyl accident released a cloud of radiation that
circled the globe. The disaster has claimed at least 28 lives, caused
$2.8 billion in damage and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000
people from around the plant in the Ukraine.
The newspaper said it obtained the 382-page Russian-language report
on the accident Friday, a day after the Soviet Union submitted it to
the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for an Aug. 25-29
meeting.
According to the Asahi, the accident occurred when workers were
testing how much power could be generated by the turbine after
shutting off the steam from the nuclear reactor that normally drives
the generator.
The Soviet report said the emergency core cooling system, an
automatic reactor shut-off device and other safety mechanisms were
turned off so the experiment could be repeated immediately if it were
not successful the first time, according to the Asahi.
During the 4-hour experiment, pressure in the core decreased and air
bubbles formed that caused a sudden drop in the flow of cooling
water, which in turn led to the sudden rise in the reactor's output,
the newspaper quoted from the report.
The Asahi said the report gave the following description of the
final minutes before the accident:
1:22 a.m. - Operators noticed that the level of the reaction in the
core had reached a level requiring the reactor's immediate shutdown,
but the turbine test continued.
1:23:40 a.m. - Operators tried to slow down the nuclear reaction
with the remaining control rods, but as they were lowered a loud
''bang'' was heard and the rods stopped moving into the core.
The report quoted a witness as saying that at 1:24 a.m. there were
two explosions. Part of a fireball that blew out of the reactor
landed on the roof of the machinery room and started a fire, the
eyewitness said.
A meltdown of the reactor's core did not occur, the Asahi quoted the
report as saying. The temperature of the core increased with the
explosion, reaching 2,912-3,272 degrees Fahrenheit.
''It was unbelievably careless. There was hardly enough planning and
direction for an experiment involving a turbine,'' Shunsuke Kondo,
professor of nuclear engineering at Tokyo University, told the Asahi
in an interview.
The article did not say who ordered the experiment, but at least 17
Soviet officials have been fired, demoted or disciplined.
Asahi said the report listed six main errors which resulted in the
accident:
-While at least 30 spare control rods were needed in an emergency to
shut the reactor, only six to eight were in place.
-The automatic control systems which regulate the reactor's power
level were turned off, causing the reaction level to drop more than
planned, destabilizing the core.
-Two extra recycling pumps were turned on during the experiment to
circulate coolant through the reactor, but the flow reached a level
greater than allowed under operating regulations. That caused the
formation of air bubbles that slowed the flow.
-The mechanism which automatically shuts down the reactor when the
turbine stops was turned off.
-In order to avoid an automatic switch-on of the emergency cooling
system during the experiment, the system was turned off.
-The sensor used to detect water and steam pressure in the
steam-water separation tank was turned off so the experiment could be
continued.
AP-NY-08-16-86 0413EDT
- - - - - -
a045 0346 16 Aug 86
PM-Digest Briefs,0932
Eds: This package does not contain the following items from the News
Digest: TOKYO-Chernobyl Report, a027; WASHINGTON-US Drugs Rdp, a014;
WASHINGTON-Gramm-Rudman, a031; WASHINGTON-Tax Overhaul, a029;
TOLEDO-Child Protester, a005.
---
By The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican authorities said they launched an
investigation into the arrest and alleged mistreatment of a U.S.
narcotics agent and vowed to punish any officer found to have
tortured the man.
The federal attorney general ordered a ''deep investigation'' of the
treatment of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Victor Cortez Jr.
and sent a team to Guadalajara to check out the allegations,
presidential spokesman Manuel Alonso said Friday.
In Washington, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Cortez was
held for six hours Wednesday by Jalisco state police in the western
city of Guadalajara, and was released after federal Attorney General
Sergio Garcia Ramirez intervened at the request of U.S. authorities.
---
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Attorney General Charles Graddick, stripped
of the Democratic Party's nomination to succeed Gov. George Wallace,
is vowing to fight the action he says ''has thrown freedom in the
trash can.''
Graddick, the top finisher in the Democratic runoff, filed an appeal
Friday in federal court in an effort to overturn a party
subcommittee's ruling that gave the nomination to the runner-up, Lt.
Gov. Bill Baxley.
The subcommittee said Baxley received most of the votes legally cast
in the runoff and that much of the support for Graddick, a former
Republican, came from illegal GOP crossover votes he had solicited.
---
WASHINGTON (AP) - Five major restrictions imposed by the House on
Reagan administration defense policies will be the center of an
intensifying fight next month when Congress tries to shape a Pentagon
budget bill.
The Democratic-controlled House, voting along party lines Friday,
gave 255-152 approval to its version of a defense spending bill for
the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
During a long week of work, the House added amendments to ban
testing of anti-satellite weapons, block production of chemical
weapons, require continued compliance with the SALT II nuclear
treaty, halt U.S. nuclear tests for a year, and freeze ''Star Wars''
spending.
---
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Reagan is shifting the job of launching
commercial satellites to private industry ''with its ingenuity and
cost effectiveness,'' ordering NASA to concentrate on payloads
important to defense, foreign policy and science.
The major change in space policy was announced Friday along with
Reagan's decision to order a replacement for space shuttle
Challenger. The new ship should be ready to fly in 1991, said Richard
Truly, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's
shuttle program.
''The private sector, with its ingenuity and cost effectiveness,
will be playing an increasingly important role in the American space
effort,'' the president said in a statement read by spokesman Larry
Speakes.
---
NEW YORK (AP) - Seashell sculptures went for hundreds of dollars
each and a pair of 18th century armchairs fetched $22,000 as
furnishings from Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos' Manhattan townhouse
went on the auction block.
About 1,000 people attended the auction Friday.
Many prices during the first day of a two-day sale were higher than
expected. Auctioneer Alan Erlichman, who urged the audience to buy a
''piece of history,'' had predicted a sale total of between $500,000
to $1 million.
''I think we're doing very well,'' said Oliver Laurel, the auction
committee chairman. ''I think we're veering now probably toward
closer to a million. We hope so, anyway.''
The goods were confiscated from the 30-room townhouse owned by the
deposed Philippine president and his wife before they fled into exile
in Hawaii in February. Proceeds from the auction, the first of Marcos
property in the United States, will go to the Philippine government
of Corazon Aquino to fund its effort to find other Marcos property.
---
WASHINGTON (AP) - Advocates of strong measures against white-ruled
South Africa want President Reagan to abandon his resistance to
punitive measures following the Senate's 84-14 vote for a sanctions
package.
Despite the overwhelming bipartisan margin, the White House made it
clear that it looked unkindly on the Senate legislation.
''I still have the hope that our president will support what we are
doing,'' said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the Foreign
Relations Committee, shortly before the Senate acted. ''I still have
the hope he will sign this legislation so the American people will
speak with one voice.''
---
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Agriculture Department says it is not taking
seriously a vote by wheat growers for mandatory crop controls, but
congressional Democrats say the balloting proves farmers want changes
in federal farm programs.
Fifty-four percent of farmers casting ballots in this summer's
non-binding referendum voted in favor of tough acreage controls to
cut wheat surpluses and boost prices, the Agriculture Department
announced Friday.
But only 22 percent of farmers eligible to vote cast ballots. And
the issue passed in only 20 states while failing in 26 others. Four
states - Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island - were not
included.
Agriculture Department Secretary Richard E. Lyng, citing the low
turnout, said he would discount the results.
Congress ordered the vote in last year's Food Security Act. Although
it would not be binding on the government, many felt that a heavy
vote in favor of mandatory controls could trigger a new wave of farm
law revisions on Capitol Hill.
AP-NY-08-16-86 0646EDT
***************
a262 1609 16 Aug 86
AM-Sweden-Chernobyl,0351
Fallout Much Heavier Than From Nuclear Tests
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - The Chernobyl nuclear accident caused
radiation 50 to 75 times higher than the average fallout over Sweden
from nuclear weapons tests in the 1960s, according to a government
report released Saturday.
But there was no real danger to the public because the doses still
were very small, the Radiation Protection Board said in a report
evaluating the effects in Sweden of the April 26 nuclear plant
explosion in the Soviet Union.
The report said the maximum radioactivity received by most Swedes
was enough to cause two more cancer deaths than normal over 50 years
per 100,000 people. It said the 31 Soviets believed to have died
because of the Chernobyl accident received about 5,000 times as much
radiation.
Sweden was the first Western nation to record fallout from the
radioactive cloud emitted by the damaged reactor at Chernobyl near
Kiev in the Ukraine. The cloud eventually spread around the world.
The board's report said most of the roughly 50 radioactive
substances in the fallout were short-lived and ''have more or less
disappeared.'' In mid-June, the radiation level in Sweden was 15
percent to 20 percent of what was measured just after the accident,
it said.
Since then, the remaining radiation has come mainly from cesium 134,
which has a half-life of two years, and cesium 137, with a half-life
of 30 years, the report said. But the cesium will be washed into the
ground and its effects diminished much sooner.
Half-life is the measurement of time required before an element's
radioactivity declines by half.
The report said the cesium fallout over Sweden currenty is about
three times higher than after nuclear weapons testing during the
1960s. But while the contamination then was spread evenly, fallout
from Chernobyl was heavy in some areas and missed others completely,
the report said.
A Japanese newspaper on Saturday quoted an official Soviet report as
concluding the Chernobyl accident was caused by plant operators who
turned off several safety devices while conducting an experiment.
AP-NY-08-16-86 1909EDT
***************
a035 0232 18 Aug 86
PM-Sweden-Chernobyl,0383
Swedish Prime Minister Assails Nuclear Power
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson said the
Chernobyl accident shows that atomic power is a danger and must be
stopped.
''Nuclear power is one of the greatest threats to our environment,''
Carlsson said Sunday, speaking to 2,000 people gathered for a labor
rally in Skansen, an open-air museum in Stockholm.
He said that the April 26 accident at the Chernobyl power station in
the Soviet Ukraine ''forced us to drastic measures that seem strange
and frightening'', and added that the Chernobyl incident ''made it
very clear to us what kind of catastrophic consequences a nuclear
accident could lead to.''
Twenty-eight people died in the accident and its aftermath,
according to the latest official Soviet count.
The graves of three additional people, however, have been found
since then in a section of a cemetery reserved for Chernobyl victims
outside Moscow, indicating the unofficial death toll is 31.
''We are worried after the accident in Chernobyl. And we are
strengthened in our beliefs that nuclear power must be gotten rid
of,'' Carlsson added.
Sweden was the first country outside the Soviet Union to be
contaminated with fallout from Chernobyl. It disclosed the existence
of the contamination before the Soviet Union announced there had been
an accident.
In the aftermath of the reactor explosion and fire at Chernobyl,
Swedes were warned against drinking rainwater and eating various
plants, and cattle in some areas were kept indoors for weeks because
of radiation in pastures.
Thousands of reindeer in northern Sweden are to be slaughtered and
their meat discarded as unmarketable later this year.
The animals, a major source of income to Lapp herders, have become
contaminated by eating radioactive lichen and other plants.
''Nuclear power is foreign to our culture,'' Carlsson said.
Carlsson, a Social Democrat, took office after the Feb. 28 slaying
of his former chief, Prime Minister Olof Palme.
Swedes had voted during a referendum in the Palme years to shut down
their country's 12 nuclear power reactors by the year 2010.
That target date remains in effect, although officials have not yet
settled on what sort of facilities will replace the nuclear power
plants.
''Sweden is the only country in the world that has a democratically
sanctioned decision to phase out nuclear power,'' Carlsson said.
AP-NY-08-18-86 0531EDT
***************
a031 0137 21 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl,0462
URGENT
Official Confirms Death Toll at 31, Says Soviet Nuclear Program Hurt
Badly
By ALISON SMALE
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - The Soviet Union's atomic safety chief today confirmed
that the death toll from the Chernobyl disaster is 31, and said the
accident had severely damaged the country's atomic power program.
''The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has hurt the
Soviet nuclear energy program badly,'' Andranik Petrosyants, chairman
of the State Committee on Atomic Energy Safety, told a news
conference called to discuss a government panel's report on the April
26 accident.
Petrosyants provided no immediate details on what he meant, but
predicted the disaster would ''undoubtedly have an effect on the
world nuclear program.'' He did not elaborate.
Soviet officials have said the accident at the plant 80 miles north
of Kiev in the Ukraine has forced the government to review its entire
atomic power program, which is the cornerstone of the nation's energy
strategy for the future.
They have said staff at atomic power plants must be retrained and
safety measures improved. Officials also have said they are reviewing
the policy of placing nuclear plants near populated areas.
The last official statement on casualties was a Politburo statement
issued July 19 which said 28 were dead. Since then, reporters have
seen three new graves at a special Moscow cemetery plot for Chernobyl
victims.
Petrosyants, who called the deaths a ''great misfortune,'' said the
31 dead included two people who were killed in the accident itself
and 29 who died at hospitals in Kiev and Moscow of radiation effects.
The government panel's report has not been made public in the Soviet
Union, but copies have been made available to nations belonging to
the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, Austria.
Foreign press reports on the panel's findings have said officials
blamed workers for the accident.
The stories quoted the report as saying workers were conducting
unauthorized and poorly planned experiments that led to a collection
of hydrogen in the No. 4 reactor.
The pocket of gas exploded, setting the reactor building ablaze and
releasing a cloud of radiation into the atmosphere.
On Wednesday, a regional Moscow newspaper disclosed that a fire
broke out in the plant almost a month after the reactor accident and
could have been disastrous if it had spread to nearby oil tanks.
The fire raged in an area where radiation was so intense that
firemen could fight it for only seconds at a time, according to the
newspaper Leninskoye Znamya.
The report of the previously unannounced May 23 blaze was buried in
an article about Moscow firefighters who had been sent to the
Ukrainian plant early that month.
The accident forced the evacuation of 100,000 people from an 18-mile
zone around the plant.
AP-NY-08-21-86 0436EDT
- - - - - -
a057 0459 21 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld - Writethru, a031,0813
Eds: NEW throughout to UPDATE with details, 135,000 evacuated, 203
suffering radiation sickness. CORRECTS Petrosyants' title.
By ALISON SMALE
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Top Soviet atomic energy officials today said the
Chernobyl disaster severly damaged the country's nuclear power
program, caused 31 deaths and forced the evacuation of 135,000
people.
''The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has hurt the
Soviet nuclear energy program badly,'' Andranik Petrosyants, chairman
of the State Nuclear Energy Committee, said at a news conference. He
did not elaborate.
Petrosyants reiterated that the accident forced consideration of
changes in the location and output of Soviet nuclear reactors, and
whether more safety systems were needed. No decisions have been made,
he said.
Valery Legasov, first deputy director of the nation's leading
nuclear power institute, said two explosions occurred in the No. 4
reactor at Chernobyl on April 26, one caused by a huge concentration
of steam and the other a chemical blast.
The accident at the Ukrainian plant 80 miles north of Kiev could be
blamed almost entirely on human error during an experiment in which
workers tried to determine how long a turbine could keep operating in
a total power failure, he said.
''It may sound paradoxical today, but they (plant workers) were
concerned precisely about the safety of the plant,'' Legasov said.
The last official word on casualties was a Politburo statement
issued July 19 which said 28 were dead. Since then, reporters had
seen three new graves at a special Moscow cemetery plot for Chernobyl
victims.
Petrosyants, who called the deaths a ''great misfortune,'' said the
31 dead included two people killed in the accident itself and 29 who
died at hospitals in Kiev and Moscow of radiation effects.
Leonid Ilyin, a vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences who has monitored health consequences of the disaster, said
135,000 people were evacuated from the northern Ukraine and southern
Byelorussia.
He indicated the evacuees were from an 18-mile danger zone around
the power station as well as people ordered from areas beyond that
limit.
Soviet officials have said 92,000 people were evacuated from the
danger zone within a week of the accident. Media reports later said
other evacuations were ordered in isolated areas outside the zone
found to be contaminated.
All evacuees were given medical checks for radiation after the
accident and most will be checked annually for the rest of their
lives, Ilyin said.
He said 203 people were stricken by radiation sickness from the
accident, including 22 with ''fourth degree'' exposure, which is the
most severe.
Twenty-three people had ''third degree'' exposure, 53 received a
''second degree'' dose and the others were less lightly contaminated,
he said, without explaining how the exposure levels were determined.
Three patients remain in serious condition, and 14 patients have
burns over 80 to 90 percent of their body, Ilyin said.
Asked about a report by a Soviet newspaper Wednesday of a fire above
the ruined reactor May 23, Legasov said there were minor fires in the
reactor area that month. He said none was comparable to the fire that
followed the explosions on the day of the accident.
The news conference was called to discuss a government panel's
report on the accident. It has not been made public in the Soviet
Union, but copies have been made available to nations belonging to
the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, Austria. The
contents have been reported by foreign media.
''We're open to critical and objective suggestions about improving
safety and the measures to clean up after the accident,'' said
Legasov.
Legasov, in explaining the explosion, said that during the
experiment there was an initial increase in the reactor core's
temperature along with a buildup of steam in the reactor and the
pipes leading to it.
''The steam buildup was enough to destroy part of the reactor,'' he
said.
Steam and hot reactor parts then contacted the air and that lead to
''a number of chemical reactions which released great amounts of
energy and led to a second explosion,'' said Legasov, of the
Kurchatov Institute.
He said the plant workers committed six safety violations. Asked if
the accident could be blamed completely on human error, he said:
''Experts state that if at least one violation of the six committed
would have been removed, the accident would not have happened.''
''The lesson of Chernobyl of course cannot be unheeded,''
Petrosyants said, who predicted the accident would lead to changes in
nuclear power technology worldwide.
Legasov said the government report contained a detailed description
of the ill-fated experiments and the accident, as well as a
description of the reactor design, the medical and ecological
consequences of the accident and the clean-up project.
AP-NY-08-21-86 0757EDT
- - - - - -
a059 0505 21 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 2nd Ld, a057,0052
Eds: CORRECTS spelling of severely in first graf.
By ALISON SMALE
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Top Soviet atomic energy officials said today the
Chernobyl disaster severely damaged the country's nuclear power
program, caused 31 deaths and forced the evacuation of 135,000
people.
''The accident, 2nd graf
AP-NY-08-21-86 0805EDT
***************
a267 1859 22 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl-Radiation,0379
Spread of Radiation from Chernobyl Accident Worse Than Previously
Thought
NEW YORK (AP) - A Soviet report says that radiation spread more
widely than first thought after the Chernobyl nuclear accident and
raises the possibility of 6,500 premature deaths in the Soviet Union,
The New York Times said Friday.
The 382-page report to the International Atomic Energy Agency says
evacuated residents may not be allowed to return to their homes for
four years, the Times said.
The report obtained by the newspaper says radiation in some areas
remains at higher levels than had been disclosed and might rise as
particles drift, and that there may be continuing contamination of
fish, vegetation and buildings dozens of miles from the plant.
Topsoil is being scraped up in parts of the evacuation zone of 1,000
square miles and hauled off for burial as contaminated waste, the
report says. It said that in some cases contaminated forests may have
to be burned down.
The report has been sent to the international agency's headquarters
in Vienna and is to be discussed at a symposium there Monday, the
Times said.
The April 26 accident led to 31 confirmed deaths and hundreds of
injuries and spread radiation around the world.
The report said that the accident occurred when power in the reactor
surged from seven percent to 50 percent in less than three seconds
during a test while safety systems had deliberately been turned off.
The resulting explosion blew the roof off the plant and sent debris
3,600 feet into the air.
About 3.5 percent of the radiation in the reactor got out into the
atmosphere, the report said. The Times, quoting Western experts it
did not identify, said this means the accident released more
radiation than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World
War II.
Immediately after the accident, some people received as much as 400
rem, which is a measure of radiation's effect on humans. That level
of exposure kills about half the people who receive it.
On the day after the accident the levels were 1 rem per hour,
100,000 times the normal background, six miles from the plant.
Fifteen days after the accident, the report said, radiation measured
36 miles from the plant was still 500 times normal.
AP-NY-08-22-86 2158EDT
***************
a282 1848 24 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl Conference,0348
International Conference To Review Chernobyl Accident
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - About 500 nuclear industry officials from
more than 50 countries gather Monday for a five-day conference to
discuss a mammoth report by the Soviet Union on the Chernobyl nuclear
accident.
The meeting is sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency,
a U.N. organization that provides expertise and support for the
peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
East-West tensions are unlikely because the conference deals mainly
with technical issues, said an official of the Vienna-based agency,
who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The 28-member Soviet delegation is headed by Professor Valery
Alekseevich Legasov, deputy director of the I.V. Kurchatov Institute
of Atomic Energy, the nation's leading nuclear power authority.
Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of not being identified,
said Legasov would likely be asked to elaborate on the 382-page
Soviet report describing the disaster and its causes.
The meeting is closed, but the contents of the report have already
been made public by the news media and the Soviets.
''More information will probably come out in dribs and drabs during
the course of the week,'' said the agency official.
The April 26 accident killed at least 31 people, forced the
evacuation of more than 100,000 and caused $2.8 billion in damage.
Shortly before the accident, workers were testing how long a turbine
could be kept operating during simulated power failure at a nuclear
reactor, Legasov told reporters in Moscow Thursday.
He said human error was almost exclusively to blame for the steam
and chemical explosions that tore open the reactor, killing two
workers immediately and releasing radioactivity that spread over much
of the world.
At a separate meeting convened by the agency in response to
Chernobyl, 62 nations agreed Aug. 15 on two draft conventions
providing for mutual assistance and information in case of most
nuclear accidents.
Those documents are to be submitted to all 112 member nations for
approval at a three-day special conference that opens Sept. 24.
AP-NY-08-24-86 2147EDT
***************
a233 1410 25 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0350
Soviets Present Nuclear Disaster Report to Conference
By JENNY WALLER
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The Soviet Union presented its report on the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster to an international meeting Monday and
acknowledged for the first time that about half of its Chernobyl-type
reactors had been shut down for modifications.
The April 26 accident killed 31 people and sent radioactive debris
around the globe. The Soviets previously denied that any similar
reactors had been shut down because of the disaster, the worst on
record at a nuclear plant.
''Our experts have proposed a number of technical solutions which
fit fully into the actual construction of our RBMK reactors,'' Valery
A. Legasov, who leads the 28-member Soviet delegation, said Monday.
''Our specialists believe these should make it possible to continue
their operation with a very high level of reliability.''
RBMK is the Soviet abbreviation for light-water cooled,
graphite-moderated reactors.
Legasov did not say how many reactors were involved, but an annex to
the Soviet report indicated that 18 reactors of the Chernobyl design
exist in the Soviet Union, including the damaged reactor in the
Soviet Ukraine.
''About half of them are in a shutdown position to carry out the
measures proposed in order to increase their safety,'' Legasov told
reporters, after making a five-hour presentation to the more than 500
nuclear power experts from more than 50 countries.
The 382-page Soviet report put heavy blame on human error rather
than faulty equipment for the explosion and fire. Pressed by
reporters, Legasov said:
''The defect of the system was that the designers did not forsee the
awkward and silly actions by the operators.''
The International Atomic Energy Agency was host at the five-day
meeting which opened Monday. The agency is the U.N. body charged with
promoting peaceful uses of nuclear power and making sure fuel is not
used to make arms.
Director General Hans Blix will report conclusions of the meeting
next month to directors of the agency, which is strengthening its
requirements on reporting reactor accidents.
AP-NY-08-25-86 1709EDT
***************
a045 0307 26 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl,0653
Soviets Present Nuclear Disaster Report to Conference
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The Soviet Union has shut down about half of
its Chernobyl-type nuclear reactors for modifications, according to a
Soviet official reporting on the disaster at the Ukrainian atomic
power plant.
The official, Valery A. Legasov, made the comment Monday on the
first day of an international meeting hearing a Soviet report on the
April 26 Chernobyl accident, which killed 31 people and sent
radioactive debris around the world.
Legasov, head of the Soviet delegation to the conference, did not
say how many reactors were involved, but an annex to the Soviet
report indicated 18 reactors of the Chernobyl design exist in the
Soviet Union, including the damaged No. 4 unit at the Ukrainian power
station.
''About half (of the reactors) are in a shutdown position to carry
out the measures proposed in order to increase their safety,''
Legasov told reporters after making a five-hour presentation to
nuclear power experts from 50 countries.
The Soviets previously denied that any similar reactors had been
shut down because of the Chernobyl disaster, the worst on record at a
nuclear plant.
But Legasov on Monday said, ''Our experts have proposed a number of
technical solutions which fit fully into the actual construction of
our RBMK reactors.''
''Our specialists believe these should make it possible to continue
their operation with a very high level of reliability.''
RBMK is the Soviet abbreviation for light-water cooled,
graphite-moderated reactors.
The 382-page Soviet report put heavy blame on human error rather
than faulty equipment for the explosion and fire. Pressed by
reporters, Legasov said:
''The defect of the system was that the designers did not foresee
the awkward and silly actions by the operators.''
The International Atomic Energy Agency is the host at the five-day
meeting. The agency is the U.N. body charged with promoting peaceful
uses of nuclear power and making sure fuel is not used to make arms.
Director General Hans Blix will report conclusions of the meeting
next month to directors of the agency, which is strengthening its
requirements on reporting reactor accidents.
A report in The New York Times Friday citing the Soviet study of
Chernobyl said it raised the possibility that 6,500 people will die
prematurely because of the accident.
The disaster forced the evacuation of 135,000 people and caused $2.8
billion in damage.
The report presented on Monday catalogued a string of procedural
errors by workers at Chernobyl.
It said the reactor was brought down to low power on April 25 during
a routine shutdown and a planned test of how long one of the
generators it supplied would keep going if its steam supply were cut
off.
The test was designed to improve safety in the reactor, the report
said.
The report, summarized earlier by Soviet officials, said similar
tests had been carried out before at the Chernobyl complex, which
houses four reactors.
''Because the question of safety in these experiments had not
received the necessary attention, the staff involved was not
adequately prepared for the tests and were not aware of the possible
dangers,'' the report said.
''Moreover ... the staff departed from the program and thereby
created the conditions for the emergency situation,'' it said.
The report said a key mistake was made when reactor personnel
allowed the reactor to keep running even though the emergency cooling
system had been shut down.
The document said a further error was continuing the experiment even
though the 1,000-megawatt capacity reactor was allowed to fall below
30 megawatts of output before being ''stabilized'' at 200 megawatts.
Emergency warning systems were also shut down, it said.
By 1:23 a.m. on April 26, steam had built up inside the reactor
core, the report said, creating conditions for high-pressure, hot
chemical explosions.
AP-NY-08-26-86 0605EDT
- - - - - -
a096 0918 26 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld, a045,0473
Chernobyl Designers Failed to Allow for Possible Errors, Expert Says
Eds: UPDATES 1st 15 grafs with report of design failings
By JENNY WALLER
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Designers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactors
erred in failing to make allowances for operator mistakes, a British
atomic power expert said today.
''The whole sequence of operator errors have not been foreseen and
appreciated by the designers,'' said Bryan Edmondson, director of the
Nuclear Operations Support Group of the British Central Electricity
Generating Board.
A Soviet report on the April 26 disaster placed blame on the plant's
operators and abstained from criticizing reactor design. But Valery
A. Legasov, a top Soviet nuclear power official, acknowledged here
Monday that half the country's Chernobyl-type reactors have been shut
down for technical modifications.
Legasov did not disclose how many reactors were involved, but
documents submitted at the international conference under way here on
the accident indicated the Soviet Union has 18 reactors like those at
Chernobyl.
Legasov is the chief Soviet delegate at a conference of 500 nuclear
power experts from 50 countries meeting under the auspices of the
International Atomic Energy Agency to draw conclusions from the
Chernobyl accident. The disaster killed 31 people and sent
radioactive debris worldwide.
The Chernobyl design is used almost exclusively in the Soviet Union.
Edmondson, chairman of a technical working group, met privately with
other experts today to consider aspects of plant design, safety and
other technical aspects.
''We are coming to the crux of the matter - the interaction between
the design and operation,'' he told reporters at a briefing.
British engineers examined the first 1,000 megawatt reactor of the
Chernobyl type at Leningrad in 1976 and found seven design
deficiencies, including one which allows an uncontrollable power
buildup, said Peter Vey, spokesman for the British organization.
Vey said Soviet engineers were told of the failures at the time and
that they had attempted to overcome some of them.
The Soviets have reported that a power surge and a buildup of steam
in the reactor core were main factors in causing the Chernobyl
explosion.
Another working group also met behind closed doors today to study
emergency measures taken by the Soviets after the explosion of the
No. 4 reactor.
Armen Abagyan, another Soviet delegate, said a protective shell
around the wrecked reactor would be completed by this coming fall.
Workers have been burying the reactor in concrete, dirt and chemical
mixtures to prevent further leaks of radioactivity.
Legasov on Monday, the first day of the conference, made a five-hour
presentation to the experts.
''Our experts have proposed a number of technical solutions which
fit fully into the actual construction of our RBMK (Chernobyl-type)
reactors,'' he said.
''Our specialists: 7th graf
AP-NY-08-26-86 1217EDT
***************
a045 0307 26 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl,0653
Soviets Present Nuclear Disaster Report to Conference
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The Soviet Union has shut down about half of
its Chernobyl-type nuclear reactors for modifications, according to a
Soviet official reporting on the disaster at the Ukrainian atomic
power plant.
The official, Valery A. Legasov, made the comment Monday on the
first day of an international meeting hearing a Soviet report on the
April 26 Chernobyl accident, which killed 31 people and sent
radioactive debris around the world.
Legasov, head of the Soviet delegation to the conference, did not
say how many reactors were involved, but an annex to the Soviet
report indicated 18 reactors of the Chernobyl design exist in the
Soviet Union, including the damaged No. 4 unit at the Ukrainian power
station.
''About half (of the reactors) are in a shutdown position to carry
out the measures proposed in order to increase their safety,''
Legasov told reporters after making a five-hour presentation to
nuclear power experts from 50 countries.
The Soviets previously denied that any similar reactors had been
shut down because of the Chernobyl disaster, the worst on record at a
nuclear plant.
But Legasov on Monday said, ''Our experts have proposed a number of
technical solutions which fit fully into the actual construction of
our RBMK reactors.''
''Our specialists believe these should make it possible to continue
their operation with a very high level of reliability.''
RBMK is the Soviet abbreviation for light-water cooled,
graphite-moderated reactors.
The 382-page Soviet report put heavy blame on human error rather
than faulty equipment for the explosion and fire. Pressed by
reporters, Legasov said:
''The defect of the system was that the designers did not foresee
the awkward and silly actions by the operators.''
The International Atomic Energy Agency is the host at the five-day
meeting. The agency is the U.N. body charged with promoting peaceful
uses of nuclear power and making sure fuel is not used to make arms.
Director General Hans Blix will report conclusions of the meeting
next month to directors of the agency, which is strengthening its
requirements on reporting reactor accidents.
A report in The New York Times Friday citing the Soviet study of
Chernobyl said it raised the possibility that 6,500 people will die
prematurely because of the accident.
The disaster forced the evacuation of 135,000 people and caused $2.8
billion in damage.
The report presented on Monday catalogued a string of procedural
errors by workers at Chernobyl.
It said the reactor was brought down to low power on April 25 during
a routine shutdown and a planned test of how long one of the
generators it supplied would keep going if its steam supply were cut
off.
The test was designed to improve safety in the reactor, the report
said.
The report, summarized earlier by Soviet officials, said similar
tests had been carried out before at the Chernobyl complex, which
houses four reactors.
''Because the question of safety in these experiments had not
received the necessary attention, the staff involved was not
adequately prepared for the tests and were not aware of the possible
dangers,'' the report said.
''Moreover ... the staff departed from the program and thereby
created the conditions for the emergency situation,'' it said.
The report said a key mistake was made when reactor personnel
allowed the reactor to keep running even though the emergency cooling
system had been shut down.
The document said a further error was continuing the experiment even
though the 1,000-megawatt capacity reactor was allowed to fall below
30 megawatts of output before being ''stabilized'' at 200 megawatts.
Emergency warning systems were also shut down, it said.
By 1:23 a.m. on April 26, steam had built up inside the reactor
core, the report said, creating conditions for high-pressure, hot
chemical explosions.
AP-NY-08-26-86 0605EDT
- - - - - -
a096 0918 26 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld, a045,0473
Chernobyl Designers Failed to Allow for Possible Errors, Expert Says
Eds: UPDATES 1st 15 grafs with report of design failings
By JENNY WALLER
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Designers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactors
erred in failing to make allowances for operator mistakes, a British
atomic power expert said today.
''The whole sequence of operator errors have not been foreseen and
appreciated by the designers,'' said Bryan Edmondson, director of the
Nuclear Operations Support Group of the British Central Electricity
Generating Board.
A Soviet report on the April 26 disaster placed blame on the plant's
operators and abstained from criticizing reactor design. But Valery
A. Legasov, a top Soviet nuclear power official, acknowledged here
Monday that half the country's Chernobyl-type reactors have been shut
down for technical modifications.
Legasov did not disclose how many reactors were involved, but
documents submitted at the international conference under way here on
the accident indicated the Soviet Union has 18 reactors like those at
Chernobyl.
Legasov is the chief Soviet delegate at a conference of 500 nuclear
power experts from 50 countries meeting under the auspices of the
International Atomic Energy Agency to draw conclusions from the
Chernobyl accident. The disaster killed 31 people and sent
radioactive debris worldwide.
The Chernobyl design is used almost exclusively in the Soviet Union.
Edmondson, chairman of a technical working group, met privately with
other experts today to consider aspects of plant design, safety and
other technical aspects.
''We are coming to the crux of the matter - the interaction between
the design and operation,'' he told reporters at a briefing.
British engineers examined the first 1,000 megawatt reactor of the
Chernobyl type at Leningrad in 1976 and found seven design
deficiencies, including one which allows an uncontrollable power
buildup, said Peter Vey, spokesman for the British organization.
Vey said Soviet engineers were told of the failures at the time and
that they had attempted to overcome some of them.
The Soviets have reported that a power surge and a buildup of steam
in the reactor core were main factors in causing the Chernobyl
explosion.
Another working group also met behind closed doors today to study
emergency measures taken by the Soviets after the explosion of the
No. 4 reactor.
Armen Abagyan, another Soviet delegate, said a protective shell
around the wrecked reactor would be completed by this coming fall.
Workers have been burying the reactor in concrete, dirt and chemical
mixtures to prevent further leaks of radioactivity.
Legasov on Monday, the first day of the conference, made a five-hour
presentation to the experts.
''Our experts have proposed a number of technical solutions which
fit fully into the actual construction of our RBMK (Chernobyl-type)
reactors,'' he said.
''Our specialists: 7th graf
AP-NY-08-26-86 1217EDT
***************
a256 1627 26 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl,0398
British Expert Faults Designers for Accident
By JENNY WALLER
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A British atomic power expert said Tuesday
the designers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant failed to make
allowances for operator mistakes such as those that led to the April
26 disaster in which 31 people died.
Bryan Edmondson, director of the Nuclear Operations Support Group of
the British Central Electricity Generating Board, said ''The whole
sequence of operator errors had not been foreseen and appreciated by
the designers.''
He said the effect of the ''actions which the operators took in
default of their instructions and regulations ... was to a
considerable degree exacerbated by specific design features of the
plant.''
About 500 nuclear power experts from 50 countries, including the
Soviet Union, are meeting in Vienna under the auspices of the
International Atomic Energy Agency to draw conclusions from the
Chernobyl accident. The disaster killed 31 people and sent
radioactivity around the world.
A Soviet report to the IAEA placed blame on the plant's operators
and abstained from criticizing reactor design.
But Valery A. Legasov, a top Soviet nuclear power official, said
Monday that half of the country's Chernobyl-type reactors had been
shut down for technical modifications.
Pierre Tanguy, who is in charge of nuclear safety for France's
Electricite de France, said the Chernobyl plant was a good one, but
''the people ... forgot that it could be dangerous.''
Tanguy said the Soviets were considering introduction of a new
safety system which would enable a fast shutdown of reactors such as
those at Chernobyl in case something goes wrong.
Leonid A. Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, described the April 27 evacuation of people from the town
of Pripyat near the stricken reactor.
He said more than 1,000 buses had to be rushed to the area.
''What you saw were the citizens of that town, after they had been
properly informed over a period of roughly two hours and 40 minutes -
45,000 people - who had to be organized into these buses.''
Ilyin added, ''and it had to be possible for them to take what
essential things they could with them. Then all these buses had to
drive to suitable areas, along safe routes...It was necessary to
forecast regions which were safe.''
AP-NY-08-26-86 1926EDT
***************
a031 0222 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0598
Up to 25,000 May Die of Cancers Caused by Chernobyl Accident,
Scientist Says
By JENNY WALLER
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Up to 25,000 people in the western Soviet
Union may die of cancers caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
during the next 70 years, a top official of the International Atomic
Energy Agency said.
Morris Rosen, the agency's director of nuclear safety, gave the
estimate at a Tuesday news briefing, but stressed that it was a
theoretical figure based on Soviet calculations disclosed in private
meetings.
The actual number of cancer deaths linked to the April 26 reactor
accident at the Ukrainian power station could be much lower, he said.
About 500 nuclear power experts from 50 countries, including the
Soviet Union, are meeting in Vienna under the auspices of the atomic
energy agency to draw conclusions from the Chernobyl accident, the
worst in the history of nuclear power.
The disaster killed 31 people and sent an invisible cloud of
radioactivity around the world.
Rosen, an American, did not elaborate during the briefing on how the
25,000 figure was derived or make clear what the conditions might be
that would cause the 70-year death count to vary from any
predictions.
He said that of the 75 million people in the European part of the
Soviet Union, 9.5 million could be expected to die of cancer over the
next 70 years even had the accident not occurred.
High doses of radiation cause death quickly by destroying the
central nervous system, the intestines and the body's natural defense
systems. Long-term effects of low-level radiation are believed to
cause death years after exposure mainly by increasing the risk of
cancer.
The Soviets have not mentioned the possibility of increased cancer
risks due to the accident.
However, Dr. Robert Gale, an U.S. specialist who treated Chernobyl
radiation victims, said at a Moscow news conference on June 6 that at
least 100,000 people would be monitored for the rest of their lives
to watch for instances of cancer.
He said a few more cancer deaths would be expected among that group
than from a similar-sized population that had not been exposed to
radiation.
A British atomic power expert said Tuesday the designers of the
Chernobyl plant failed to make allowances for operator mistakes such
as those that led to the disaster in April.
Bryan Edmondson, director of the Nuclear Operations Support Group of
the British Central Electricity Generating Board, said ''The whole
sequence of operator errors had not been foreseen and appreciated by
the designers.''
He said the effect of the ''actions which the operators took in
default of their instructions and regulations ... was to a
considerable degree exacerbated by specific design features of the
plant.''
A Soviet report to the IAEA placed blame on the plant's operators
and abstained from criticizing reactor design.
But Valery A. Legasov, a top Soviet nuclear power official, said
Monday that half of the country's Chernobyl-type reactors had been
shut down for technical modifications.
Leonid A. Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, described the April 27 evacuation of people from the town
of Pripyat near the stricken reactor.
He said more than 1,000 buses had to be rushed to the area.
''What you saw were the citizens of that town, after they had been
properly informed over a period of roughly two hours and 40 minutes -
45,000 people - who had to be organized into these buses.''
AP-NY-08-27-86 0521EDT
- - - - - -
a070 0736 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Insert, a031,0125
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 2 grafs after 3rd graf from end But Valery
xxx technical modifications to UPDATE with comments from Legasov
Legasov was asked today during an interview with NBC's ''Today''
show if the Soviets have made a complete disclosure of their findings
on the disaster.
He cited the voluminous report issued in Vienna, but added: ''There
still remains quite a lot of information which has not yet been
sufficiently processed by Soviet experts and its reliability still
needs to be verified. We are still in some dispute ourselves as to
each individual figure and for that reason we simply try to present
only what is reliable and necessary for the experts.''
Leonid A. Ilyin,: next to last graf
AP-NY-08-27-86 1033EDT
- - - - - -
a073 0744 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Insert, a031,0088
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 2 after 11th graf: He said xxx to radiation
to UPDATE with comments from Dr. Gale
Gale, in an interview from Vienna today with the ''CBS Morning
News'', said projections on eventual cancer deaths due to radiation
were speculative.
''I think we have to be very careful at this point in making
projections,'' he said. He said scientists were covering ''new
ground'' in studying the Chernobyl aftermath and would be ''for the
next few years.''
A British: 12th graf
AP-NY-08-27-86 1043EDT
***************
a031 0222 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0598
Up to 25,000 May Die of Cancers Caused by Chernobyl Accident,
Scientist Says
By JENNY WALLER
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Up to 25,000 people in the western Soviet
Union may die of cancers caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
during the next 70 years, a top official of the International Atomic
Energy Agency said.
Morris Rosen, the agency's director of nuclear safety, gave the
estimate at a Tuesday news briefing, but stressed that it was a
theoretical figure based on Soviet calculations disclosed in private
meetings.
The actual number of cancer deaths linked to the April 26 reactor
accident at the Ukrainian power station could be much lower, he said.
About 500 nuclear power experts from 50 countries, including the
Soviet Union, are meeting in Vienna under the auspices of the atomic
energy agency to draw conclusions from the Chernobyl accident, the
worst in the history of nuclear power.
The disaster killed 31 people and sent an invisible cloud of
radioactivity around the world.
Rosen, an American, did not elaborate during the briefing on how the
25,000 figure was derived or make clear what the conditions might be
that would cause the 70-year death count to vary from any
predictions.
He said that of the 75 million people in the European part of the
Soviet Union, 9.5 million could be expected to die of cancer over the
next 70 years even had the accident not occurred.
High doses of radiation cause death quickly by destroying the
central nervous system, the intestines and the body's natural defense
systems. Long-term effects of low-level radiation are believed to
cause death years after exposure mainly by increasing the risk of
cancer.
The Soviets have not mentioned the possibility of increased cancer
risks due to the accident.
However, Dr. Robert Gale, an U.S. specialist who treated Chernobyl
radiation victims, said at a Moscow news conference on June 6 that at
least 100,000 people would be monitored for the rest of their lives
to watch for instances of cancer.
He said a few more cancer deaths would be expected among that group
than from a similar-sized population that had not been exposed to
radiation.
A British atomic power expert said Tuesday the designers of the
Chernobyl plant failed to make allowances for operator mistakes such
as those that led to the disaster in April.
Bryan Edmondson, director of the Nuclear Operations Support Group of
the British Central Electricity Generating Board, said ''The whole
sequence of operator errors had not been foreseen and appreciated by
the designers.''
He said the effect of the ''actions which the operators took in
default of their instructions and regulations ... was to a
considerable degree exacerbated by specific design features of the
plant.''
A Soviet report to the IAEA placed blame on the plant's operators
and abstained from criticizing reactor design.
But Valery A. Legasov, a top Soviet nuclear power official, said
Monday that half of the country's Chernobyl-type reactors had been
shut down for technical modifications.
Leonid A. Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, described the April 27 evacuation of people from the town
of Pripyat near the stricken reactor.
He said more than 1,000 buses had to be rushed to the area.
''What you saw were the citizens of that town, after they had been
properly informed over a period of roughly two hours and 40 minutes -
45,000 people - who had to be organized into these buses.''
AP-NY-08-27-86 0521EDT
- - - - - -
a070 0736 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Insert, a031,0125
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 2 grafs after 3rd graf from end But Valery
xxx technical modifications to UPDATE with comments from Legasov
Legasov was asked today during an interview with NBC's ''Today''
show if the Soviets have made a complete disclosure of their findings
on the disaster.
He cited the voluminous report issued in Vienna, but added: ''There
still remains quite a lot of information which has not yet been
sufficiently processed by Soviet experts and its reliability still
needs to be verified. We are still in some dispute ourselves as to
each individual figure and for that reason we simply try to present
only what is reliable and necessary for the experts.''
Leonid A. Ilyin,: next to last graf
AP-NY-08-27-86 1033EDT
- - - - - -
a073 0744 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Insert, a031,0088
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 2 after 11th graf: He said xxx to radiation
to UPDATE with comments from Dr. Gale
Gale, in an interview from Vienna today with the ''CBS Morning
News'', said projections on eventual cancer deaths due to radiation
were speculative.
''I think we have to be very careful at this point in making
projections,'' he said. He said scientists were covering ''new
ground'' in studying the Chernobyl aftermath and would be ''for the
next few years.''
A British: 12th graf
AP-NY-08-27-86 1043EDT
***************
a031 0222 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0598
Up to 25,000 May Die of Cancers Caused by Chernobyl Accident,
Scientist Says
By JENNY WALLER
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Up to 25,000 people in the western Soviet
Union may die of cancers caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
during the next 70 years, a top official of the International Atomic
Energy Agency said.
Morris Rosen, the agency's director of nuclear safety, gave the
estimate at a Tuesday news briefing, but stressed that it was a
theoretical figure based on Soviet calculations disclosed in private
meetings.
The actual number of cancer deaths linked to the April 26 reactor
accident at the Ukrainian power station could be much lower, he said.
About 500 nuclear power experts from 50 countries, including the
Soviet Union, are meeting in Vienna under the auspices of the atomic
energy agency to draw conclusions from the Chernobyl accident, the
worst in the history of nuclear power.
The disaster killed 31 people and sent an invisible cloud of
radioactivity around the world.
Rosen, an American, did not elaborate during the briefing on how the
25,000 figure was derived or make clear what the conditions might be
that would cause the 70-year death count to vary from any
predictions.
He said that of the 75 million people in the European part of the
Soviet Union, 9.5 million could be expected to die of cancer over the
next 70 years even had the accident not occurred.
High doses of radiation cause death quickly by destroying the
central nervous system, the intestines and the body's natural defense
systems. Long-term effects of low-level radiation are believed to
cause death years after exposure mainly by increasing the risk of
cancer.
The Soviets have not mentioned the possibility of increased cancer
risks due to the accident.
However, Dr. Robert Gale, an U.S. specialist who treated Chernobyl
radiation victims, said at a Moscow news conference on June 6 that at
least 100,000 people would be monitored for the rest of their lives
to watch for instances of cancer.
He said a few more cancer deaths would be expected among that group
than from a similar-sized population that had not been exposed to
radiation.
A British atomic power expert said Tuesday the designers of the
Chernobyl plant failed to make allowances for operator mistakes such
as those that led to the disaster in April.
Bryan Edmondson, director of the Nuclear Operations Support Group of
the British Central Electricity Generating Board, said ''The whole
sequence of operator errors had not been foreseen and appreciated by
the designers.''
He said the effect of the ''actions which the operators took in
default of their instructions and regulations ... was to a
considerable degree exacerbated by specific design features of the
plant.''
A Soviet report to the IAEA placed blame on the plant's operators
and abstained from criticizing reactor design.
But Valery A. Legasov, a top Soviet nuclear power official, said
Monday that half of the country's Chernobyl-type reactors had been
shut down for technical modifications.
Leonid A. Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, described the April 27 evacuation of people from the town
of Pripyat near the stricken reactor.
He said more than 1,000 buses had to be rushed to the area.
''What you saw were the citizens of that town, after they had been
properly informed over a period of roughly two hours and 40 minutes -
45,000 people - who had to be organized into these buses.''
AP-NY-08-27-86 0521EDT
- - - - - -
a070 0736 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Insert, a031,0125
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 2 grafs after 3rd graf from end But Valery
xxx technical modifications to UPDATE with comments from Legasov
Legasov was asked today during an interview with NBC's ''Today''
show if the Soviets have made a complete disclosure of their findings
on the disaster.
He cited the voluminous report issued in Vienna, but added: ''There
still remains quite a lot of information which has not yet been
sufficiently processed by Soviet experts and its reliability still
needs to be verified. We are still in some dispute ourselves as to
each individual figure and for that reason we simply try to present
only what is reliable and necessary for the experts.''
Leonid A. Ilyin,: next to last graf
AP-NY-08-27-86 1033EDT
- - - - - -
a073 0744 27 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Insert, a031,0088
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 2 after 11th graf: He said xxx to radiation
to UPDATE with comments from Dr. Gale
Gale, in an interview from Vienna today with the ''CBS Morning
News'', said projections on eventual cancer deaths due to radiation
were speculative.
''I think we have to be very careful at this point in making
projections,'' he said. He said scientists were covering ''new
ground'' in studying the Chernobyl aftermath and would be ''for the
next few years.''
A British: 12th graf
AP-NY-08-27-86 1043EDT
***************
a083 0900 27 Aug 86
PM-New Hampshire Gov, Adv05,0782
$adv05
For Release Fri PMs Sept 5 and Thereafter
Campaign '86: Seabrook Plant Dominates New Hampshire Governor's Race
- Again
By MICHAEL MOKRZYCKI
Associated Press Writer
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Republican Gov. John Sununu's opponents hope
his steadfast support for nuclear power will bring him down in the
aftermath of the Chernobyl accident and the scare over a possible
atomic waste dump in New Hampshire.
Three Democrats and Sununu's sole GOP challenger in the Sept. 9
primaries are campaigning largely on their opposition to the Seabrook
nuclear power plant, which is now nearing completion.
But Sununu is considered tough to beat, despite expected large
Seabrook rate increases and heightened public awareness of nuclear
safety issues in the wake of the Chernobyl accident in the Soviet
Union and the waste dump controversy here.
Campaign finance statements filed in mid-August showed him with
nearly three times as much cash as the four other contenders
combined.
The two-term incumbent, a former engineering professor, has barely
acknowledged being in a campaign. Earlier this month, at his first
joint appearance with Republican primary challenger Roger Easton,
Sununu ignored Easton's call for a debate and refused even to
acknowledge Easton's presence.
Sununu, 47, instead hammers away at his effectiveness in managing
state government and his conversion of a $40 million state budget
deficit into a surplus.
Sununu takes credit for the state's burgeoning economy and
lowest-in-the-nation unemployment rate, which he says make New
Hampshire ''the envy of the other 49 states.''
Easton, 65, a state representative from Canaan and a retired
electrical engineer, has attacked Sununu as a ''pied piper of
growth.'' Two of the three Democratic contenders also have cautioned
voters about the impact of the economic boom on New Hampshire's
resources. But nuclear issues have dominated the campaign.
Early this year, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it was
studying a site in south-central New Hampshire for underground
storage of high-level nuclear wastes, mostly spent fuel rods from
power plants. That issue subsided in May, when the department decided
the country initially needed only one waste dump, to be situated in
the West.
While the dump search focused attention on nuclear plant waste, the
nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in late April dramatically called
attention to nuclear plant safety. With Seabrook likely to begin
operating in the spring at 10 times over budget and eight years
behind schedule, Easton and the Democrats have made the plant an
economic and consumer issue, though their approaches have differed.
Bruce Anderson, 39, an energy consultant and publisher from
Harrisville making his first bid for public office, says his two
Democratic primary opponents have an ''Alice in Wonderland'' approach
to Seabrook. He has lost favor with some anti-nuclear activists by
stating that Seabrook probably cannot be stopped by anyone, and
certainly not by a governor.
Anderson also steers clear of emotional references to Chernobyl and
broad attacks on nuclear energy. Instead, he stresses efforts to find
ways to convert Seabrook into a plant that burns oil, gas or coal.
Like Anderson, lawyer Paul McEachern, 48, of Portsmouth, first
campaigned on his opposition to the nuclear dump, then switched gears
when DOE halted the search. McEachern has promised that as governor
he would prevent Seabrook from operating by withdrawing state
approval for plans to evacuate people from surrounding towns in case
of a major accident.
This is McEachern's second try for the nomination. He lost to former
House Democratic Leader Chris Spirou two years ago when he did not
take the no-tax ''pledge'' traditional for gubernatorial contenders
in New Hampshire, one of two states with neither a general sales nor
a general income tax. This year, McEachern took the pledge.
The other Democratic contender is Paul Gagnon, 37, top prosecutor in
the state's most populous county and a resident of its largest city,
Manchester.
Gagnon hit McEachern's switch on the no-tax pledge, and McEachern
returned fire when Gagnon made a failed attempt to win an injunction
against low-power testing of Seabrook.
The Seabrook focus of the campaign mirrors the 1984 strategy of
Democrat Spirou, whose 2-1 loss to Sununu made the election the most
lopsided gubernatorial contest in state history. But if someone were
to ride the Seabrook issue to an upset win, the feat would not be
without precedent.
In 1978, two years after Seabrook construction began, Democrat Hugh
Gallen defeated three-term Republican incumbent Meldrim Thomson. Many
credited Gallen's win to his persistent attacks on advance billings
to customers for Seabrook financing charges.
But Gallen was defeated by Sununu four years later.
End Advance Fri PMs Sept 5
AP-NY-08-27-86 1158EDT
***************
a223 1247 27 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl,0510
Americans See No Chance of US Accident Like Chernobyl
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - An accident like the one at Chernobyl is not
likely to occur at an American nuclear power plant because of great
differences in reactor design and safety systems, a senior U.S.
official said Wednesday.
''There is no doubt now that this machine is very different in its
characteristics from those that we would use in nuclear power. It's
fair to say that this kind of accident is not the kind that we would
ever anticipate,'' he said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, briefed reporters
at the international conference reviewing the April 26 disaster at
Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Ukraine.
Explosions and fire in Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor released radiation
that spread over Europe and gradually worked its way around the
world. The official death toll stands at 31 and hundreds of people
were injured.
Reactors of the Chernobyl design, which are cooled by water and use
graphite to moderate the atomic reaction in their cores, are used
almost exclusively in the Soviet Union.
Most American reactors have huge containment structures to hold in
radioactive steam in the event of an accident. Those of the Chernobyl
type depend on fuel rod containers to do that job.
''The safety systems which are applied to our machines and the
conditions under which they are operated are different,'' the
official said.
''I think it is clear that the number of control systems and safety
concepts would make such a catastrophic result in the event of an
accident in an American nuclear power station extremely unlikely if
not impossible,'' he said.
Another member of the American delegation, who also insisted that
his name not be used, said he expected to recommend ''some changes in
priorities'' in the research program of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission as a result of information provided by the Soviets.
He said he would request stronger focus on ways of preventing a
runaway buildup of power in nuclear power stations.
Members of the American delegation said the Soviets generally had
been candid in presenting information on Chernobyl.
''On balance, this far, we think they have done a pretty good job,''
one said. ''That does not mean that all questions that everybody has
been asking have been answered. They have not.''
U.S. officials said they want to know more about the force of the
explosions at the plant, explaining that this would help them assess
whether any sort of reactor shield could have withstood the pressure
and reduced the accident's effects.
They also were trying to learn whether breaches of safety
regulations by operators shortly before the accident were unique in
Soviet practice. One said the Soviets had indicated this was not the
first time operators had broken rules.
The Soviet report on the accident mentioned six violations of safety
codes that led to the disaster.
Just over 100 nuclear power stations now operate in the United
States, generating 17-18 percent of the nation's electricity. Twenty
more are planned, with some already under construction.
AP-NY-08-27-86 1545EDT
***************
a248 1508 28 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0417
Doctor: Nuclear Disaster Could Claim 75,000 Lives
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated
some Chernobyl victims said Thursday the accident could cause as many
as 75,000 cancer deaths worldwide over the next 70 years.
Dr. Robert Gale told reporters that most delegates to an
international conference in Vienna agreed that as many as 25,000
cancer deaths linked to the Soviet nuclear plant disaster could occur
in the European part of the Soviet Union alone.
An explosion and fire occurred April 26 at the No. 4 reactor of the
Chernobyl plant, 80 miles north of Kiev in the Soviet Ukraine. Two
people were killed and at least 29 other Soviets have since died from
injuries linked to the accident, which sent a radioactive cloud over
much of Europe and other parts of the world.
He said the number of cancer deaths worldwide as a result of the
accident could range from 1,000 to 75,000.
Gale told The Associated Press earlier Thursday that estimates of
the death toll from Chernobyl are ''very broad,'' but health experts
believe ''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
He said there could be 9.5 million cancer cases in the western
Soviet Union in the next 70 years even without Chernobyl. ''So lower
figures would not be mind-boggling,'' but significantly higher death
rates ''would be truly horrible,'' he said.
Gale is attending a week-long conference under the auspices of the
International Atomic Energy Agency called to consider ways to improve
international cooperation in fighting nuclear accidents.
Speaking at a news conference on the fourth day of the conference,
Soviet and Western delegates suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
''We believe that as quickly as possible, a responsible an
international authority should be considered to make available all
possible resources for corrective action (against accidents),
involving civil defense and the army,'' said Helmut Rabold, an East
German atomic safety official.
Rabold said the delegates, representing 50 countries, also discussed
central ''action offices'' to test food possibly tainted by atomic
fallout. The offices would use the expertise of the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization, he said.
Rabold said the delegates, meeting in closed session, were deeply
concerned with international ''organizational problems in responding
to an accident. These problems clearly reached a new scale in the
Chernobyl case.
AP-NY-08-28-86 1807EDT
***************
a010 2234 28 Aug 86
PM-Nuclear Safety, Bjt,0560
Nuclear Industry Calls Nader Group's Report a 'Travesty'
By JILL LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A watchdog group's contention that high numbers of
nuclear plant mishaps made 1985 the worst year ever for nuclear
safety is twisted and inaccurate, industry officials say.
Industry statistics ''clearly show that reactor safety has been
improving steadily since the Three Mile Island accident'' in 1979,
said Ed Davis, president of American Nuclear Energy Council,
responding to a safety analysis released Thursday by the Ralph
Nader-affiliated group Critical Mass.
''How many fatalities were there (in 1985)? Zero. How many
catastrophic breakdowns? Zero. Injuries to the public? Zero. Injuries
to workers? Zero. (Radiation) overexposures to workers? None for the
second year in a row,'' said Don Winston of the Atomic Industrial
Forum, another industry group.
''We keep reactors safe by reporting every deviation,'' he added.
''We report them and they're public. And (the Critical Mass analysis)
is making a travesty of this.''
Critical Mass was founded 12 years ago by Nader and named for the
amount of energy required to sustain a nuclear chain reaction.
Its ''1984-85 Nuclear Power Safety Report,'' written by Joshua
Gordon and dedicated to victims of the Soviet nuclear accident at
Chernobyl, asserts that rising numbers of mishaps, emergency
shutdowns and serious or ''abnormal'' occurrences indicate 1985 was
an all-time low for nuclear safety.
Gordon criticizes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as being too lax
in enforcing its standards and inattentive to management problems
that lie at the root of many safety lapses. But he concludes that
even with improvements, nuclear power would have to be eliminated to
completely protect the American public.
''The message from the operating experience of U.S. reactors in 1984
and 1985 is clear: the plants are unsafe and their safety record
continues to worsen,'' Gordon wrote. ''The likelihood and
consequences of an accident, so dramatically demonstrated by the
Chernobyl disaster, strongly argue for rapidly phasing out the
nation's nuclear power program.''
Among the statistics cited in the Gordon report:
-There were 10 serious accidents - ''abnormal occurrences'' ranging
from high radiation exposures and loss of radioactive material to
management problems affecting safety - in 1985, sustaining a trend
that began in 1983.
-2,997 plant mishaps - ''licensee events'' ranging from minor to
significant breakdowns in plant systems or procedures - were reported
to the NRC in 1985, a 23 percent increase over 1984.
-There were 764 emergency shutdowns at U.S. plants in 1985, a 28
percent rise over 1984.
-Nine plants, accounting for 12 percent of the U.S. nuclear power
generating capacity, were closed indefinitely in 1985.
But Davis cited a high number of plants shut down due to management
problems, including all seven operated by the Tennessee Valley
Authority, as evidence that the NRC is taking a strong stand on that
issue.
Winston, commenting on the frequency of ''abnormal occurrences,''
said: ''They're abnormal because we spot them, report them and act on
them. (Gordon) is using this against the industry in a very unfair
manner.''
NRC spokesman Bob Newlin said ''abnormal occurrences'' numbered five
or six annually until 1982 and then rose to nine or 10 per year. But
he noted that the number of licensed reactors also has risen in that
time. There are now 100.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0132EDT
***************
a022 0035 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0558
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Predictions that the Chernobyl disaster will
cause up to 25,000 cancer deaths in the western Soviet Union were
based on worst-case scenarios and were possibly 10 times too high,
Soviet and Argentine nuclear experts said.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the 50-nation
Chernobyl conference here said up to 25,000 people may die over the
next 70 years because of the April 26 nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday those predictions were based on
initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure that were based on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said the Soviet
findings would lead to a more accurate calculation of 2,000 cancer
deaths in the Soviet Union from Chernobyl. Estimates in the 20,000
range are ''nonsense, in many respects,'' he told reporters.
''That does not mean that if we have only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it
is good or more acceptable,'' he added. ''It is a very bad number in
any case. But it has to be put into perspective.''
He stressed that long-term estimates of cancer risks must be based
on the average radiation dose from Chernobyl, not maximum doses.
Beninson and Ilyin spoke at a news conference on the fourth day of
the week-long conference held under the auspices of the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
An explosion and fire occurred April 26 at Chernobyl's No. 4
reactor, 80 miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine, sending a radioactive
cloud over much of Europe and other parts of the world. At least 31
people have died from the accident.
Meanwhile, Swedish energy officials on Thursday warned of the
possibility of another Soviet accident similar to the Chernobyl
disaster, and said a Soviet nuclear power plant in Lithuania was
being pushed to unsafe limits.
''We know we will have another accident like that at Chernobyl
within 10 years if nothing is done to increase safety standards
considerably,'' Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said. ''Many of the
Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish safety
standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, said a
report by his department cited a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania as an example of Soviet reactors considered
unsafe.
At the conference in Vienna, Ilyin said Soviet doctors continued to
monitor the radiation exposure of the Chernobyl evacuees.
''In light of the forecast dose burden we now have for these people,
there is no fear that any special measures will have to be taken by
the medical services,'' said Ilyin, whos remarks in Russian were
simultaneously translated into English.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0334EDT
***************
a027 0131 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0568
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: Lead expected after 8 a.m. EDT
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Predictions that the Chernobyl disaster will
cause up to 25,000 future cancer deaths in the western Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were possibly 10 times too
high, Soviet and Argentine nuclear experts said.
The estimates were made earlier this week by some Western officials
attending the 50-nation conference here to weigh the impact of the
April 26 accident. They said the estimated toll of 25,000 over the
next 70 years came from Soviet calculations.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday that initial Soviet estimates of
exposure were based on a ''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather
than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said the Soviet
findings would lead to a more accurate calculation of 2,000 cancer
deaths in the Soviet Union from Chernobyl. Estimates in the 20,000
range are ''nonsense, in many respects,'' he told reporters.
''That does not mean that if we have only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it
is good or more acceptable,'' he added. ''It is a very bad number in
any case. But it has to be put into perspective.''
He stressed that long-term estimates of cancer risks must be based
on the average radiation dose from Chernobyl, not maximum doses.
Beninson and Ilyin spoke at a news conference on the fourth day of
the week-long conference held under the auspices of the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
An explosion and fire occurred April 26 at Chernobyl's No. 4
reactor, 80 miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine, sending a radioactive
cloud over much of Europe and other parts of the world. At least 31
people have died from the accident.
Meanwhile, Swedish energy officials on Thursday warned of the
possibility of another Soviet accident similar to the Chernobyl
disaster, and said a Soviet nuclear power plant in Lithuania was
being pushed to unsafe limits.
''We know we will have another accident like that at Chernobyl
within 10 years if nothing is done to increase safety standards
considerably,'' Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said. ''Many of the
Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish safety
standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, said a
report by his department cited a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania as an example of Soviet reactors considered
unsafe.
At the conference in Vienna, Ilyin said Soviet doctors continued to
monitor the radiation exposure of the Chernobyl evacuees.
''In light of the forecast dose burden we now have for these people,
there is no fear that any special measures will have to be taken by
the medical services,'' said Ilyin, whos remarks in Russian were
simultaneously translated into English.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0429EDT
- - - - - -
a054 0505 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld, Insert, a027,0118
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 3 grafs after 9th graf: An explosion xxx
accident to include Gale quotes
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told reporters that health experts believe the
number of cancer deaths worldwide resulting from the accident could
range from 1,000 to 75,000 over the next 70 years.
He told The Associated Press on Thursday that estimates of the
Chernobyl death toll are ''very broad,'' but health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Gale said there could be 9.5 million cancer cases in the western
Soviet Union in the next 70 years even without Chernobyl.
Meanwhile, Swedish: 10th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0804EDT
- - - - - -
a057 0514 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 2nd Ld, a027,0207
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS in 5 grafs to RECAST to show that Soviets have not offered
a long-range figure
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the 50-nation
Chernobyl conference here said up to 25,000 people may die over the
next 70 years in the western Soviet Union because of the April 26
nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday those predictions were based on
initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure that were based on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson,: 5th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0813EDT
- - - - - -
a060 0537 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 3rd Ld - Writethru, a057,0643
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS throughout to UPDATE with Soviet scientists' comments
today
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
A Soviet nuclear scientist, meanwhile, said today that the comments
of experts from 50 nations at a weeklong conference reviewing the
April 26 accident were ''most useful.''
''The further development of atomic energy requires many more
efforts at raising safety standards and achieving a better
international exchange of information,'' said Valery A. Legasov, a
deputy chairman of the Soviet Union's main atomic energy institute.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the conference
under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency said up
to 25,000 people might die over the next 70 years in the western
Soviet Union because of the nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told a news conference Thursday those predictions were
derived from initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure made on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said 2,000 would
be a more accurate estimate of future Chernobyl-linked cancer deaths
in the Soviet Union. He said estimates in the 20,000 range were
''nonsense, in many respects. ''That does not mean that if we have
only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it is good or more acceptable,'' he
said. ''It is a very bad number in any case. But it has to be put
into perspective.''
The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor in the Ukraine,
80 miles north of Kiev, killed at least 31 people and sent
radioactivity over much of the world.
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told The Associated Press on Thursday that
estimates of future worldwide cancer deaths resulting from the
accident range from 1,000 to 75,000. He said health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Legasov told today's concluding plenary session that Soviet
scientists had ''listened carefully'' to the comments and questions
of several hundred Western experts at the IAEA-sponsored conference.
''This experience has been most useful to us, as it sometimes drew
our attention to things we had missed,'' he said, speaking in
Russian. His words were simultaneously translated into English.
''We (Soviet scientists) had a feeling of solidarity this week
rather than criticism,'' Legasov said. ''This reflects the
realization that we should not reverse the technological progress of
civilization by rejecting the peaceful use of nuclear power'' but
instead improve the safety of nuclear energy.
Swedish Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said Thursday, ''We know we
will have another accident like that at Chernobyl within 10 years if
nothing is done to increase safety standards considerably. Many of
the Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish
safety standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, quoted a
report by his department as saying a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania was an example of an unsafe Soviet reactor.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0835EDT
***************
a027 0131 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0568
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: Lead expected after 8 a.m. EDT
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Predictions that the Chernobyl disaster will
cause up to 25,000 future cancer deaths in the western Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were possibly 10 times too
high, Soviet and Argentine nuclear experts said.
The estimates were made earlier this week by some Western officials
attending the 50-nation conference here to weigh the impact of the
April 26 accident. They said the estimated toll of 25,000 over the
next 70 years came from Soviet calculations.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday that initial Soviet estimates of
exposure were based on a ''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather
than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said the Soviet
findings would lead to a more accurate calculation of 2,000 cancer
deaths in the Soviet Union from Chernobyl. Estimates in the 20,000
range are ''nonsense, in many respects,'' he told reporters.
''That does not mean that if we have only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it
is good or more acceptable,'' he added. ''It is a very bad number in
any case. But it has to be put into perspective.''
He stressed that long-term estimates of cancer risks must be based
on the average radiation dose from Chernobyl, not maximum doses.
Beninson and Ilyin spoke at a news conference on the fourth day of
the week-long conference held under the auspices of the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
An explosion and fire occurred April 26 at Chernobyl's No. 4
reactor, 80 miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine, sending a radioactive
cloud over much of Europe and other parts of the world. At least 31
people have died from the accident.
Meanwhile, Swedish energy officials on Thursday warned of the
possibility of another Soviet accident similar to the Chernobyl
disaster, and said a Soviet nuclear power plant in Lithuania was
being pushed to unsafe limits.
''We know we will have another accident like that at Chernobyl
within 10 years if nothing is done to increase safety standards
considerably,'' Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said. ''Many of the
Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish safety
standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, said a
report by his department cited a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania as an example of Soviet reactors considered
unsafe.
At the conference in Vienna, Ilyin said Soviet doctors continued to
monitor the radiation exposure of the Chernobyl evacuees.
''In light of the forecast dose burden we now have for these people,
there is no fear that any special measures will have to be taken by
the medical services,'' said Ilyin, whos remarks in Russian were
simultaneously translated into English.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0429EDT
- - - - - -
a054 0505 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld, Insert, a027,0118
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 3 grafs after 9th graf: An explosion xxx
accident to include Gale quotes
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told reporters that health experts believe the
number of cancer deaths worldwide resulting from the accident could
range from 1,000 to 75,000 over the next 70 years.
He told The Associated Press on Thursday that estimates of the
Chernobyl death toll are ''very broad,'' but health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Gale said there could be 9.5 million cancer cases in the western
Soviet Union in the next 70 years even without Chernobyl.
Meanwhile, Swedish: 10th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0804EDT
- - - - - -
a057 0514 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 2nd Ld, a027,0207
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS in 5 grafs to RECAST to show that Soviets have not offered
a long-range figure
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the 50-nation
Chernobyl conference here said up to 25,000 people may die over the
next 70 years in the western Soviet Union because of the April 26
nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday those predictions were based on
initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure that were based on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson,: 5th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0813EDT
- - - - - -
a060 0537 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 3rd Ld - Writethru, a057,0643
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS throughout to UPDATE with Soviet scientists' comments
today
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
A Soviet nuclear scientist, meanwhile, said today that the comments
of experts from 50 nations at a weeklong conference reviewing the
April 26 accident were ''most useful.''
''The further development of atomic energy requires many more
efforts at raising safety standards and achieving a better
international exchange of information,'' said Valery A. Legasov, a
deputy chairman of the Soviet Union's main atomic energy institute.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the conference
under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency said up
to 25,000 people might die over the next 70 years in the western
Soviet Union because of the nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told a news conference Thursday those predictions were
derived from initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure made on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said 2,000 would
be a more accurate estimate of future Chernobyl-linked cancer deaths
in the Soviet Union. He said estimates in the 20,000 range were
''nonsense, in many respects. ''That does not mean that if we have
only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it is good or more acceptable,'' he
said. ''It is a very bad number in any case. But it has to be put
into perspective.''
The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor in the Ukraine,
80 miles north of Kiev, killed at least 31 people and sent
radioactivity over much of the world.
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told The Associated Press on Thursday that
estimates of future worldwide cancer deaths resulting from the
accident range from 1,000 to 75,000. He said health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Legasov told today's concluding plenary session that Soviet
scientists had ''listened carefully'' to the comments and questions
of several hundred Western experts at the IAEA-sponsored conference.
''This experience has been most useful to us, as it sometimes drew
our attention to things we had missed,'' he said, speaking in
Russian. His words were simultaneously translated into English.
''We (Soviet scientists) had a feeling of solidarity this week
rather than criticism,'' Legasov said. ''This reflects the
realization that we should not reverse the technological progress of
civilization by rejecting the peaceful use of nuclear power'' but
instead improve the safety of nuclear energy.
Swedish Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said Thursday, ''We know we
will have another accident like that at Chernobyl within 10 years if
nothing is done to increase safety standards considerably. Many of
the Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish
safety standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, quoted a
report by his department as saying a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania was an example of an unsafe Soviet reactor.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0835EDT
***************
a027 0131 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0568
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: Lead expected after 8 a.m. EDT
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Predictions that the Chernobyl disaster will
cause up to 25,000 future cancer deaths in the western Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were possibly 10 times too
high, Soviet and Argentine nuclear experts said.
The estimates were made earlier this week by some Western officials
attending the 50-nation conference here to weigh the impact of the
April 26 accident. They said the estimated toll of 25,000 over the
next 70 years came from Soviet calculations.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday that initial Soviet estimates of
exposure were based on a ''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather
than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said the Soviet
findings would lead to a more accurate calculation of 2,000 cancer
deaths in the Soviet Union from Chernobyl. Estimates in the 20,000
range are ''nonsense, in many respects,'' he told reporters.
''That does not mean that if we have only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it
is good or more acceptable,'' he added. ''It is a very bad number in
any case. But it has to be put into perspective.''
He stressed that long-term estimates of cancer risks must be based
on the average radiation dose from Chernobyl, not maximum doses.
Beninson and Ilyin spoke at a news conference on the fourth day of
the week-long conference held under the auspices of the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
An explosion and fire occurred April 26 at Chernobyl's No. 4
reactor, 80 miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine, sending a radioactive
cloud over much of Europe and other parts of the world. At least 31
people have died from the accident.
Meanwhile, Swedish energy officials on Thursday warned of the
possibility of another Soviet accident similar to the Chernobyl
disaster, and said a Soviet nuclear power plant in Lithuania was
being pushed to unsafe limits.
''We know we will have another accident like that at Chernobyl
within 10 years if nothing is done to increase safety standards
considerably,'' Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said. ''Many of the
Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish safety
standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, said a
report by his department cited a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania as an example of Soviet reactors considered
unsafe.
At the conference in Vienna, Ilyin said Soviet doctors continued to
monitor the radiation exposure of the Chernobyl evacuees.
''In light of the forecast dose burden we now have for these people,
there is no fear that any special measures will have to be taken by
the medical services,'' said Ilyin, whos remarks in Russian were
simultaneously translated into English.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0429EDT
- - - - - -
a054 0505 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld, Insert, a027,0118
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 3 grafs after 9th graf: An explosion xxx
accident to include Gale quotes
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told reporters that health experts believe the
number of cancer deaths worldwide resulting from the accident could
range from 1,000 to 75,000 over the next 70 years.
He told The Associated Press on Thursday that estimates of the
Chernobyl death toll are ''very broad,'' but health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Gale said there could be 9.5 million cancer cases in the western
Soviet Union in the next 70 years even without Chernobyl.
Meanwhile, Swedish: 10th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0804EDT
- - - - - -
a057 0514 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 2nd Ld, a027,0207
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS in 5 grafs to RECAST to show that Soviets have not offered
a long-range figure
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the 50-nation
Chernobyl conference here said up to 25,000 people may die over the
next 70 years in the western Soviet Union because of the April 26
nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday those predictions were based on
initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure that were based on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson,: 5th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0813EDT
- - - - - -
a060 0537 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 3rd Ld - Writethru, a057,0643
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS throughout to UPDATE with Soviet scientists' comments
today
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
A Soviet nuclear scientist, meanwhile, said today that the comments
of experts from 50 nations at a weeklong conference reviewing the
April 26 accident were ''most useful.''
''The further development of atomic energy requires many more
efforts at raising safety standards and achieving a better
international exchange of information,'' said Valery A. Legasov, a
deputy chairman of the Soviet Union's main atomic energy institute.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the conference
under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency said up
to 25,000 people might die over the next 70 years in the western
Soviet Union because of the nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told a news conference Thursday those predictions were
derived from initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure made on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said 2,000 would
be a more accurate estimate of future Chernobyl-linked cancer deaths
in the Soviet Union. He said estimates in the 20,000 range were
''nonsense, in many respects. ''That does not mean that if we have
only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it is good or more acceptable,'' he
said. ''It is a very bad number in any case. But it has to be put
into perspective.''
The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor in the Ukraine,
80 miles north of Kiev, killed at least 31 people and sent
radioactivity over much of the world.
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told The Associated Press on Thursday that
estimates of future worldwide cancer deaths resulting from the
accident range from 1,000 to 75,000. He said health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Legasov told today's concluding plenary session that Soviet
scientists had ''listened carefully'' to the comments and questions
of several hundred Western experts at the IAEA-sponsored conference.
''This experience has been most useful to us, as it sometimes drew
our attention to things we had missed,'' he said, speaking in
Russian. His words were simultaneously translated into English.
''We (Soviet scientists) had a feeling of solidarity this week
rather than criticism,'' Legasov said. ''This reflects the
realization that we should not reverse the technological progress of
civilization by rejecting the peaceful use of nuclear power'' but
instead improve the safety of nuclear energy.
Swedish Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said Thursday, ''We know we
will have another accident like that at Chernobyl within 10 years if
nothing is done to increase safety standards considerably. Many of
the Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish
safety standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, quoted a
report by his department as saying a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania was an example of an unsafe Soviet reactor.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0835EDT
***************
a027 0131 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0568
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: Lead expected after 8 a.m. EDT
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Predictions that the Chernobyl disaster will
cause up to 25,000 future cancer deaths in the western Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were possibly 10 times too
high, Soviet and Argentine nuclear experts said.
The estimates were made earlier this week by some Western officials
attending the 50-nation conference here to weigh the impact of the
April 26 accident. They said the estimated toll of 25,000 over the
next 70 years came from Soviet calculations.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday that initial Soviet estimates of
exposure were based on a ''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather
than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said the Soviet
findings would lead to a more accurate calculation of 2,000 cancer
deaths in the Soviet Union from Chernobyl. Estimates in the 20,000
range are ''nonsense, in many respects,'' he told reporters.
''That does not mean that if we have only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it
is good or more acceptable,'' he added. ''It is a very bad number in
any case. But it has to be put into perspective.''
He stressed that long-term estimates of cancer risks must be based
on the average radiation dose from Chernobyl, not maximum doses.
Beninson and Ilyin spoke at a news conference on the fourth day of
the week-long conference held under the auspices of the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
An explosion and fire occurred April 26 at Chernobyl's No. 4
reactor, 80 miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine, sending a radioactive
cloud over much of Europe and other parts of the world. At least 31
people have died from the accident.
Meanwhile, Swedish energy officials on Thursday warned of the
possibility of another Soviet accident similar to the Chernobyl
disaster, and said a Soviet nuclear power plant in Lithuania was
being pushed to unsafe limits.
''We know we will have another accident like that at Chernobyl
within 10 years if nothing is done to increase safety standards
considerably,'' Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said. ''Many of the
Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish safety
standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, said a
report by his department cited a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania as an example of Soviet reactors considered
unsafe.
At the conference in Vienna, Ilyin said Soviet doctors continued to
monitor the radiation exposure of the Chernobyl evacuees.
''In light of the forecast dose burden we now have for these people,
there is no fear that any special measures will have to be taken by
the medical services,'' said Ilyin, whos remarks in Russian were
simultaneously translated into English.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0429EDT
- - - - - -
a054 0505 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 1st Ld, Insert, a027,0118
VIENNA, Austria INSERT 3 grafs after 9th graf: An explosion xxx
accident to include Gale quotes
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told reporters that health experts believe the
number of cancer deaths worldwide resulting from the accident could
range from 1,000 to 75,000 over the next 70 years.
He told The Associated Press on Thursday that estimates of the
Chernobyl death toll are ''very broad,'' but health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Gale said there could be 9.5 million cancer cases in the western
Soviet Union in the next 70 years even without Chernobyl.
Meanwhile, Swedish: 10th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0804EDT
- - - - - -
a057 0514 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 2nd Ld, a027,0207
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS in 5 grafs to RECAST to show that Soviets have not offered
a long-range figure
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the 50-nation
Chernobyl conference here said up to 25,000 people may die over the
next 70 years in the western Soviet Union because of the April 26
nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told reporters Thursday those predictions were based on
initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure that were based on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson,: 5th graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0813EDT
- - - - - -
a060 0537 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, 3rd Ld - Writethru, a057,0643
Soviet Official Disputes Prediction of 25,000 Future Deaths
Eds: LEADS throughout to UPDATE with Soviet scientists' comments
today
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Long-range predictions that the Chernobyl
disaster may cause 20,000 or more cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
were based on worst-case scenarios and were much too high, some
nuclear experts said.
A Soviet nuclear scientist, meanwhile, said today that the comments
of experts from 50 nations at a weeklong conference reviewing the
April 26 accident were ''most useful.''
''The further development of atomic energy requires many more
efforts at raising safety standards and achieving a better
international exchange of information,'' said Valery A. Legasov, a
deputy chairman of the Soviet Union's main atomic energy institute.
Earlier this week, some Western officials attending the conference
under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency said up
to 25,000 people might die over the next 70 years in the western
Soviet Union because of the nuclear power plant accident.
But Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told a news conference Thursday those predictions were
derived from initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure made on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
''We have carried out a wide campaign of measuring real levels (of
radiation exposure in the 135,000 people evacuated from the 18-mile
zone around Chernobyl), and these real levels turned out to be 10
times less than the calculated values,'' Ilyin said.
The Soviets have not disclosed any estimates of eventual
Chernobyl-related deaths.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said 2,000 would
be a more accurate estimate of future Chernobyl-linked cancer deaths
in the Soviet Union. He said estimates in the 20,000 range were
''nonsense, in many respects. ''That does not mean that if we have
only 2,000 instead of 20,000 it is good or more acceptable,'' he
said. ''It is a very bad number in any case. But it has to be put
into perspective.''
The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor in the Ukraine,
80 miles north of Kiev, killed at least 31 people and sent
radioactivity over much of the world.
Dr. Robert Gale, a Los Angeles bone marrow surgeon who treated some
Chernobyl victims, told The Associated Press on Thursday that
estimates of future worldwide cancer deaths resulting from the
accident range from 1,000 to 75,000. He said health experts believe
''the truth will lie between the extremes.''
Legasov told today's concluding plenary session that Soviet
scientists had ''listened carefully'' to the comments and questions
of several hundred Western experts at the IAEA-sponsored conference.
''This experience has been most useful to us, as it sometimes drew
our attention to things we had missed,'' he said, speaking in
Russian. His words were simultaneously translated into English.
''We (Soviet scientists) had a feeling of solidarity this week
rather than criticism,'' Legasov said. ''This reflects the
realization that we should not reverse the technological progress of
civilization by rejecting the peaceful use of nuclear power'' but
instead improve the safety of nuclear energy.
Swedish Energy Minister Birgitta Dahl said Thursday, ''We know we
will have another accident like that at Chernobyl within 10 years if
nothing is done to increase safety standards considerably. Many of
the Soviet nuclear plants would not be operating if our Swedish
safety standards were applied there.''
Hans Bartsch, a Swedish government nuclear safety expert, quoted a
report by his department as saying a Soviet nuclear power plant at
Ignalina in Lithuania was an example of an unsafe Soviet reactor.
Helmut Rabold, an East German atomic safety official, said Soviet
and Western delegates had suggested establishing an international
agency, composed of civil defense and military personnel, to pool
efforts against any future atomic accident.
AP-NY-08-29-86 0835EDT
***************
a053 0503 29 Aug 86
PM-New Hampshire Gov, Adv05, 1st Ld,0117
$adv05
For Release Fri PMs Sept 5 and Thereafter
Campaign '86: Seabrook Plant Dominates New Hampshire Governor's Race
- Again
Eds: SUB 2nd graf to update, Seabrook completed. Original moved Aug.
27 as a083
By MICHAEL MOKRZYCKI
Associated Press Writer
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Republican Gov. John Sununu's opponents hope
his steadfast support for nuclear power will bring him down in the
aftermath of the Chernobyl accident and the scare over a possible
atomic waste dump in New Hampshire.
Three Democrats and Sununu's sole GOP challenger in the Sept. 9
primaries are campaigning largely on their opposition to the Seabrook
nuclear power plant, which has now been completed.
But Sununu: 3rd graf
AP-NY-08-29-86 0749EDT
***************
a218 1209 29 Aug 86
AM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0718
Soviet Candor Impresses Western Experts
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Western experts said Friday they were
impressed by the unusual candor of Soviet officials in describing the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster and their determination to prevent future
accidents.
''The Soviets were very free in providing answers and comments on
the many questions we had,'' said Richard Kennedy, U.S. ambassador at
large for nuclear affairs. ''I rate their candor highly. We probably
heard more than we expected to hear, and we've now greatly increased
our understanding.''
He spoke at the end of a five-day international conference on the
causes and consequences of the April 26 reactor accident at the
Ukrainian plant, which released radioactivity that spread over Europe
and much of the world.
The conference was arranged by the Vienna-based International Atomic
Energy Agency, which said in a closing statement that nearly 600
nuclear and health experts from 62 countries participated.
Hans Blix of Sweden, the U.N. agency's director, said: ''The Soviet
government's report impressed all of us with its openness, without
which world confidence in an energy source we need cannot be
regenerated.''
That openness contrasted with Soviet secrecy at the time of the
accident. The Kremlin did not acknowledge it until nearly three days
later, when Sweden demanded an explanation after detecting high
levels of radiation, and then issued only brief reports.
Among ideas to be submitted to the IAEA board of governors next
month are plans for international training and accreditation of
nuclear plant operators.
Soviet officials said human error was largely to blame for the
explosions and fire in Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor, which caused at
least 31 deaths and forced the evacuation of 135,000 people.
''I'm very encouraged by the Soviets' efforts to look for means to
improve their reactor safety,'' said Harold Denton, who oversees
atomic reactor licensing for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Valery A. Legasov, deputy head of the main Soviet atomic energy
institute and leader of the Moscow delegation, said Chernobyl had
raised fears in his country that its atomic energy program would be
scrapped.
''It frightened many of us in the U.S.S.R. that the accident would
lead to abandonment of nuclear energy because of a view it's too
dangerous,'' he said after a news conference.
''This summer, I was afraid we would not have enough students
entering nuclear energy studies, but it turned out a high number are
still entering this discipline.''
He and Westerners at the conference said scientists agreed that the
accident dramatized the need for tougher reactor safety standards but
felt it was no reason to back away from nuclear power as an energy
source.
Legasov, who spoke in Russian through a translator, said the Soviets
had introduced ''considerable corrections'' in training, including
new emergency procedures.
Some Western delegates said the Soviets also were studying a rapid
automatic shutdown mechanism for reactors.
''It is clear that the further development of atomic power requires
an increase in the level of its safety and a strengthening of
international cooperation,'' Legasov said.
Soviet investigators said workers at Chernobyl violated six
important safety rules while conducting an experiment on the reactor,
which led to the accident.
British scientist Bryan Edmondson said: ''The operating staff seemed
to have lost all sense of danger, showing a dominating
overconfidence.''
Rudolf Rometsch of Switzerland, the conference chairman, said
recommendations approved by delegates also included international
workshops to get a firmer estimate of future cancer deaths caused by
Chernobyl radiation.
Some nuclear experts said predictions earlier this week that
Chernobyl may cause up to 25,000 cancer deaths in the Soviet Union
over the next 70 years were much too high.
Leonid Ilyin, vice president of the Soviet Academy of Medical
Sciences, told a news conference Thursday the predictions were based
on initial Soviet estimates of radiation exposure made on a
''pessimistic theoretical basis'' rather than actual measurements.
He said actual levels measured since ''turned out to be 10 times
less than the calculated values.'' The Soviets have not given
estimates of eventual deaths.
Dan Beninson, an Argentine nuclear safety official, said 2,000 would
be a more accurate estimate of future cancer deaths linked to the
disaster.
AP-NY-08-29-86 1508EDT
- - - - - -
a238 1533 29 Aug 86
AM-Digest Advisory,0085
All budgets have cleared. Here is a listing.
VIENNA, Austria - Chernobyl, a218
WASHINGTON - Economy, a219
BERLIN - Berlin-Escape, a220
EASTON, Conn. - Drug Debacle, a222
UNDATED - Auto Incentives, a223
WASHINGTON - Freight Fracas, a224
NEW YORK - Forgotten Victims, a225
WASHINGTON - US-Soviet, a226, a234
NEW YORK - Park Killing, a228
OAKLAND, Calif. - Mobster Buried, a230
MILWAUKEE, - Lutherans, a233
The AP
AP-NY-08-29-86 1832EDT
***************
a011 2251 29 Aug 86
PM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0543
Scientists Laud Soviet Candor on Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
By MARK HEINRICH
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Western scientists praised the Soviets'
detailed account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and
said closer international cooperation was vital to avoid such tragic
accidents.
A five-day congress, organized by the Vienna-based International
Atomic Energy Agency and attended by representatives from 60 nations,
ended Friday with delegates proposing programs to assess long-term
cancer risks from the Chernobyl accident.
Another recommendation to be presented to the IAEA's board of
governors next month is a plan for international training and
certification of nuclear power plant operators throughout the world
to reinforce safety procedures.
Soviet scientists have acknowledged that the April 26 explosion at a
reactor at the Chernobyl complex in the Ukraine was due mainly to the
incompetence of plant personnel.
The Soviets have said the explosion, fire and radiation caused 31
deaths and forced the evacuation of 135,000 people in the Chernobyl
area 80 miles north of Keiv.
''In the optimum view, man and machine must automatically rescue
each other'' in a civil nuclear emergency, and that failed at
Chernobyl, said Valery Legasov, deputy chairman of Moscow's main
atomic energy institute.
He said the Soviet Union was overhauling its training of nuclear
plant operators to ensure they know the proper steps to take in a
crisis.
Western scientists reported the Soviets also were studying an
automatic shutdown system for reactors.
Faulty handling of the Chernobyl plant's production controls led to
the reactor eruption, and poor reaction by operators contributed to
massive leaks of radiation. Fallout drifted across much of the world.
''The Soviet government's report impressed all of us with its
openness, without which world confidence in an energy source we need
cannot be regenerated,'' Hans Blix of Sweden, director general of the
IAEA, said at a closing news conference Friday.
Harold Denton, chief of reactor licensing for the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, said, ''I'm very encouraged by the Soviets'
efforts to look for means to improve their reactor safety.''
Richard Kennedy, U.S. ambassador-at-large for nuclear affairs, told
reporters, ''The Soviets were very free in providing answers and
comments on the many questions we had.''
''I rate their candor highly,'' he added. ''We probably heard more
than we expected to hear, and we've greatly increased our
understanding.''
The Soviets' openness contrasted with their secrecy at the time of
the accident. The Kremlin did not acknowledge it until nearly three
days later, when Sweden demanded an explanation after detecting high
levels of radiation, and then issued only brief reports.
Scientists and politicians in the West accused the Soviets of trying
to cover up the gravity of the accident and of withholding
information needed to assess radiation dangers to citizens in other
nations.
Some Western delegates said Friday that information gaps remained,
but the Soviet information could bolster efforts to improve reactor
safety elsewhere.
Legasov expressed support for further international meetings of
experts on nuclear energy and safety.
''This experience (in Vienna) has been most useful to us, as it
sometimes drew our attention to things we had missed,'' he said.
''It was a difficult week for us, because we discussed a very
painful event for our own citizens, something which also worried many
in the world.''
AP-NY-08-30-86 0150EDT
***************
a242 1427 28 Aug 86
AM-Nuclear Safety, Bjt,0645
Nader Group Urges Nuclear Plant Shutdown
By JILL LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The only way to protect the American public from
atomic power risks is to shut down all U.S. nuclear plants, a Ralph
Nader-affiliated organization asserted Thursday.
In a detailed analysis, the Critical Mass Energy Project contended
that 1985 was the worst safety year ever for this country.
''The message from the operating experience of U.S. reactors in 1984
and 1985 is clear: the plants are unsafe and their safety record
continues to worsen,'' the Critical Mass Energy Project said in its
1984-85 Nuclear Power Safety Report, which it said was dedicated to
the victims of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union.
''The likelihood and consequences of an accident, so dramatically
demonstrated by the Chernobyl disaster, strongly argue for rapidly
phasing out the nation's nuclear power program,'' said the report
written by Joshua Gordon.
Critical mass is the amount of energy required to sustain a nuclear
chain reaction. The Critical Mass Energy Project was founded by Nader
12 years ago.
Based on data from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other
sources, the group contends 1985 was the worst year for U.S. nuclear
safety. Among its findings, some of them released in May after the
Chernobyl accident, were these:
-Ten serious accidents - ''abnormal occurrences'' ranging from high
radiation exposures and loss of radioactive material to management
problems affecting safety - happened in 1985, sustaining a trend that
began in 1983.
-2,997 plant mishaps - ''licensee events'' ranging from minor to
significant breakdowns in plant systems or procedures - were reported
to the NRC in 1985, a 23 percent increase over 1984.
-There were 764 emergency shutdowns at U.S. plants in 1985, a 28
percent rise over 1984.
-Nine plants accounting for 12 percent of the U.S. nuclear power
generating capacity were indefinitely closed in 1985.
Don Winston, a spokesman for the Atomic Industrial Forum, said he
didn't know how Critical Mass could say the nuclear safety was at an
all-time low in terms of safety last year.
''How many fatalities were there? Zero! How many catastrophic
breakdowns? Zero! Injuries to the public? Zero! Injuries to workers?
Zero! (Radiation) overexposures to workers? None for the second year
in a row,'' Winston said.
Countering with some statistics of his own, Winston said the number
of ''significant'' or serious events dropped from .7 per reactor in
1984 to .53 in 1985 - the fourth consecutive annual decrease. He also
said the forced outage rate due to technical problems fell from 13.6
percent in 1984 to 11.7 percent last year.
NRC spokesman Bob Newlin said ''abnormal occurrences'' numbered five
or six annually until 1982 and then rose to nine or 10 per year. But
he noted that the number of licensed reactors also has risen in that
time. There are now 100.
Newlin attributed the increase in event reports to the greater
number of plants and a better understanding on the part of utility
managers of the new reporting system instituted in 1984.
Quoting NRC Commissioner James Asselstine to support many of his
points, Gordon accused the NRC of paying too little attention to
plant management and failing to crack down on utilities that violate
its regulations.
Asselstine often has dissented from commission decisions, and he
recently voiced concern about whether the agency was being stern
enough in its regulation of the industry.
The maximum fine of $100,000 for a serious violation is ''a
minuscule fraction of a nuclear plant's operating budget, capital
cost, a utility's total worth, or cost of replacement power if a
plant is shut down ... it is doubtful that fines have much impact on
a plant's safety or on how a utility operates a plant,'' Gordon said.
AP-NY-08-28-86 1725EDT
***************
a051 0332 30 Aug 86
PM-Soviets-Chernobyl,0463
New Road Built in Record Time
MOSCOW (AP) - A road connecting the Ukrainian town of Chernobyl to a
new housing settlement for workers at the crippled Chernobyl nuclear
power plant has been completed in record time, a Soviet newspaper
reported today.
The daily Sovietskaya Rossiya said the new 22.5 mile road between
the new settlement Zelyeney Mys and Chernobyl was completed in two
months.
A massive construction program is under way in the northern Ukraine
and southern Byelorussia to provide new houses for more than 25,000
families evacuated in the April 26 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Sovietskaya Rossiya said workers building the road had to wear
respirators while working because of radioactivity in the soil that
they were moving.
It said that by working along the entire stretch of the road at
once, with each team building a certain section, the highway was
completed 18 times faster than usual.
The report came a day after Soviet media said that workers engaged
in the cleanup operations had been warned to work faster and use
materials more efficiently.
No Soviet report has ever stated how many thousands of workers have
been brought to the Chernobyl area from all over the nation to help
in decontamination, entombing the ruined No. 4 reactor and building
new roads and houses for many of the 135,000 people evacuated from
the northern Ukraine and southern Byelorussia.
The Sovietskaya Rossiya suggested that the new road did not stretch
to the plant itself, but to the town of Chernobyl, which is said to
be 9.5 miles to the southeast of the nuclear plant.
A bridge over the river Uzh, which joins the river Pripyat near
Chernobyl town and then flows into the Kiev water reservoir, was
finished in 34 days, compared with a normal time-frame of two years,
it said.
The newspaper said the roadbuilders will now move on to fresh tasks,
building or improving existing roads to the west, south and north of
the Chernobyl plant.
Chernobyl lies in a rural, flat area of the Ukraine, where most
roads are simple two-lane highways not designed to take the heavy
traffic of trucks, armored personnel carriers and thousands of
vehicles mobilized for the clean-up.
The accident has so far claimed 31 lives, sent 203 people to
hospital with radiation sickness and caused at least $2.8 billion in
what Soviet authorities term direct damage.
This estimate is not thought to include the cost of power lost by
the shutdown of the four reactors at the Chernobyl plant.
There are 10 other such reactors in the Soviet Union, and a Soviet
scientist told reporters during an International Atomic Energy Agency
conference in Vienna this week that more than half of these are now
shut down for safety modifications deemed necessary after the
Chernobyl accident.
AP-NY-08-30-86 0631EDT
***************
a254 1705 03 Sep 86
AM-US-Chernobyl,0640
US Experts: Soviet Evacuation Plan Inadequate At Chernobyl
By JILL LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Soviet authorities had to scrap their prepared
emergency plans and start from scratch to evacuate 135,000 people
after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, U.S. experts who attended an
international conference said Wednesday.
''None of their emergency plans were adequate to the circumstance
... The plan they looked at first they had to throw out,'' Harold
Denton, director of reactor safety for the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, told the NRC at a briefing on the conference held by the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
Denton said Soviet delegates to the meeting, which ended last
weekend in Vienna, said the major lesson they learned was that
''there is an absolute need for a single coordinating authority ...
one person in charge.''
He said a translation of the initial Soviet plan was not yet
available for comparison with U.S. emergency plans.
Denton said the direct causes of the accident were ''multiple
deliberate violations of procedure'' and design flaws. ''The causes
are understood, the sequence is clear, but the details will have to
be studied for a long time,'' he said.
Some 1,000 buses were used to evacuate 135,000 people from an
18-mile zone near Chernobyl, the site of an explosion and fire that
began April 26 and sent a plume of radiation around the world.
Thirty-one people died and hundreds were injured in the catastrophe.
All children in the evacuation zone were sent to summer camp in the
country following the accident and apparently were not reunited with
their parents until last weekend, said Frank Congel, another NRC
official who attended the conference.
Congel, chief of the NRC's risk assessment branch, said the evacuees
have been resettled in two areas near Kiev. He said the Soviets also
are establishing a population center near Chernobyl just outside the
18-mile zone for people working on decontamination of the plant and
region. No children have been allowed into the area, he said.
Soviet authorities started monitoring radiation in the plant area
within hours of the start of the accident, Congel said, and told
Pripyat residents to stay inside and close their windows.
He said schools were closed and there was massive distribution of
potassium iodide, which prevents accumulation of radioactive iodine
in the thyroid gland and which the Soviets apparently had on hand for
just such an emergency.
When the wind changed the following day, carrying radiation through
the town, Congel said, the decision to evacuate was made. The process
began at 2 p.m. and was complete three hours later, he said.
''Large amounts of iodine were administered without side effects,''
Denton noted in discussing medical knowledge gleaned so far from the
disaster. He said doctors also learned that skin doses of radiation
were very significant and surgical intervention not particularly
effective.
Experts attending the conference initially projected an additional
25,000 cancer deaths as a result of the Chernobyl accident. But they
later downgraded their estimate to about 2,000 over 70 years.
Congel said the initial estimate stemmed from Soviet calculations of
cesium exposure through the food chain. He and Denton said the
numbers were a worst-case scenario assuming no cautionary steps are
taken.
''These crops have not been planted. A lot depends on the future
action of the Soviet Union,'' Denton said. ''The doses haven't
occurred so they can take steps to prevent them. A lot of people
jumped on them (the exposure estimates) as if they had actually
happened.''
Denton and Victor Stello, executive director for NRC operations,
said they received much more information than they expected from the
Soviets and will be able to complete a factual report on the accident
before December. A ''lessons learned'' report will follow, they said.
AP-NY-09-03-86 2003EDT
***************
a027 0120 04 Sep 86
PM-US-Chernobyl,0501
US Nuclear Officials Studying Chernobyl Data For Lessons to be
Learned
By JILL LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. experts back from a Vienna meeting on the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster are studying its implications for American
nuclear power, and one federal official says nothing learned so far
warrants immediate changes here.
''The causes are understood, the sequence is clear, but the details
will have to be studied for a long time,'' Harold Denton, director of
reactor safety for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told the panel
at a briefing on the International Atomic Energy Agency conference
that ended last weekend.
He added later: ''I don't see any areas in which we need to make
immediate changes in our basis for licensing (commercial reactors).''
Denton and Victor Stello, executive director for NRC operations,
said the Soviets were much more forthright than they had expected.
The surprising quantity of information will allow them to complete a
factual report on the accident before December with a ''lessons
learned'' report to follow, they said.
The April 26 explosion and fire sent a cloud of radiation around the
world, killed 31 and injured hundreds of people. The accident was so
severe that existing Soviet emergency schemes could not cope with it,
Denton said.
''None of their emergency plans were adequate to the circumstance.
... The plan they looked at first they had to throw out,'' Denton
said.
The major lesson learned by the Soviets, he said, is that ''there is
an absolute need for a single coordinating authority ... one person
in charge.''
He said a translation of the initial, unworkable Soviet plan was not
yet available for comparison with U.S. emergency plans.
Frank Congel, chief of the NRC's risk assessment branch, said Soviet
authorities began monitoring radiation in the plant area within hours
of the start of the accident. They told residents of Pripyat, closest
to the plant, to stay inside and close their windows.
Congel said schools were closed and there was a massive distribution
of potassium iodide, which prevents accumulation of radioactive
iodine in the thyroid gland and which the Soviets apparently had on
hand.
When the wind changed the following day, carrying radiation through
the town, Congel said, the decision to evacuate was made and 1,000
buses were sent to the town. The evacuation began at 2 p.m. and was
complete three hours later, he said.
Ultimately, 135,000 people were evacuated from an 18-mile zone near
Chernobyl. All children in the evacuation zone were sent to summer
camp in the country following the accident and apparently were not
reunited with their parents until last weekend, Congel said.
Congel said the evacuees have been resettled in two areas near Kiev.
He said the Soviets also are establishing a population center near
Chernobyl just outside the 18-mile zone for people working on
decontamination of the plant and region. No children have been
allowed into the area, he said.
AP-NY-09-04-86 0418EDT
***************
a037 0237 09 Sep 86
PM-BRF--Anti-Nuclear Group,0129
Great Lakes Anti-Nuclear Coalition Announces Formation
MONROE, Mich. (AP) - Anti-nuclear groups from seven states and
Canada, concerned about the records of nuclear plant operators in the
Great Lakes area, have formed the Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great
Lakes.
The coalition is aimed at closing nuclear power plants in the Great
Lakes region, spokeswoman Mary Sinclair, director of the Great Lakes
Energy Alliance, said Monday.
''The established record of poor management, operator errors,
equipment malfunctions and design deficiencies with reactors on the
Great Lakes has greatly increased the probability of an accident
which will devastate the most precious resource in the world,''
Sinclair said at a news conference.
She said the coalition is supported by anti-nuclear groups in
Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and
Ontario, Canada.
AP-NY-09-09-86 0535EDT
***************
a078 0815 15 Sep 86
PM-Germany-Nuclear, Adv 19,0724
$adv19
For Release PMs Fri Sept. 19 or Thereafter
Nuclear Power Controversy Balloons in West Germany
By SUSAN J. SMITH
Associated Press Writer
BONN, West Germany (AP) - With the Chernobyl accident still fresh in
West German minds, a dispute over a nuclear plant just over the
border in France has become a rallying point for the growing ranks of
nuclear foes in this country.
The fright brought on by the Soviet nuclear-plant accident in April
has not faded in West Germany - it caused $250 million worth of
damage to West German farm crops - and nuclear energy has developed
into an emotional issue in the campaign for national elections in
January.
Johannes Rau, the opposition Social Democratic Party candidate for
chancellor, has called for a phaseout of the 20 West German nuclear
power plants now operating.
It was the first time a mainstream candidate has taken an
anti-nuclear position. Recent polls said more than 60 percent of West
Germans are opposed to nuclear power plants.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl, a conservative Christian Democrat, supports
nuclear power, which provides 30 percent of West Germany's
electricity. He has warned of dire economic consequences if West
Germany scraps its plants.
''Abandoning nuclear power would spell the end of the Federal
Republic (West Germany) as an industrialized nation,'' Kohl told West
German television in August.
But Kohl has been forced onto the defensive, especially after an
accident Aug. 23 at the plant under construction in Cattenom, France,
and the publication of new studies in Bonn that said West Germany
could abandon nuclear energy without an economic crisis.
No radioactivity was released when the French reactor building was
flooded just across the border from the West German Saarland state.
But the reaction in West Germany was immediate.
''France - a dangerous nuclear neighbor,'' said a headline on the
cover of Der Spiegel, the weekly news magazine.
Dieter Ehrenstein, a Bremen University professor of nuclear physics,
said on West German television the accident could have led to a
Chernobyl-style disaster if Cattenom had already been in operation.
Saarland state filed a complaint against Cattenom's construction
with a French court in Strasbourg. The complaint was rejected on
Sept. 8, but Saarland officials say they will appeal. Meanwhile,
Germans protesting the plant have become a common sight near
Cattenom.
Kohl felt compelled to bring up the accident in talks in Paris
earlier this month with Premier Jacques Chirac. Chirac promised to
provide West Germany with more information about the plant.
Two studies commissioned by the Economics Ministry concluded that
abandoning nuclear power was economically possible, but there was no
immediate indication that they would change Kohl's position.
Slowly shutting down nuclear plants over the next 24 years would
only drive up electric costs by .9 pfennigs (.45 cents) a kilowatt
hour, according to one of the studies, conducted by the Essen-based
Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research.
''These documents do not change our policy,'' said Kohl's
Environment Minister Walter Wallmann.
His remarks prompted the ARD television network to ask, ''Why then
are studies commissioned?''
West Germany, which gave birth to the environmentalist party called
the Greens in the 1970s, has long had an anti-nuclear movement.
There have been violent protests at nuclear power plants for years,
most recently at the construction site of a nuclear waste
reprocessing plant at the Bavarian town of Wackersdorf.
But the April 26 accident at Chernobyl in the Soviet Ukraine
inflamed these passions.
''After Chernobyl, anti-nuclear groups were formed spontaneously in
every state in the nation,'' said Helmut Wilhelm, spokesman for the
Federal Union of Citizen's Initiatives, a Bonn-based umbrella
organization for environmentalists.
He told The Associated Press that opponents of nuclear energy were
no longer mainly from the the political left.
West Germany's nuclear industry has gone on the offensive, promoting
atomic power in nationwide newspaper advertisements.
Kohl reacted to Chernobyl by creating the Environment Ministry and
proposing an international conference on reactor safety.
But opposition parties, crusading against nuclear power, came within
half a percentage point of beating Kohl's party in state elections in
Lower Saxony on June 15.
West Germany already has some of the world's toughest safety
standards for nuclear reactors. But the Environment Ministry is
examining the nation's 20 nuclear power plants and is expected to
announce measures to beef up safety this fall.
End Adv PMs Fri Sept. 19 or Thereafter
AP-NY-09-15-86 1114EDT
***************
a228 1325 25 Sep 86
Soviets Make First Awards in Nuclear Disaster
By ALISON SMALE
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - The Soviet Union on Thursday bestowed its highest
honors for heroism on three firefighters at the Chernobyl nuclear
plant who battled flames at the No. 4 reactor and prevented a greater
nuclear disaster.
Two of the firefighters, Viktor Kibenok and Vladimir Pravik, died of
radiation sickness. The government newspaper Izvestia printed a
picture of the surviving firefighter, Maj. Leonid Telyatnikov, on the
front page beside official decrees naming them Heroes of the Soviet
Union.
Telyatnikov, who was pictured in Soviet media in May with a full
head of hair, was bald in the Izvestia photograph.
Doctors treating victims of the April 26 Chernobyl disaster, which
has claimed 31 lives to date by official count, have said hair loss
is a common consequence of exposure to massive radiation doses.
Radiation from Chernobyl spread across several European countries
and large areas of the Soviet Union. The losses to the Soviet economy
from the disaster have been estimated by the Soviets at the
equivalent of nearly $3 billion.
The announcement that three men had been honored as heroes was made
a day after the newspaper Literary Gazette carried a major article
that criticized bureaucratic bungling, selection of the site and
other shortcomings as contributing to the disaster at Chernobyl.
The decrees honoring Telyatnikov, Pravik and Kibenok said they had
been awarded the gold stars given to heroes in the Soviet Union for
''courage, heroism and selflessness.''
Soviet television also announced the awards, showing photographs of
the three firefighters in their uniforms before the Chernobyl
disaster.
Telyatnikov was also shown in what the television said was a May
interview in a Moscow hospital. He was much thinner than in the
earlier photograph and his hair was almost gone.
The television commentator apologized that TV could not show
pictures of the reactor fire on April 26 and said film shot then was
spoiled by radiation.
For the first time, television showed a diagram of the plant which
made clear that its four reactors are at each corner of a rectangular
machine hall containing the turbine generators powered by steam from
the reactors.
The roof of the building housing the No. 4 reactor was ablaze when
Kibenok and Pravik arrived at the scene, the television commentator
reported.
''The most terrible thing was that the fire was threatening the
machine hall ... with all the turbines'' and could have spread to the
No. 3 reactor, the television said.
Like other media accounts, it said Telyatnikov, Kibenok and Pravik
prevented the blaze from engulfing the No. 3 reactor and nearby oil
storage tanks.
The youth newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on May 16 gave a vivid
account of how Pravik and Kibenok arrived to fight the blaze minutes
after No. 4 reactor had been ripped open by an explosion.
Telyatnikov, who had been on vacation, came 20 minutes later, the
television said.
Six of the firefighters at Chernobyl that night have since died and
are buried with 20 other victims of the disaster at a special site in
a graveyard just outside Moscow.
Kibenok, Pravik and Telyatnikov doused flames that threatened the
No. 3 reactor, Izvestia said Thursday in a story headline, ''Thank
You, Heroes of Chernobyl.''
The article lamented the death of Pravik and Kibenok, whose wife
told him two days before the Chernobyl disaster that she was
expecting their first child.
Telyatnikov was hospitalized for a long time, Izvestia said, ''but
doctors managed to save his life.''
It said he is now resting at his parents' home in the city of
Kustanay in northern Kazakhstan and quoted him as saying that he
thinks continually of his dead colleagues.
''They died, but they have not left me. I remember that terrible
night,'' Telyatnikov said. ''Pravik and Kibenok were the last to
leave the roof.''
AP-NY-09-25-86 1624EDT
***************
a070 0619 24 Sep 86
PM-Chernobyl,0266
Newspaper Criticizes Chernobyl Plant Site Choice
With PM-Nuclear Notifications
MOSCOW (AP) - A leading newspaper today criticized the choice of the
site for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as being on the edge of a
major water supply and in a flood plain.
The weekly Literaturnaya Gazeta also said Chernobyl officials were
unprepared for disaster and firemen and police didn't have needed
protective clothing and equipment.
The article, by Ukrainian writer Boris Oleinik, was the latest
analytical piece about the April 26 disaster, which the Politburo
blamed on criminal negligence. Soviet authorities said 31 people died
from the accident.
Oleinik wrote, ''There are many reasons for contemplation. But above
all, many people have started to doubt the correctness of the site
which was selected for the plant.''
The station was built starting in the mid-1970s about 80 miles north
of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on the banks of the Pripyat River.
Oleinik said the Pripyat is the largest tributary of the Dnieper
River both in the size of its basin and in the volume of its water
flow. The Dnieper is the region's major waterway and the source of
much of Kiev's drinking water.
''It (the Pripyat) has low banks, which is important during the
four-month spring flooding when water inundates significant areas,''
Oleinik said.
Soviet officials have said the disaster prompted a review of
national policy in locating nuclear power plants, which often are
built close to large urban areas.
Oleinik did not go into detail on how the Chernobyl site was chosen.
AP-NY-09-24-86 0918EDT
***************
a211 1133 24 Sep 86
AM-Chernobyl, Bjt,0487
Newspaper Questions Wisdom of Chernobyl Plant Site
By ANDREW ROSENTHAL
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - In an article linking the Chernobyl disaster with a
history of Soviet bureaucratic bungling, a leading newspaper on
Wednesday criticized the choice of an often-flooded riverbank as site
for the nuclear power plant.
Officials didn't prepare for the possibility of an accident, said
Ukrainian writer Boris Oleinik in the weekly newspaper Literary
Gazette.
As a result, firemen and police didn't have the protective clothing
and equipment they needed when an April 26 explosion tore open the
plant's No. 4 reactor, he said.
Oleinik traced the negligence which he blamed for the Chernobyl
disaster to a long history of bureaucratic ineptitude in the country
as a whole.
For decades, he said, incompetents were kept on and even promoted
for political reasons.
Discipline has been lax, signs of major problems have gone unheeded,
and industrial managers have artificially inflated output targets and
promised to finish projects ahead of time just to please political
leaders, Oleinik said.
Without mentioning Nikita S. Khrushchev by name, the author
indirectly criticized the late premier, who was ousted in disgrace in
1964.
Oleinik recalled the Khrushchev years when officials made
overambitious agricultural targets, especially in growing corn, a pet
project of Khrushchev, and then ignored the fact that targets were
not met.
''Taking into account that among these beautiful talkers were dense
hypocrites and adventurists like the much-talked-about swineherd of
the 1960s, there appeared a certain skepticism toward pretty words
among part of our youth,'' Oleinik said.
The remark clearly was aimed at Khrushchev, who came from peasant
stock and is closely identified in the Soviet Union with the 1960s
and with the corn-growing program.
Windowdressing industrial targets and unrealistic output schedules
are especially dangerous with atomic energy, Oleinik wrote. ''It
makes reality of the apocalypse.''
The article was the latest in a series of searching pieces about the
accident in the northern Ukraine, which killed at least 31 people,
contaminated vast tracts of land and caused billions of dollars in
damage.
Press coverage has generally followed a tone set by the ruling
Politburo, which blamed criminal negligence by local and national
officials, not any design flaw in the reactor, for the explosion.
Oleinik said officials ignored warnings of problems at Chernobyl,
including an article printed in March by the Ukrainian literary
newspaper.
He said officials at Chernobyl had a false sense of confidence about
their equipment and their own competence. He compared them to Soviets
who didn't expect the Nazi invasion in 1941.
''Otherwise, our firemen, who selflessly threw themselves at the
flames, would have had the appropriate protective clothing,'' he
said. ''Militia men, ranging up to chiefs, would have gotten
significantly smaller doses of radiation if their equipment had been
up to the standard demanded in the manuals.''
AP-NY-09-24-86 1432EDT
- - - - - -
a251 1651 24 Sep 86
AM-Digest Advisory,0105
All budgets have cleared. Here is a listing.
MOSCOW - Chernobyl, a211
ASSISI, Italy - St. Francis-Wildlife, a212
BOSTON - Doctor Drugs, a216
N.Y. - Comet Probe, a218
WASHINGTON - Nunn, a216.
WASHINGTON - Walker, a221.
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon-Hostages, a222.
UNITED NATIONS - UN-Chirac, a223.
WASHINGTON - Tax Overhaul, a224.
WASHINGTON - Young Adults-Literacy, a225.
CHICAGO - AIDS-Father, a226.
WASHINGTON - Budget, a227.
NEW YORK - Cops Suspended, a228.
OMAHA, Neb. - Reagan-Politics, a243.
WRIGHT CITY, Mo. - Crime Spree, a244.
The AP
AP-NY-09-24-86 1950EDT
***************