Chernobyl photographers paid with their lives
Never-seen-before shots of Chernobyl nuclear disaster that cost two of the four photographers their lives http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142849/Haunting-shots-Chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-revealed-true-scale-catastrophe–cost-photographers-lives.html?ito=feeds-newsxml By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 11 May 2012 These are the haunting images that captured the true scale of the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The black and white shots, taken in the weeks following the 1986 Ukraine tragedy, revealed the truth behind the tragedy Soviet
authorities were trying to hush up.
But despite helping the outside world to understand what happened that fateful April 26 day, the pictures have had a devastating human cost.
Of the four photographers chronicling the tragedy, Anatoly Rasskazov and Valery Zufarov have died from radiation-related diseases and Igor Kostin is constantly ill from the exposure. Read more »
3.000 of Chernobyl’s most vulnerable children helped to safety and care
Children of Chernobyl Airlifts 97th Group in Advance of 26th Anniversary http://www.chabad.org/blogs/blog_cdo/aid/1838545/jewish/Children-of-Chernobyl-Airlifts-97th-Group-in-Advance-of-26th-Anniversary.htm, April 25, 2012 By Joshua Runyan One week before the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion that rained down fallout across an entire swath of Eastern Europe, Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl brought 26 more children to safety and medical care in Israel, its 97th rescue mission.
“On this significant anniversary, thousands of children every day are still feeling the tragic consequences of the Chernobyl disaster,” said Nancy Spielberg, founding board member of CCOC, in a statement. “They are facing devastating illnesses from radiation contamination –radiation that will be with us for thousands of years. As we’ve seen from the recent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, the impact from this kind of radioactivity is as devastating today as it was 26 years ago.”
To date, the Chabad-Lubavitch run organization, which was designed to rescue those most vulnerable from the April 26, 1986 meltdown that left thousands of square kilometers uninhabitable, has helped 2,822 children escape the contaminated living conditions surrounding that portion of Ukraine. Most are brought to a sprawling educational and residential complex in the central Israeli village of Kfar Chabad, where they’re provided 
with medical care and social services.
The organization also provides medicine, equipment and other needed items for those who
cannot leave Europe. Spielberg pointed to World Health Organization statistics, which show the rate of thyroid cancer in the contaminated areas surrounding Chernobyl as more than 200 times the world norm.
Belarus’ children – mental, physical, and social effects of Chernobyl nuclear disaster
Figures released by UNICEF in 2010 showed that more than 20% of adolescent children in Belarus suffered from disabilities and chronic illness. Belarus absorbed 70% of Chernobyl’s fallout…..
VIDEOS http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/25/world/iyw-chernobyl-children/?hpt=wo_mid 26 years on: helping Chernobyl’s children, By Katie Walmsley, CNN April 25, 2012 Chernobyl refuses to be relegated to the past. Indeed it may still be devastating the lives of millions who continue to live in the fallout zone. Aside from the potential health hazards of living in an area contaminated with radiation, domino socioeconomic effects have caused multiple problems in these regions.
Chernobyl Children International , or CCI, works to help kids in the region whose lives have been impacted by a disaster that happened years before they were born. Many suffer from physical problems such as congenital heart defects. Many kids have chronic illnesses or disabilities, and many live full time in institutions. Read more »
after 26 years, a start to cover damaged Chernobyl nuclear plant
The 26 April, 1986, explosion spewed a cloud of radiation over the northern hemisphere, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes in Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia.
Work begins on ‘mausoleum’ for worst nuclear disaster, 26 years on, scotsman.com 27 April 2012 TWENTY-SIX years to the day after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, Ukraine yesterday began construction of a vast new metal shelter to contain the stricken Chernobyl reactor.
The 20,000-tonne structure, big enough to enclose the Statue of Liberty, is due to be completed by 2015, allowing the delicate and dangerous job of dismantling the reactor and cleaning vast amounts of radioactive waste still around it to begin.
“The Chernobyl disaster underscored that mankind must be extra careful in using nuclear technologies,” president Viktor Yanukovych said at the commencement ceremony. “Nuclear accidents lead to global consequences. They are not a problem of just one country, they affect the life of entire regions.” Read more »
Cesium 137 and the follies of Chernobyl and Fukushima
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Is Far From Over HUFFINGTON POST, Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies, 22 April 12, ”….It’s been 26 years, since the Chernobyl reactor exploded and caught fire releasing enormous amounts of radioactive debris — seriously contaminating areas over a thousand miles away. Chernobyl revealed the folly of not having an extra barrier of thick concrete and steel surrounding the reactor core that is required for modern plants, in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere. The Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident revealed the folly of operating several nuclear power plants in a high consequence earthquake zone while storing huge amounts of highly radioactive spent fuel in vulnerable pools, high above the ground.
What both accidents have in common is widespread environmental contamination from cesium-137. With a half-life of 30, years, Cs-137 gives off penetrating radiation, as it decays and can remain dangerous for hundreds of years. Once in the environment, it mimics potassium as it accumulates in the food chain. When it enters the human body, about 75 percent lodges in muscle tissue, with, perhaps, the most important muscle being the heart.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alvarez/the-fukushima-nuclear-dis_b_1444146.html
In the world of birds, radiation is more damaging to females
the tertiary sex ratio (here defined as the proportion of males among adults) was skewed towards an excess of males across 48 different bird species. This finding is in accordance with lower adult survival rates in females compared to males previously reported for barn swallows in contaminated areas around Chernobyl …..
Female barn swallows suffer differentially from the mortality costs of radiation, with male adult survival being reduced by 24%, while female survival is reduced by 57% in contaminated areas compared to controls
Elevated Mortality among Birds in Chernobyl as Judged from Skewed Age and Sex Ratios PLoS One 13 April 12, “….Radiation has negative effects on survival of animals including humans, although the generality of this claim is poorly documented under low-dose field conditions.
Because females may suffer disproportionately from the effects of radiation on survival due to differences in sex roles during reproduction, radiation-induced mortality may result in
male-skewed adult sex ratios. Read more »
Massive and costly new cover for Chernobyl nuclear wreck
VIDEO included http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=worlds-largest-movable-structure-seal-chernobyl-reactor Nuclear Cover Up: World’s Largest Movable Structure to Seal the Wrecked Chernobyl Reactor To safely enclose and robotically dismantle the 25-year-old makeshift confinement sarcophagus at Chernobyl, contractors are now erecting a massive steel structure weighing more than 29,000 metric tons Scientific American, By Charles Q. Choi | March 17, 2011 
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine—Imagine a metal arch taller than the Statue of Liberty. Now picture it sliding a distance of roughly three football fields, making it the largest movable structure ever . Under this steel rainbow engineers are planning to entomb the site of the worst nuclear accident in history, the destroyed reactor at the Chernobyl power plant, using robotic cranes to dismantle the ruins and keep its deadly remains from poisoning the rest of the planet. Read more »
Chernobyl, Fukushima teach us that nuclear power is not worth the risk
Nuclear plant risks are not worth it, Green Bay Press Gazette, Mary Tordeur,24 Feb 12, “………Fukushima cannot be considered a small incident that can easily be corrected. It caused a great area to be uninhabitable, as well as a risk to the health of the entire nation’s population for generations to come.
The 1986 Chernobyl disaster caused 6,000-8,000 deaths due to cancer and other radiation-related illnesses, another 15,000 suffering related diseases since 1992, along with 32 deaths from the explosion itself, according to a story in the Press-Gazette story in 1992.
Cleanup costs were estimated to hit $400 billion. It caused a lethal cloud that drifted over Europe, risking the health of millions and contaminating water, livestock, milk, hay and food crops. It left 1,000 square miles highly contaminated and nearly 3 million acres of
agricultural land considered lost for a century. It was estimated there could be 1 million extra cancers worldwide within 70 years of Chernobyl. Read more »
Nuclear terrorism risk for European soccer championships
UN agency tackles potential nuclear threat at European soccer championships UN News Centre 13 Dec 11, 13 December 2011 – When the 2012 European soccer championships kick off in Poland and Ukraine next June, the United Nations atomic energy will be centrefield offering its expertise to guarantee the safety of the tournament’s spectators and participants.
With over one million fans expected to descend on the two countries during the tournament, the Vienna-based UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) will provide first-hand experience in training authorities in Poland and Ukraine to quickly detect, identify, and
deal with a potential atomic threat…..
“We have around 200 events per year in our illicit trafficking database showing that nuclear material can be used for malicious acts,” said Khammar Mrabit, Director of the IAEA’s Office of Nuclear Security, “Therefore we’re trying everything together with the Member
States to prevent and reduce these threats and these
risks.”…http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40712&Cr=nuclear&Cr1=
The lingering nuclear disaster of Chernobyl
the global death toll by 2004 was closer to 1 million and said health effects included birth defects, pregnancy losses, accelerated aging, brain damage, heart, endocrine, kidney, gastrointestinal and lung diseases.The physical and financial legacies of that disaster are obvious: a 30-km uninhabited ring around the Chernobyl plant, billions of dollars spent cleaning the region and a major new effort to drum up 600 million euros ($840 million) in fresh funds that Kiev says is needed to build a more durable casement over the stricken reactor. Read more »
The struggle drags on – for justice for UK’s nuclear test veterans
Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that a group of more than 1,000 veterans’ claims against the Ministry of Defence over illnesses including various cancers and infertility were “statute-barred” because they had been made too late.
“Thousands of people want a court to consider whether their health, and that of their unborn children, was damaged by attending the detonation of nuclear bombs but your government – the latest in a long line of administrations of every political party to do so – is spending millions of taxpayers’ money to deny us this right.
“Your government has enshrined the Military Covenant to honour the sacrifices of all our veterans but we survivors of the nuclear tests are still being denied a fair hearing.”
Christmas Island veterans’ court struggle carries on, Nov 24 2011 by 
Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express A DETERMINED nuclear testing campaigner has written to the Prime Minister in a bid to highlight the plight of 22,000 men who were forced to watch atomic bomb blasts. Thousands of soldiers claim they were used as guinea pigs on Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean, half a century ago as Britain and America carried out a series of nuclear tests.
These include Johnstone man Ken McGinley, 72, who went to Christmas Island as a young sapper with the Royal Engineers and remembers – at the age of just 19 – seeing the bones through his skin as he raised his hands to protect his eyes from the dazzling glare of the test blast. Read more »
Chernobyls’ veteran “liquidators” storm Ukraine’s parliament
Chernobyl veterans seek to storm Ukraine’s parliament Times of Oman Nov 01 2011 Ukraine: About 1,000 Ukrainian veterans of theclean-up from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster tried Tuesday to storm parliament in Kiev in outrage at planned benefit cuts, an AFP correspondent reported.
The demonstrators broke down a metal fence which was built up around the parliament several weeks ago after the first attempt of the Chernobyl “liquidators” and veterans of the Soviet Afghan war to break into the building.
About 100 riot policemen gathered near the parliament entrances to prevent the veterans coming into the chamber itself. The protesters stayed on the square between the parliament and the broken fence and shouted “Shame!”.
In September, lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill cutting back benefits paid to those who helped clean up the April 1986 nuclear disaster and those who still live on the affected lands.
However the protests have meant the parliament has not taken further action. http://www.timesofoman.com/innercat.asp?detail=51553
Ukraine’s new nuclear waste storage facility
The catastrophic level of radiation to Japanese from Fukushima nuclear disaster
In March, 2006, 20 years after the accident, the people whose health had been damaged in Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus numbered 7,000,000.
excerpt from: Fukushima Meltdown: The World’s First Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Disaster[Kindle Edition] Takashi Hirose http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005OD75J2/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20
USA – Ukraine deal on enriched uranium
US and Ukraine sign deal to remove Soviet-era stockpile of bomb-grade uranium, Washington Post, By Associated Press, September 26, NEW YORK — The United States and Ukraine signed a deal Monday to remove the former Soviet country’s stockpile of weapons-grade uranium by early next year.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko represented their nations in signing the agreement to remove the stockpile, which could provide enough material to build several nuclear weapons.
The deal was announced last year at an international nuclear security conference hosted by President Barack Obama but was not formalized until Monday….
1 THIS MONTH
- http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=5755 Mary Olson on how women are more vulnerable to atomic radiation
http://soundcloud.com/flashpoints/flashpoints-daily-newsmag-05-6Fukushima reactor 4 still threatens the world Dr. Micio Kaku
of the week http://www.youtube.com/user/GoddardsJournal
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San Onofre: Bad Vibrations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP7e83MErWw&feature=share - Low-Dose Radiation ☢ NEW A-Bomb Study http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VAncqK6bl0&feature=share
“Pay-to-print”: How Media Corruption Undermines Indian Democracy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbjsQ_dYuJQ&feature=share
- VIDEO http://vimeo.com/35212151 Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated
- and this VIDEO Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Legacy http://www.euronews.com/2010/04/14/kazakhstan-s-nuclear-legacy/
ACTION
USA EMERGENCY PLANNING PETITION NOW OPEN FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS IN FAVOR OF EXPANDING EMERGENCY PLANNING ZONES; IMPROVING REGULATIONS The deadline for public comments is July 16, 2012. You can submit your comments here. more information at http://nuclear-news.net/action/
- Shut down the nuclear restart. Sign now!! http://www.avaaz.org/en/japan_no_to_nuclear_restart_ms/
- Stop Kudankulam - Please sign http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10090 –
EVENTS – USA
- May 31 - Portland, Maine, Bonnie Raitt benefit concert for New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
The Nuclear Industry and WOMEN- theme for May 2012
Although women have rarely been part of decision-making about nuclear power, they have been at the forefront in opposing it.Women in organisations Strongly present in anti-nuclear activities in peace, environmental, religious and civil liberties, women have also formed their own anti-nuclear organisations . e.g. Women’s International League For Peace and Freedom, Women For Peace. Women Against Nuclear Power, Women Against Nuclear Energy,
“When it comes to opposing nuclear power in Finland, the toughest and most active and conspicuous resistance has been among women. A rather small group of women working as teachers, freelance editors, authors and in rather alternative professions. Women who perfectly well are aware of the fact that they are far too radical to be promoted for high posts within traditional parties or getting well-paying jobs in some big companies. Women who are not trying to reach equality on male values. These women have kept the resistance alive, have invited foreign speakers getting through in the mass media, have arranged post-card campaigns aiming at parliamentarians, have written inserts in daily newspapers, have collected signatures from organizations worldwide against nuclear power, etc.
If women had been asked if nuclear power should be used for energy production or if nuclear weapons should be produced there would hardly be any nuclear power stations in the world and no nuclear weapons. Women represent half of humanity. Our voice must be heard! “- Ulla Klötzer WISE – Nuclear issues information service service
Below, a note on some of the courageous women who have stood out against the nuclear forces and apologies for the thousands of such women who are not mentioned here
Dr Helen Caldicott. - Australia and The World. The single most articulate and passionate advocate of citizen action to remedy the nuclear and environmental crises, Dr Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction. Helen Caldicott – About
Jean McSorley. – UK. A prolific writer and activist, Jean McSorley has advised government and environmental organisations, in the UK and abroad, for many years revealing the facts about Sellafield, and other UK nuclear facilities.
Her MajestyQueen Noor ofJordan is an international humanitarian activist and an outspoken voice on issues of world peace and justice. Today Her Majesty Queen Noor plays a major role in promoting international exchange and understanding of Arab and Muslim culture and politics, Arab-Western relations, and conflict prevention. Queen Noor | Global Zero
Ulla Klötzer - Finland. A powerful speaker and writer, Ulla Klötzer continues to oppose uranium mining, nuclear proliferation, and to expose the construction of Finlands reactor, Olkiluto OL 3 – the biggest nuclear reactor in the world.
Satomi Oba –Japan. Another leading voice for non-proliferation and disarmament was Japan’s Satomi Oba, former president of Plutonium Action Hiroshima and chair member of the international non-proliferation movement Abolition 2000. For decades before her untimely death in February 2005, Oba organized grassroots events, spoke to international groups and broke ground for other activists
Dianne Stokes – Australia An Aboriginal elder of the Yapa Yapa clan, which owns land at Muckaty in the Northern Territory, has for years continued the fight against the Australian government’s plan to put a nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land, – resisting enormous pressure from powerful interests and politicians Toxic feelings at proposed nuclear dump – National – smh.com.au
Jean Grossholtz – (USA) Professor emeritus at the Dept. of Women’s Studies, Mt. Holyoke College, Jean helped organize the Women’s Pentagon Action (1980-82) and has long been active in peace and social justice work.
Ellen Diederich –Germany A peace activist for more than three decades, Ellen Diederich is Director of the German-based International Fasia Jansen Women’s Peace Archive, an extensive collection of books, print, audio-visual and artistic resources on women and militarism and women’s action for peace, world-wide, collected over 25 years.
Corazon Valdez Fabros - Philippines A lawyer by profession, Corazon Fabros is Chairperson of the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (the Secretariat of the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement) and Secretary General of the Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition, which led the successful campaign to stop the nuclear power plant projects in the Philippines . Currently Philippine Coordinator of the No Nukes Asia Forum and the International Network on Military Activities and Environmental Justice.
Karen Silkwood remembered In 1974, US anti-nuclear activist Karen Silkwood was killed in a car crash many suspect was deliberately caused by the Kerr McGee nuclear company.Karen Silkwood will be remembered as someone who fought an uphill and often unpopular battle against the ruthless nuclear industry. She is an inspiration to all who believe in environmental justice and workers’ rights BY SHARYN JENKINS. Karen Silkwood remembered | Green Left Weekly
Much of the material here was obtained from Women and Life on Earth: English by Anna Gyorgy, Women & Life on Earth Network coordinator, English website editor. Contact: info(at)wloe.org
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