Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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in the aspect of mitigating the consequences of Chornobyl. Thank
you.
Mr. Smith. Let me ask you, regarding the issue of resettlement
and the individuals who return to areas that are ill-affected. As far
as we know, what are the risks to them in going back prematurely?
From an agricultural point of view, and raising livestock, how do
both of your governments fence off certain areas so that people do
not return, begin growing certain crops, and then begin exporting
them or consuming them themselves?
Amb. Martynov. Well, there is what is called an exclusion zone,
which is fenced off, and is off-limits to anyone.
The Belarus Grovernment has already resettled 130,000 people,
and I understand this is the biggest resettlement pool, so to say,
in the area of Chornobyl. But we have found serious problems in
resettlement programs. First, the resources which are needed are
very large. Secondly, the people who were resettled continue to be
unhappy, because they were uprooted, they were brought to a different
environment, they have lost their old ties. They don't feel
comfortable in this situation, and the social problems which we are
facing in the new settlements are very high.
So some people choose to go back to their old places, where they
used to live; and the government does not have an enforcement
mechanism for stopping them from going to places, other than exclusion
zones. The government tries to dissuade them from doing
that, but we cannot force them to leave these areas. Basically, the
resettlement programs were for volunteers.
We find, now, ourselves in a situation where more and more people
would like to stay where they are, to live with their roots. That
increases the necessity to have technologies and possibilities to provide
them with safe foods, to provide them with means to grow safe
foods in a contaminated environment. So this is another aspect
which is very important, because what people do now, in these
areas, they consume the foods they grow.
This is the most dangerous aspect of the whole situation, when
radionuclides are getting inside through the stomach. So these are
the whole sets of problems which we have to face.
Mr. Smith. Are you beginning to see some cancers attributable
to that, or?
Amb. Martynov. Excuse me?
Mr. Smith. Are people getting sick as a result of eating foods
that have been grown?
Amb. Martynov. Absolutely. Yes.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Ambassador, on the resettlement issue, are people
moving back to contaminated areas, and how do you
Amb. Shcherbak. I met those people, you know, in special contaminated
zones. It's not a large number, but maybe 100, 200 people
now live in this very contaminated zone. Practically, they're
very old people, and they don't want to resettle to another region
of Ukraine.
But let me give you some numbers. That, for the population evacuated
from the zone, about 21,000 houses were built, and 15,000
new apartments provided, Mr. Chairman, without any foreign aid,
absolutely only at Ukrainian, you know, for Ukrainian cost.