Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

days, so they left nearly everything behind. They never returned. Soviet
authorities made the decision not to cancel May 1, May Day, outdoor
parades in the region four days later.
The graphite fire continued to burn for nearly two weeks carrying
radioactivity high into the atmosphere, until it was smothered by sand,
lead, dolomite, and boron dropped from helicopters. Despite the wide
spread of radiation, Soviet officials at first said very little publicly
about what happened at Chernobyl. It was not until alarms from radiation
detectors in other countries, many hundreds of miles away, forced the
Soviets to admit to the Chernobyl accident.
Radioactive material was dispersed over 60,000 square miles of Ukraine,
Belarus, and Russia. Smaller amounts of radioactive material were
detected over Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia and even the United
States. The accident has left some nearby towns uninhabitable to this
day.
Radioactivity forced Soviet officials to create a 30-kilometer-wide nohabitation
zone around Chernobyl, sealing off Pripyat. Still, the power
plant continued to generate electricity until it was finally shut down in
December, 2000.
During the first year after the accident, about 25,000 people, mainly
Soviet Army troops, were dispatched to the site to clean up the accident.
Thousands of workers, called liquidators, were employed during the
following years of the cleanup.
Around October, 1986 the construction of a 21 story high metal and
concrete shelter was completed, enclosing the reactor and the radioactive
material that remained. Almost 200 tonnes of melted nuclear fuel rods
remain within the damaged reactor. This containment shelter was not
intended to be a permanent solution for containing the radioactive
material. Over time, the shelter has weakened; rain entering through
holes and cracks has caused corroding.
By 2006 the plans for a new shelter was about 7 years behind schedule,
with a completion target date of no sooner than 2012. In February of 2011
it was reported that construction of the shelter may have to be halted,
due to a $1 billion dollar short fall in the funds needed to complete the
structure.
A United Nations report released in February 2011 estimates the disaster
caused thyroid cancer in 7,000 children in the affected area. The report
said despite the high rate of cancer, only 15 fatalities in these 7,000
cases have occurred.
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