Testimony Report

Since the very beginning of its existence, Greenpeace has campaigned to unveil the "Atoms for Peace" myth. Ten years after the Chernobyl accident, it has become even more apparent that ever that nuclear power is an ultimate problem, rather than the ultimate solution.

In this report we offer first hand accounts by those who experienced the Chernobyl disaster and now live with the consequences -- evacuation from their homes, poverty, ill health and the death of loved ones. This report is not intended as a scientific account of the accident, but as a testimony to the fact that Chernobyl is an on-going human tragedy.

Nuclear power is a deadly legacy from the past. This report is a stark reminder of the real price humanity has to pay for nuclear technology. Greenpeace believes that now is the time to build a future based on realistic, safe and sustainable technology that does not carry the environmental and financial costs associated with nuclear energy. Greenpeace is promoting a "New Energy Deal", encompassing the concepts of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

The technologies to implement those concepts exist already they do not have to be invented, they are ready -, they use new materials, lightweight metals, microcomputers, silicon film, arrays of semi-conductors and new electric filament; they run on wind, sunlight, ocean waves and organic gas. These energy sources are sustainable because they do not "run out", and they do not pass on a legacy of environmental pollution and devastation to future generations.

Now is the time to stop all further developments in the nuclear industry, and now is the time to start to implement the "New Energy Deal".

Introduction

Over the past decade statistics have been gathered which, although classified in the first few years after the accident, now show the extent of the disaster. In this report we focus on the situation in Ukraine. The picture, however, is similar in Belarus and the worst affected areas of Russia.

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According to data from the Ministry of Statistic of Ukraine, 17,223,700 people lived in the territories contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. Some 12 oblasts (regions) were affected including 2,095 settlements. These are classified into four zones according to the extent of radioactive contamination.

Although everyone was to have been evacuated from the 30 kilometre exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl plant, 556 people still live there. They have either returned from the evacuation regions or, for some reason, were not evacuated at the time. In the second zone, areas with the highest levels of contamination, inhabitants are guaranteed the right of evacuation. However 11,124 people are still living there in 69 settlements. The third zone includes 810 human settlements with 477,886 people.

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A large number of people live in areas classified as part of zone four, bringing the total number of people still living on land contaminated with radiation to 2,280,777. Overall, 3,048,318 citizens of Ukraine bear the status of the Chernobyl disaster victim, including 644,249 children and teenagers. Around 4,000 of Ukrainian families have lost their breadwinners through death or ill health due to the Chernobyl disaster. These include 400 families in the city of Kiev, 615 families in Kiev oblast, 267 in Zitomir oblast, 248 in Kharkov oblast, 206 in Donetsk oblast, and 206 in Dnepropetrovsk oblast.

These are the official figures but many believe the reality is much worse because these data do not include the 3 million people living in the capital of Kiev, which is less than 100 kilometres away from Chernobyl. Residents of Kiev were exposed to fallout from the accident including radioactive iodine. According to research conducted at the Nuclear Research Institute and the Geology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev should have been classified as part of the third zone. The City Council and the Administration of the city have several times drawn the issue to the attention of the highest levels of the government, but to no avail. It would have increased by almost 4 million the number of official victims and those to be evacuated.

There has been a steady deterioration in the health of Ukraine's population since 1986 with rising death rates and falling birth rates so that now there is negative population growth. While some of this may be attributed to the economic crisis which has swept the region following the collapse of the USSR, statistic show that the health problems are much more severe in the contaminated territories. These areas have seen the sharpest increases in cardiovascular disease, nervous system disorders and blood diseases as well as an increased incidence of cancer and widespread immune depression. Ukraine's doctors are aware of these developments but lack the resources to investigate them more thoroughly.

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Testimonies from Pripyat

At the time of the accident some 5,000 workers from the Chernobyl plant and their families were living in the town of Pripyat close by. The town was evacuated the next morning when radiation levels became dangerously high, but many of the workers stayed on to help with the clean up operations.

Vika Troschuk is a widow. Her husband, Volodymyr, was a driver who transported the military to and from dangerous sites during the Chernobyl clean-up.

My husband was woken by an alarm on the night of 26 April 1986. He came home the next evening. He was one of the drivers for the military motorcade which responded to the accident when the alarm was first raised. Both trucks and drivers had to wait for some time in the "auburn forest" but their dosimeters were broken so no-one knew what radiation doses they had received. During the rest of that year Volodymyr went to the zone several times and his total working period was 152 hours. In 1987 he suddenly lost his consciousness while driving the car and caused an accident. But Volodymyr was an experienced driver who had been worked for a long time in the north without any such problems. I don't think it was coincidence.

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After that his health deteriorated and he spent a long time queuing at hospitals where no examination or medical treatment was available. In 1990 his health abruptly worsened. He spent six months in hospital having tests. He was diagnosed as suffering from nervous system deterioration caused by radiation and was registered as a second-level disabled person.

In the autumn of 1994, he got worse. An examination in the Kiev-based radiological centre in Sviatoshyno found that his liver was inflamed. But there were no medicines to treat him and he was sent home. He went to the district clinics complaining of pains in his spine and was transferred to a Crimean sanatorium in Yevpatoria. But he came home even sicker. In March 1995 the Chernobyl liquidators hospital diagnosed secondary cancer of the liver and spinal column. The doctors continued to look for the primary cancer but could not find it and he died in May.

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I am 49 and unemployed. At my age it is difficult - almost impossible -- to find a job in the present situation. Chernobyl public organisations allocated 7 million karbovantsi and two pensions to pay for his funeral. That is all. The state that killed my husband does not see the need to support my family. So survive if you can.

Now Chernobyl has begun to cast its shadow over the life of my son, Ihor. In 1988-1989 period he was on military service in Kovpyty in the Chernohiv region, an area highly contaminated as a result of Chernobyl. Now, like my husband, he is seriously ill. He is fading before my eyes and he does not even have the status of a Chernobyl victim. How can I, poor and stripped of everything, help my son? Chernobyl took everything I had. We are now living like a piece of useless garbage on a human rubbish dump.

Vasiliy Osipovich Kotetsky was on guard duty at the Chernobyl plant the night of the accident. He is now certified as a Liquidator of the Chernobyl accident (1986) and holds Certificate (1st grade) No.003833, Series A.

The night of the explosion I was on duty with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant guard platoon. I can still remember how people struggled with the invisible monster that had been let loose. My family was evacuated from Pripyat, but we remained on duty until we were replaced.

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I begun to have health problems in the first few years, but I attributed them to the first hard months of adapting to a new environment, to family problems, to problems of employment and residence, and other causes. But over the past three years it has become worse although I do not smoke or drink excessive alcohol. Both my wife and myself are now certified as Level 3 disabled persons. My children (my son aged 16 and my daughter aged nine also have some health problems associated with the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. We are a typical Pripyat family of liquidators.

They have written a lot of printed matter about the huge amount of support and funds which has been spent on health protection for the victims of radiation exposure. But I have yet to see any of it. Maybe, the funds are spent some other way. Maybe the efforts of medical professionals are directed wrongly. Who am I to judge?

There is no rehabilitation and treatment centre for the Chernobyl victims in western Ukraine. District doctors send us to different hospitals or to narrowly specialised medical departments. But our complicated medical problems need complex medical treatment. I do not remember a single day in the past two years, when I have felt well. What can I do when my medical card repeatedly confirms: 2nd grade encephalopathy, dolichostigma, gastritis, cholecystitis, chronic prostatitis, haemorrhoids, functional troubles of left heart ventricle and other "minor" conditions? What can I do when my wife and I often have to massage the legs of our daughter while she groans in pain trying not to wake her brother or the neighbours? And then she goes to school next morning feeling tired. But there is still no explanation or diagnosis.

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They receive us at the medical facilities but often do not register our visits. Several times a year we are sent to the therapy department, the neurological department, to urology, or to surgery. But it is all a mere formality and does not really help us.

It is difficult to get a sanatorium voucher. We have to visit a lot of officials and the state regulations on voucher distribution and compensation is amended every year. It takes a lot of time, effort and energy which is not worthwhile in terms of the medical treatment we receive of the improvement in our health. And it all costs so much. Where on Earth are these free drugs? The system for distributing compensation and payments to Chernobyl victims causes more problems than it solves. I receive no premium payments (no matter how hard I work), my wages are being reduced, my professional career is under threat. There is growing pressure to ease me out -- ny post no longer appears in the staff list. inhibited, I often feel clear pressure to squeeze me out of the staff.

The system in operation is bureaucratic and an affront to human dignity. It is humiliating to show my certificates to everyone, to produce multiple copies of documents, to bow to every mandarin, when your rights are guaranteed by the law. We still have no land, although it was promised years ago by local state officials. Our housing is not improving. We cannot start a business enterprise of our own, even though we are under 40. We want to live to see our children make their own lives. We would like to give them a little happiness. This is the main purpose of our lives now. The most substantial and the most tangible assistance we receive is from the German charity organisation, "Help for Ukraine" in Munich. I can say without exaggeration, that without their assistance we'd never be able to make ends meet in our family budgets. We are sincerely grateful to them for their assistance.

Eugenia Dudarova, aged 13, was evacuated from Pripyat, like her best friend, Olga, who later developed cancer.

I was friends with Olya from our early childhood, as far back as I can remember, because our parents were friendly. We were more than sisters -- we were inseparable. We entered school together, studied in the same musical classes, spent our spare time together, and had similar hobbies.

In the spring Olga felt worse and doctors found that she had sarcoma - a deadly tumour. Almost immediately they had carried out surgery and she felt better for several days. But then the unbearable pain begun again. Olga was very upset that she could not play piano for long. We had a dream to study in the conservatory after finishing school. You cannot imagine how determined she was to overcome her disease but she was soon in hospital again.

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Olga legs became paralysed, and shortly after that her arms too. My mother told me that my friend would die soon. I could not believe it. Olya was happy when I visited her in the hospital, sat near her bed and stroked her back, where the tumour was located. She felt a little better after that. She suffered from terrible pain and cried almost all the time. She prayed for help but we could not help her. Doctors refused to give her morphine, saying they were short of the drug and could not use it all for one dying person. One of the doctors brutally told us to take the child to die at home.

She lay with her teeth clenched, moaning quietly. Olya was almost quiet during the last days of her life: anything, even sounds, caused her terrific pain. But I still did not believe she would die. I dreamt that one sunny day a miracle would happen and we would run home hand in hand away from this awful hospital. But there was no miracle and my friend's agony continued. She was conscious till the last moment. Olya knew she is dying she only wanted to die faster to escape the terrible pain. At the same time she had strong desire to live and worried about how I would manage without her.

I do not know how to live without her now. I know that I could never find another such friend. I have lost half of my life, half of myself, half of the world. Why did adults create such a disaster? We did nothing wrong. I and my friend were only three years old when they the reactor exploded. I wander if I face the same fate?

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Alexander Motornov*, aged 47, was a bus driver at the time of the accident and then became a clean-up worker.

I began my work here a few years before the accident and from the first day I became a liquidator. Almost immediately after the accident we began to use "armoured carriers" -- ordinary buses produced by Lvov bus plant, but equipped with lead armour sealed doors and a specially design of passenger section. Air to the buses was supplied through air conditioners with filters. We used these vehicles till October 1986 and then we switched to other armour-free vehicles. I can say from first-hand experience that there was no proper decontamination of people and no dose control. Most of us knew how it should be done -- all of us had served in the Armed Forces and had attended civil defence courses. I also worked in the fire emergency unit, which was first on the scene at the reactor fire and we also studied these things. I know how measurements should be conducted and in 1986 nobody completed record cards of personnel irradiation or carried out personnel dose control. The doses were invented and calculated according to some unknown method. I understand there were definite guidelines from Moscow that the real doses should be concealed.

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It was like a thriller. Just before the accident I had a party for my eldest son who was about to enter the Armed Forces. Then in the night I heard the loud noise which shook the windows. Nobody paid attention to this until the next morning when my neighbour asked me if I had heard the atomic explosion. We could not believe the reactor had exploded. I went to the next room to look through the window and could not believe my eyes. The fourth unit lay in debris, emitting light and sending smoke high into the sky. I told my youngest son to stay at home and ran to my wife's workplace to tell her to be careful. Then I tried to find my eldest son.

It was a terrible picture in Pripyat that day. People walked in the streets, and children played in the gardens. Nobody acted according to the guidelines for such situations. Even Pripyat market was open, although the market place was in a direct line with the burning reactor. Radiation is still heavy at that place near the bridge, so what was it 10 years ago? Absolutely nobody controlled either background radiation, or population dose loads in these first days, when people faced the heaviest exposure. People were not told what was happening or how to tackle the situation. Later even the dose counters they supplied were out of order.

We drivers were special and of course they underestimated our doses. We had no place to wash and our vehicles were not treated. In October I changed my "armoured carrier" and measured radiation in the driver's compartment and passenger section. It was very high, especially in the passenger section. This was no surprise because the vehicle was not cleaned or the filters replaced. I wander, what levels might have been if I'd never cleaned the vehicle myself? These same buses were used again in the zone later with the lead armour removed.

The Liquidators

Following the Chernobyl accident some 800,000 volunteers military and civilian -- were drafted in from all over the USSR to help with the clean-up work. Many of them received extremely high doses of radiation which affected their health.

Galina Maximivna Krukova, from Mageriv village in the Zhovkivsky district of Lvov, lost her husband after he was sent to Chernobyl to repair buses.

Whenever I think of Chernobyl, my heart begins to ache, because this tragedy became a personal tragedy of our family. We lived in Galichina, several hundred kilometres from Polissya. At the time of the accident I and my husband Alexander (Oles) Grigorovich Kryukov, born 1958, worked at the Lvov Bus Plant. I was an electric vehicle driver. My husband was also a driver and he tested buses. He was one of the most skilled workers there and maybe that is why he was always given the most responsible tasks. In February, 1987 Oles was sent to the zone as the head of a maintenance team to repair buses made in Lvov which were being used there. I remember how we gave all our spare money to funds for Chernobyl, how we worked additional shifts, how we donated blood. We did all these things to help to overcome the disaster. The best vehicles were supplied to the zone, because we understood it was a terrible disaster and we wanted to help as much as possible. I remember how we got our men ready for the voyage, how proud they were to be chosen. I was proud that my Oles was appointed as head of the team.

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Oles had returned home several weeks later. He proudly drove his bus to the yard and washed it near the well. We still take drinking water from that well. It was October 1988 when our troubles begun. Little Oles was born disabled, his right arm was paralysed and atrophied, his right leg has limited mobility. After that other diseases were diagnosed cerebral palsy, right side hemiparesis, epilepsy, lymphodemopathy, abnormally developed bile duct, amblyopia of both eyes, thyroid gland hyperplasia, adenoid problems, chronic tonsillitis as well as an enlarged liver and spleen. It might be easier to list the diseases he did not suffer from.

My husband seemed to go crazy after that fatal voyage. He became another person, and he rejected his home. I do not know the reason: either it was the effects of the radiation or the fact that his son was born disabled, or both. Anyway, he left us. He left me with two sons (I have an older sone from a previous marriage). He could not find a place of his own, he could not find peace of mind and shelter. My precious Oles lost everything, his health and his will to live. When he decided to return, it was too late. He became seriously ill and then he had died from heart attack (16 May 1993). He died alone like a hunted animal. Like his son he also developed thyroid hyperplasia. That summer, after a medical examination, my eldest son was also registered as a disabled person (Grade 3) as a result of a duodenal ulcer and mild cardiosclerosis. He was 18.

Other men who were in the Chernobyl team also became ill. None of them lives normally now. But can you find any family in Galichina or elsewhere in Ukraine that lives normally? Sorrow overflowed in our land. I have seen a lot as I struggled for life of little Oles. We have seen many different people, both good and bad. But generally the good outnumber the bad. The trade union of Lvov bus plant assists us a lot, even though they have their own problems. They have helped us with finance and with free vouchers for the sanatorium. Various Chernobyl-related organisations have also helped such as Children of Chernobyl and the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine. Humanitarian assistance from Germany helped us a lot: we received clothing, food, and household items. So, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude for this assistance, especially to the residents of Munich and Glen who sent us parcels.

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So, with all this help we have seen little Oles slowly improve. He has entered the school this year. It is very important for us, that he is not confined to his bed, that he goes to school himself and tries to do all the things healthy children do. But I do not know how we will survive this winter. The pensions and compensation is not even enough to buy bread. The prices of bread and medicines are rising. Although there are free prescriptions for Chernobylvictims the drugs are just not available unless we pay for them. Gas bills are so high, that we think twice before cooking something for children, not to mention the heating. Last winter we survived on what we grew in the garden, but there were practically no crops this year. Sometimes at night, when everyone is asleep, I want to open a gas valve and to finish all this. I do not know how other people feel, but we, the Chernobyl people, feel a new disaster is approaching. I hope to God I am wrong!

Yury Zilliuk is a journalist, who participated in the Chernobyl-clean-up operations. He was one of the retired servicemen, so-called "partisans", mobilised by the Soviet Defence Ministry for Chernobyl-related operations in addition to the professional military men assigned to the task.

I came to Chernobyl through military registration and enlistment office. In 1986 I was working on the editorial board of Komsomolets Kirgiziyi newspaper. As for my military qualification, I am commander in the radiation and chemical reconnaissance section. Along with millions of Soviet people, I felt that Chernobyl had been shaken by an awful disaster. I wanted to help my people and the state to cope with the accident. I remember well the queues of volunteers like me at the enlistment offices. Medical commissions carefully selected candidates rejecting those in poor health. Not every volunteer had altruistic motives -- some people just wanted to earn some money knowing they would be paid well in Chernobyl.

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I was drafted. At the start our unit found itself in Belarus Polesie region on the frontier with Ukraine where we investigated the extent of radioactive contamination. Many of us were not satisfied with this and sent reports to our military commanders asking them to redeploy us to Chernobyl. In about a month, our persistent pleas were heeded and we moved to the zone.

Chernobyl was like a city on the front line. There were military men everywhere. But there were also civilians as well and the premises of a former school served as a barrack. From that day everything changed. In the morning we were loaded into vehicles and headed for Chernobyl. Sitting in the middle of on the wooden bench, I was looked at the outskirts of the plant through a hole in the tarpaulin. I remember crossing the plant site. In the background of the morning sky was an immense red sun. Soon our truck stopped near the third power block. We put on respirators and entered into the plant in ranks. Our task was to clean up the garbage on the roof of the third reactor -- the debris from the destroyed fourth reactor. We passed through several rooms and reached a big ventilation room. Dosimetrists came in at once and measured the radiation levels. The radiation level inside was relatively low but it became quite intense in those compartments near to the fourth block.

We passed long hours waiting in that room. Everyone was anxious and was trying to guess what lay ahead. At lunch time we were taken to the canteen in the plant area. It was completely packed with servicemen. Only then did we realise the hectic pace of the clean-up operations.

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After lunch, we were drawn in ranks and split into groups of two. I went upstairs with the first squad went to the upper floor of the third block to help collect garbage, or to be more exact, fragments of the fourth reactor.

Rudoy and I were supposed to prepare our workmates' protective clothing -- the lead-plated apron and other items. That process took about 15 minutes because it was a makeshift, improvised system. We were then given instructions about what to pick up and where to put it. This included fragments of the building , metal plates, pieces of graphite from the reactor and fuel assembly fragments. These small, dark fragments of highly radioactive fuel, which were hard to see among the other rubbish, posed the greatest danger to the workers. Anyone who stepped on a piece , even in his rubber boots, developed a radiation burn the next morning.

Before climbing onto the roof, each member of the squad received two dosimeters: the first to put into his boots and the second into a breast pocket. The roof cleanup operation was directed through loud speakers. Several groups went up the first day. When we were back in barracks, I asked my friends while they were dressing what radiation levels their dosimeters had shown on the roof. Few had time to take even a quick look at the dosimeters which had been taken away soon after the work started. One person who did look at them had never seen one before and didn't know how to read it. Everything was done in a rush. The aim was to take off the clothing as quickly as possible and to hand over to the next group.

My turn came next morning at 10 o'clock. As I passed through the garret, there was an unpleasant smell of burned electric wiring. On reaching the roof, we quickly found our work tools -- regular shovels. We picked up pieces of the fourth reactor and put them into a container on the roof. The really urgent task was to collect the most dangerous fragments containing the reactor fuel. Holding a shovel in lead-plated gloves was awkward as we tried to pull off pieces of the small fuel tubes which were stuck to the roof. All we could do in the five-minute roof period was to scrape off a shovel full and run to the container with it. The overriding feeling was a desire to complete the programme and clean up the dangerous debris as soon as possible, whatever the cost. As I stepped down from the roof, I was surprised to realise that I had not raised my head once while working on the roof. I took a quick look at the dosimeter in my breast pocket. It showed 28 roentgen per hour. After a short cigarette break we found ourselves back on the roof repeating the operation to remove more fuel cartridges. By the end of the shift, all the groups had done their stint on the roof.

In the evening we gathered to hear thanks expressed by the colonel who had headed the clean-up work. He said radiation levels were decreasing. Someone asked him about the doses we had received. He was adamant that we had not received more than the permissible dose for such work of 25 roentgen per hour. That was an utter lie. My personal dosimeter registered 28 roentgen after the first shift and 39 after the second. So the overall dose for 10 minutes of work was at least 67 roentgen per hour. Despite that, all the official documents said 25 roentgen per hour.

In addition to cleaning the roof, we took part in other scientific experiments. Before our shift, a group of military physicians came to us saying they were testing a new antiradiation medicine. The first soldier in each of group of two was given a white tablet, and the other a red one.

Those who took red tablets felt much worse than the others. After our work was completed, we had to stay for eight more days for medical examinations. We paid too great a price for just 10 days in Chernobyl and 10 minutes on the roof where the radiation levels were measured in hundreds of roentgen. It was only later, as we queued up to see doctors, that we really understood the experiment we had been part of, like white mice. We should have had special protective clothing and not home made overalls. On returning to our normal lives we found we had been cheated -- not only over the amount of radiation we had received but also in the wages we were paid. Almost all "partisans" who were temporarily enrolled in military units, were supposed to get bonuses but none of them did.

Anton Antonovich Vulchin, a lieutenant colonel from Lvov, was formerly a commander of military unit 96 6 31 in the Pricarpatsky military district. He took part in the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident from 17 May to 20 November 1989 and now holds a 1st grade certificate series A, No. 003812.

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Our military unit was located within the exclusion zone, in the forest, in Strakholesie village (Chernobyl region). My unit worked in Pripyat (near the 4th reactor unit), in Chernobyl, in Zalesie township, and in Slavutich. Men in the unit were enlisted by different Russian military commissariats. Most of them came from the Central Asian republics. The majority of them were 30 to 45 years old with previous court records and with one child or no children, or they were men over 45. But according to the guidelines of Soviet Defence Ministry, men of 30 with a single child or no children and men over 45 were banned from working in the Chernobyl zone or working as a liquidator. I had to demobilise all these men and send them back to their military commissariats. The military commissars either did not know the guidelines or ignored them, being more interested in fulfilling targets.

Protective wear for the personnel (including me) comprised our ordinary military uniform, little dose- meters (we called them "three-pills"), white cloth face respirators and that was all. Once a month we replaced the dose-meters for new ones, but they did not tell us what doses of radiation had been received by people operating in different sites. I tried on my own initiative to clarify the situation in different centres outside Chernobyl, but I was not able to obtain clear quantitative answers on the doses received by my personnel (including myself as unit commander). They took their meals at the Zeleny Mis facility and in Chernobyl. I think that the nutrition was inadequate. They supplied us with mineral drinking water produced not in a clean regions but in Kiev oblast. And anyway it was not enough.

According to medical criteria some of my subordinates should not have been permitted to operate in the Chernobyl zone, but it was virtually impossible for me to replace them through the military commissariats. I still have the guidelines issued by the Central Medical Board of the Defence Ministry. I had all the conditions which the guidelines defined as prohibited for a liquidator at Chernobyl. But I understood that orders were to be obeyed and that it was my duty. As a result I am now a 2nd grade disabled person. It is seven years since I worked at Chernobyl but I am still ill. I virtually live in the polyclinic.

I have permanent headaches (upper, frontal and back), and these are especially painful in the summer. I suffer from frequent dizziness and I often become unconscious for a short time. My movements often become uncoordinated and I often fall down as if I have had half a litre of vodka. My thyroid gland is enlarged, both my eyes suffer have cataracts, my blood pressure is constantly about 180/120 or above, I have heart pains, my pancreas is not functioning properly and I have developed diabetes. I have had surgery for bile extraction. Sometimes my legs seem out of control and I have acute pains in my ankles. Any movement results in acute pains in my joints.

The state is not bothered about my treatment, or that of my fellow liquidators. There are no medical examinations. We have none of the drugs we need. They are available only in commercial drugstores. We cannot get them free because they are just not available in the state drug- stores. In Lvov nobody cares about the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident, neither the officials from oblast public health facilities, nor those from the military polyclinics. In some state facilities, where we went to ask for help, the officials told us bluntly that we had not been sent there and should not have gone because then we would not have had any health problems and would not have been asking for help.

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Sanatorium health rehabilitation for the liquidators is far from good. They refuse to give us sanatorium vouchers in the district and oblast military commissariats. They say there are no vouchers. The laws of Ukraine change so very quickly that it is impossible to keep up with them. This is how they care for us. The state can take my car, or any of the other real incentives we still have, but only in exchange for the health I have lost. I will make that exchange immediately. We were in demand from 1986 to 1989 when they needed us to save Ukraine from the invisible enemy of radiation. They promised to look after us for the rest of our lives. But now they do not need us -- either the government or the Defence Ministry. They have forgotten everything.

But they would do well to remember the nuclear monster of Ukraine because if such a disaster, God forbid, were to happen again, nobody would believe any of the promises made by the state. And we will be first to say never believe anyone because your health will be of no interest to the state. They will pass some laws, they will make promises, but the bureaucrats will destroy all these. These mandarins have never been exposed to radiation; they will never lift a finger to help liquidate the consequences themselves; their children and relatives will not do it. If there is another accident they will want us again -- the people, who can be so easily deceived. But, never again! Never! Nobody will deceive us a second time.

They cannot take everything from us -- the tears in my eyes, the pain in my heart. I am ashamed of our country, our Ukraine. We are dying, there are less and less of us, the Chernobyl disaster liquidators. Medicine cannot save us. But we are humiliated and treated like beggars.

The Evacuees

Martinovichi residents were mainly evacuated to Poltava oblast, where a new village was built for them (New Martinovichi) to begin a new life. They were among the more fortunate. New Martinovichi is built on suitable land and the houses are relatively solid. Even so, integration of refugees into the new district is not easy. The region is new to them. It has a different climate, different agriculture and different traditions and customs. The settlers were offered no psychological support. About 1,000 people live now in New Martinovichi which so far has 450 of the planned 522 households. These include 240 young people and 130 children.

Andrei, now an old man, misses his old home and finds it hard to adapt.

We miss Polissya, our home. Here there is nothing but steppe, flat as a table. There is no river, no lake, no stream. We live here open to the wind that howls at our windows. There were two rivers - Uz and Bigucha near Martinovichi village where we lived -- beautiful places. Our villagers have been trying to adapt here for three years. For my family and I it is the first year. We were resettled as the houses were finished. I came here first and my wife and children joined me later. They stayed behind to gather in our last harvest in Martinovichi to ensure we could survive the first winter here. There are now 400 new houses here, and almost all the villages have resettled. In Martinovichi we all have jobs on the state farm and here we joined the collective farm [as well as New Martinovichi, this includes three more villages: Gurdintsi, Kroti, Davidovka]. It is one of the poorest collective farms in the region, and the region is the poorest in Poltava oblast.

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The elderly like me are relatively fortunate because with our pensions we can at least buy bread. Everything else we get from the land. Young people find it harder. There are no jobs. But most of our young people have professional as drivers or machine operators. Now they work when they can. Others have to depend on their parents' pensions. Even those in work have not been paid for three months. Our old state farm specialised in cattle. This collective farm also breeds cattle, but it is not profitable and fodder is short. Our private cattle face the same problem: we have nothing to feed them. We collect what we can find nearby, but this is nothing.

I have five dependents and two daughters, who are married and live in Pereyaslav. They also need assistance, urban life is far from wealthy now. It is difficult to get one cow, let alone a bull. The state was never very generous with our wages but we managed to breed cattle and sell them for meat. This gave us some profits. In Polissya there were places to herd cattle - forests and wetlands. Here there is nothing, so not so many people have cattle. But wee will manage. There sill be gardens in 10 years and we'll have everything we need. We are used to work.

Generally the village is comfortable with two shops, the kindergarten and the school. We have no hospital yet, but there is a first-aid station. Sometimes doctors from the central medical facility visit us to carry out routine medical examinations. We are all liquidators and other Chernobyl victims. There have been three such visits while I have lived here.

Natalia works in the kindergarten at New Martinovichi.

We are afraid to have children, but it is impossible to be without them. A woman without children is not really a woman. Who would give you a glass of water in your old age, who would close your eyes after your death? So the Polissya women have children anyway and bring them up as well as we can under the circumstances. Despite the difficulties we manage to employ 12 people in the kindergarten. They do not withhold money from children even in very hard times. It is easier because our children, because of their special status, receive central budget assistance. Besides this, parents do what they can and give everything possible to their children.

Maxim, another resettler, has done the best he can in his new home. He remembers the confusion surrounding the evacuation.

I have managed to establish a real farm here: we have chickens, turkeys cocks, geese, pigs, and a cow. I had to do a lot of building and bought the construction materials from the old site. They say that radiation levels are high here, higher than in the zone in some places.

The evacuation of Martinovichi was a real tale. First, they wanted to evacuate all of us. Residents of nearby Rudnya, Vovchi Lis and Kliviny were evacuated overnight, taking only what they could carry. We were apparently safe, so we were left and they began to provide us with a proper water supply and gas mains. They brought water to every yard. They constructed the new school, a club with 300 seats and a shop. Now all this is looted and stolen. The village had 700 households and a lot of state money was invested. Young people here have no place to gather together, there is no club. In the evenings they stay at home. They have promised us a twofloor hospital here but so far haven't constructed the first floor. People here are frequently sick, it is natural, they were evacuated from the Chernobyl area. We have consumed less contaminated food than others but still we have eaten a lot. But if the radiation has not beaten us yet, we have nothing to fear. But our souls cry, when we remember Polissya. It is as if our roots were cut.

Natalia, the medical assistant at the first aid facility, explains that they are working under battlefield conditions with no proper facilities or supplies.

Our first aid facility has been operating for three years. We have no water or anything else. We examine patients in several rooms, and live in one of them - two people work here (I live here with my family, my fellow doctor lives at her relatives). Conditions become harder every day. We are limited to 6m karbovanets ($33) for this quarter for medicines. We have six bandages. Our ambulance is an ambulance in name only because they have allocated only 20 litres of fuel per month. This is enough to make two trips to Piryatin. So we use it only for extreme cases.

There are a lot of sick people here, because all of them are from Chernobyl, their health is substantially compromised. In the past three years doctors from the central hospital have visited us 10 times. But people do not attend these sessions or visit the health protection centres. They do not trust medicine because it is no use. If a doctor gives a Chernobyl patient a prescription, he takes it to the Piryatin pharmacy. But they do not give anything for these free prescriptions. Either they really have no drugs, or simply do not want to.

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Children are weak here, they are often sick because of their depressed immune systems. One child has died. I have ten infants and seven pregnant women on the register. When we lived in the zone, the situation was better, control was better, we had a better drug supply, we were able to call Kiev in complex cases, we could get consultations, we could send patients elsewhere. There it was the programme for children's health improvement and we were supplied with holiday vouchers. Here we have nothing. Besides, people are busy now. The have to do their own building. They have no jobs, or money for holidays. What can we do with this million, ($5.5) they have allocated annually for health improvement? Either they think we are complete fools, or they are insulting us. In addition they have stopped compensation this year.

We hope very much that they will construct a new hospital here. We must provide proper medical care to this settlement.

Recently cases of sudden death became more frequent here. People with no apparent sickness who never attend the medical facility, suddenly die, and not just the elderly but middleaged and young people. In total 54 people have died here in less than three years.

I'd like very much to work normally, without having to ask for help. I almost have to beg for everything. I do not ask for anything for myself but for the people who have lost their health due to the Chernobyl, who paid with their lives for the disaster. I'd like the country I work in, to be a little more generous to its hard-working people.

Inside the Zone

Almost from the very beginning people began to reappear inside the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exclusion zone (30 km zone around the power plant). Governmental officials, responsible for the zone, have labelled them self-settlers (samosel in Ukrainian). Their reasons for staying or returning vary but generally testify to a failure of the evacuation policy. Those who try to police and manage the zone have a difficult task.

The following story of one old women from Ilnitsy village in the Polissya district explains why some of the evacuees went back to their homes.

We were evacuated at the first day of Easter (4 May 1986). First they transferred us to the Makarievsky region (Kiev oblast) and settled us among local residents. Our cattle were collected and evacuated first, we were evacuated the next day. Four months we lived among strangers and then after five months they transferred to new housing in the Yagotin region. We stayed there over the winter. The new houses were constructed badly, they were cold and wet. They were built on water-logged soil and the land was not levelled properly. The winter was acute: a lot of snow and frosts. In spring when the snow has melted we faced a new disaster: the water did not flow away. the wells caved in and the houses collapsed. Fortunately the head of the local collective farm from Dibrovy helped us and managed to re evacuate people. So we returned home. Some our fellow villagers settled in Dibrovy on "clean" land [This area is between the 30 kilometre exclusion zone and a highly contaminated zone of guaranteed evacuation in the Ivankovsky region]. The find it hard and want to come home but they are not allowed to return. At least we live here at home. Our life is not too hard. They supply our local shop with food every Wednesday, and twice a week they deliver bread here. They often measure soils here for radiation, but they do not tell us the levels. Some Americans visited us here recently they carried out some measurements and quickly disappeared. We have lived here for almost a decade now. It is a pity that these people at check-posts do not allow our relatives to visit us. We have to travel almost 20 kilometres on foot to leave. They do not allow our people with cars to cross the check-points. But in general it is not bad here. Recently they have even allowed children from outside to stay with their grand- others here in the summer.

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Ilnitsy is also home to Ganna, aged 77, one of a hundred people still living in the village

We can live here mainly because of our harvests. No-one can survive just on their pension. Payments reach 1,200,000 3,000,000 karbovanets, everyone receives different amount. If we buy bread, there is no money left for other purposes. We have to cut spending for about five months to buy something more. We live by collecting berries and mushrooms, and we sow some crops. I have planted five acres of potatoes this year. Filaretovich has planted 40 acres. He has a real farm with pigs and chickens. We plant different crops here - onions, cucumbers, poppies. Cakes with poppy seeds taste very good. But the flour they deliver is expensive, so we can buy one sack for two people. Different people live here and some are richer than others as in other places. Shift workers are wealthier. But most of our residents, about 80%, are 73-75 years old. There are a few young people with children but in the summer almost half the village had children staying with them.

Of course there are less residents now than before the disaster. Ilnitsy was a large village, with about 700 houses. Those of use who don't work meet together in the holidays and relax as best we can. There is no church but we have a prayer house. The priest lives in Chernobyl. Those of use who are not ill gather in the prayer house. We wear out old clothes -- we cannot afford to buy new clothes. We cook our meals in stoves using firewood. Either we collect it nearby or the boys deliver it in exchange for a bottle of drink. We have no other option. There is no coal or gas supplied to us. Even if they did supply it, where can we get money to pay for it? From our pensions?

Illness is natural, we are elderly and we have had hard lives -- the war, famine, German occupation. We have survived all these troubles and reared out children here. Now we want to spend the rest of our lives here and be buried near our ancestors. But they will not legalise our residence status. They say we live here illegally. Let the authorities understand that we are at home -- legally or illegally, we do not know. But we will stay for the rest of our days. All people are equal in the eyes of God. We do not need a residence stamp.

Brainets Vasil, aged 54, is a resident of Martinovichi village which was awaiting evacuation until 1993.

But this was another story. The lists were completed, but not all the people were listed. We were not included. I visited the evacuation administration recently to ask them about my documents. They do not know where they are. But they said we would be evacuated with the rest of the Polissya region.

If there is a street with about 10 houses here in the village, we should stay here. It is possible to live here: there are good mushrooms in the forest near Radienky Maximovichi, there is fish in the Uz river, a tributary of the Pripyat river - European carp, perch, even crawfish. Many people come hereto fish. Two years ago a Swedish laboratory was doing some tests here, measuring radiation levels. I just had returned from the river and their boss asked me to give them some European carps for analysis. They made their measurements and said there was no problem. The fish would be edible after 100 grams of vodka.

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We have two sons. They also had problems with evacuation. It took a long time before the lists for resettlement were completed, and the papers received all the necessary official signatures. Such important matters cannot be hurried! But while this procedure was taking place life continued. The children got married and the papers were no longer valid. There were more families than available houses. The procedure started again and my son came out here because he could not wait for the authorities to get round to his case again. We had to earn living and his family is young. Anyway it is not advisable to bear children here within the zone and they went to Kiev. Now they work in Vishnevy. We are waiting for a house for the third year, maybe we will get it sometime.

Nina Golovko has worked as a doctor in the zone for three years, looking after the "squatters".

They consume mostly food from their gardens, collect local berries and mushrooms, hunt, and catch local fish. They cook meals on stoves using contaminated local firewood as fuel. These meals undoubtedly contain a certain amount of contamination. There are no supplies of alternative fuel. The fuel problem is not solved even for the medical facilities. We also have a lot of other problems. We face shortages of firstline drugs and barely manage to cope with emergencies. Transport is very difficult. Ambulance vehicles serve shiftworkers first, and everyone else second. We have only 2-3 cars for the whole zone. We have no way to take patients to hospital. The nearest is in Chernobyl, 27 km from Ilnitsy. Our facility has no vehicle of its own, but we need to visit ill people in the villages - none of out highranking officials have given this matter any thought.

A new problem has emerged recently with the drinking water. The local public health station says the wells are not suitable for drinking but no-one is in a hurry to clean them. The immune systems of the zone residents are depressed and an epidemic would be a disaster. But we, in the medical service do not give up hope, and we do what we can. We must help the sick and give them treatment, whether or not the government cares for its people. Why do we work here? It is certainly not for the money, because it is a disgrace, the price our government puts on human life and health.

The Human Clean-Up

While the liquidators risked their lives to clean up the debris of the Chernobyl accident, Ukraine's doctors were faced with the task of helping the human victims of the disaster.

Anatoly Mateyko is chief doctor of the Ukrainian Diagnostic Parental Centre. At the time of the accident he was also a deputy in the parliament and became a member of an ad hoc parliamentary committee set up to study the situation. He spent several months in the Chernobyl zone investigating medical problems in regions contaminated with radioactivity.

Treating patients today, 10 years after the accident, is especially hard. We are paying the price for that earlier censorship. We should have told the world at the very beginning that the Chernobyl accident was an unprecedented complex disaster, unique in the history of the humankind. That was not comparable to Hiroshima or Nagasaki but much more complicated. But because of the ban we lost vital experience and valuable scientific information that would have helped us. Even so, Ukrainian physicians have gained unique experience that no other country possesses. But because of the lack of information on the early symptoms we are forced to make certain assumptions about the dynamics of the disease based on secondary symptoms.

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The treatments developed by Ukrainian doctors have called into question traditional ways of treating radiation disease and refuted some classical theories. Ukrainian doctors were first to forecast a sharp increase in central nervous system diseases due to low doses of ionising radiation. Now we have experience and statistics to prove this. It is also clear that the social situation has a great impact on the rate of disease. Children suffer the most. The risk that a newborn will have an affected central nervous system increases substantially if the mother is under stress. So there are medical and social aspects.

Our research shows that illness among children and women of reproductive age in contaminated areas is 1.5-2 time higher than average for Ukraine. We have found correlations between levels of contamination and local pathologies. This has allowed us to take certain precautions and develop more effective preventive measures. However we have noticed a sharp increase in gynaecological diseases among female teenagers. We are still analysing this data. Even common diseases are showing some new properties and changing their patterns. Stomach ulcer is an example.There is marked increase in its incidence, especially for heavily contaminated regions, but seasonal exacerbation has disappeared and traditional treatments have proved to be ineffective in heavily contaminated regions. We are now advising close monitoring to make possible early diagnosis of stomach ulcer in contaminated zones. However the reality is quite different -- our economic problems are seriously compromising the medical services.

We are now beginning to see the long-term effects of Chernobyl. Today children who were 6-8 years in 1986 are having their own children. Preliminary studies suggest that these babies are likely to have various central nervous system pathologies, especially if their mothers live in contaminated areas. The final conclusions will be drawn in several years.

Malignant tumours among children also show an upward trend, especially affecting the thyroid gland, blood and respiratory organs. Diseases of the blood are also increasing. This applies to the children born in contaminated areas a long time after the accident.

We are concerned about foreign treatment for Chernobyl children. I am convinced that treating children abroad is reasonable only in emergency cases when our medicine can nothing more. I am certain that the majority of Chernobyl related diseases are treated better by our physicians than by their Western colleagues. They have unique experience and unique methods for treating radiation diseases.

As for a humanitarian aid, I am aware of the proverb that "One should not look a gift horse in the mouth". But a lot of people in the West seem to be making capital out of our misfortunes. I will not mention any names, but there are plenty of them. Several times I have seen loads of foreign aid containing out-of date medicines and obsolete equipment or medical instruments. May be some citizens of the West have confused a zone of human disaster with a rubbish dump. However this is not true of all donors. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Japan for sending aid which always contains what we need -- not only medicines but also special instruments and equipment.

Professor Alexander Ivanovich Avramenko is the head of Kiev oblast Department of Health Protection, is also concerned about deteriorating health and the increase in disease.

The Chernobyl disaster took place in the territory of Kiev oblast. This territory includes 19 regions, with a population of 1,175,000, including about 240,000 children. I said at the time and still believe that this is genocide -a disaster for Ukraine, today and tomorrow. But first I'd like to explain why they do not believe us -- it is because there have already been too many lies. Mikhail Gorbachev started it. He did not allow anyone to enter the zone for three months to see for themselves the extent of the contamination. The experts were allowed to enter only after all the short-lived isotopes had decayed and only the longlived isotopes remained such as caesium, strontium and plutonium. So they looked around and said: "People managed to live under these conditions before and they'll survive. And now nobody helps us.

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What have been the consequences for Kiev oblast? First of all, the health of the whole population has substantially declined, both for children and adults. The demographic situation is of great concern. The birth rate has sharply decreased and mortality has increased (within this period it has increased from 13.1 to 15.7 per 1,000, i.e. by almost 20 per cent). Life expectancy has fallen. Our natural population growth has changed from 2.3% to - 1.8%. Our population is in decline.

General morbidity (ill health) has grown practically by 30%. Hypertension has trebled and is more frequent now among young people. The incidence of ischaemia heart disease has increased by 103%, of ulcers by 65.6%, of diabetes by 61%, and of heart attacks by 75%. We are also seeing a substantial increase in morbidity among children (endocrine disorders, respiratory diseases, gastric and intestine disorders, nervous disorders, ophthalmology disorders, and tumours). Within the age group from 1 to 14 years, tumours occupy now the second place after accidents. Clinical patterns are changing for many diseases due to depression of the immune system. Thyroid gland disorders have grown substantially. Incidence of goitre within the general population has increased threefold and 44-fold among children, including a 55fold increase in adenomatous goitre. The increased incidence of thyroid cancer is especially alarming. In recent years it has increased threefold among adults compared with 1985. The number of thyroid cancer cases among children since 1988, when we have registered the first case, has reached 35 in Kiev oblast and there are more than 300 cases in Ukraine. One of the most alarming phenomena is the 2-2.5 times increase in infectious diseases among children. But the governmental and public bodies have turned their backs on Chernobyl. Legislation is passed but cannot be enforced. We, medical professionals, are left to our own devices. We have developed a programme for the oblast, but we want a nation-wide program. Statistics are no longer updated. We continue to update the register for Kiev oblast and compile our database. But the government does not do this, due to lack of finance. People have no drugs. Pharmacies operate on a commercial basis now and people cannot get the free medicines they are entitled to. There is no modern equipment in the medical facilities, that study Chernobyl-associated problems, no endoscopy, ultrasound, electrocardiographs, laboratory equipment, or reagents. As a priority the government should evacuate the population from contaminated regions and accelerate the process. I do not see why they should continue to live in the Polissky region. We had to struggle hard to maintain a small area of "apparently clean" land within this contaminated region. We are investing vast sums of money to rebuild structures and create a regional centre in Polisskye. But to reach this "clean" micro-region you have to travel long distances through highly contaminated territory. The territories of the Polissya zone face a widespread migration of radionuclides, with frequent duststorms every year. But we do not take this into account. We must stop this waste of money and transfer these funds to the people who suffered.

Another priority is to immediately organise a supply of clean food to children and to all the affected population. And we must change the system for health recuperation and stop sending children abroad. We should develop recuperation centres in Ukraine. These activities consume a lot of budget money which could be used to develop our own health system.

Ukrainian Officials

The Chernobyl accident posed immense problems for officials at every level of government. Many did all they could, risking their own lives to help. Others exploited the situation for their own personal benefit and some continue to do so.

Vasyl Kryuchkov, former secretary of the CPU Central Committee in charge of the military industrial complex and a former deputy of Ukraine, says most Ukrainian officials worked hard to help with the Chernobyl clean-up operations regardless of the danger they faced.

On the eve of the accident at the 4th block of the Chernobyl plant, the Kiev regional executive committee and regional administration had decided to conduct routine civil defense exercises. The visit to the local civil defence headquarters was scheduled for 26 April. As I waited for the bus early that morning I was surprised when, instead of executive committee chairman Revenko, I saw his deputy, Ivan Pliusch, getting of his car. He told me about the burning reactor and said the board chairman had gone on a fact-finding mission to organise rescue operations. I was told to stay in my office and say nothing about the reason's for the chairman's absence.

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In the reception room of the first secretary of the CPU Central Committee, I was told that the fourth block of the Chernobyl plant had been disconnected from the grid because of a fire the previous night and that maintenance works were under way. I felt there was something wrong but could get no information from the Council of Ministers where there was also growing concern. Myself and the chairman in charge of defence decided to go fishing at a place not far from the plant when I received a call from the Council of Minister ordering me to go to the plant. I was told the reactor was on fire releasing radioactive and the evacuation of the Pripyat population had to be started immediately. What we saw at the plant staggered us. We immediately understood the extent of the catastrophe which was beyond our imagination. The priority was the ruined reactor. Top officials and the rescue services were already there. That was the start of days and nights spent in the headquarters for accident elimination under wartime conditions.

Still today, none of my Ukrainian colleagues nor myself have received clear answers to two questions: Who organised that absurd experiment to increase energy output and why? Secondly, who ordered the alarm systems to be turned off and what was the real purpose of that experiment?

Today it is easy to criticise us for the defective and poor quality of construction of the sarcophagus. I can only reply that at that time, during the active phase of the accident, we did more than was possible but less we wanted. The task was to fight fire and localise the destroyed reactor as quickly as possible. There were no instructions for such an operation and there was no protective clothing capable of shielding people from such high levels of radiation.

The engineering works had to be done fast and all of us -- supervisors, servicemen and scientists -- knew about the working conditions and the risks but chose to carry on of our own free will. I know of no case where a serviceman or civilian was compelled to work. On the basis of my own experience, it seems that the mind just ignored the threat of radiation. You can't see, feel of taste it. The only unpleasant feeling I had close to reactor was an annoying tickling in my throat. I did not put on protective overalls. It was too hot. I still have traces of burns on my skin.

Oleksandr Usanov, First Deputy of the USSR Construction Work Minister, who made the final decisions on the sarcophagus construction, visited all the sites where work was under way. These included the most dangerous sites because he felt responsible for ensuring that things were done properly. Every abortive attempt costs human lives. Most officials involved did the same. They wanted to see for themselves and not depend on plans or documents. For example, a store had to be built for he spent fuel from the reactor. I helped to select the site for this. We got into armoured personnel carrier and approached the site as near as we could in the vehicle, going the rest of the way unprotected on foot. The radiation levels were relatively low at 10 roentgens per hour. While rushing through high grass, I stumbled and injured my leg which still bothers me sometimes. But at the time we paid no attention to such trifles as our health. I do not know how much time we spent there and what dose we received (we had no dosimeter with us) but we put amended and finalised the project.

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But there were many instances of real heroism. During the fire, temperatures exceeded 1,300 C raising the possibility that the reactor fuel could melt and seep into the groundwater. At temperatures close to 2,000 C there was a risk of a new and bigger explosion which would threaten not only the neighbouring districts of Kiev and Zitomir regions but also to the capital. We called in the Lugansk coal miners to help and volunteers, led by Lugansk party secretary Mykola Popov, now dead, came immediately. In a very short time they drove a tunnel under the reactor and installed coolers. We owe our lives to these people. These are the peoples all of us owe our lives.

Undoubtedly remote controlled machines would have been better but they were not available at the time. We used what machinery we could including experimental models of our own and from abroad. We tried to use these for the most dangerous works inside the block or not far from it. But even the stateof-art electronics and anti-radiation armour broke down while people proved to be more resilient. Of course some people were irresponsible. For example, during one decontamination operation a lieutenant ordered his soldiers to pick up pieces of earth with their bare hands. He was punished for this and a ruling was adopted preventing draftees from being used in future for the most dangerous operations.

Mikola Sidorenko*, age 41, was a manager at one of the zone facilities. He feels he has a moral obligation to those affected by the accident, but can do little in face of a cynical officialdom.

For me this is not just a workplace, it is my home. Before the accident I had a relatively high-level administrative position for someone of 30. In 1986 I reacted to the nuclear disaster calmly, although I was upset by the situation. The accident had occurred just when there were signs of some positive change in our country. I felt sorry for my fellow residents and my colleagues who were in the nuclear impact zone. But I was confident we would cope and show the world that Ukraine was a humane country ready to make any sacrifices for its people. Only several months later did I had realise I was the victim of a propaganda bluff. Ten years after the disaster, practically nothing has been done to eliminate the consequences. This hurts me because, as a manager I have a moral responsibility for these people and for all that has happened here. I have not lost my optimism, but I am more sceptical.

In 1986 we all knew, that we were working in dangerous conditions, that we were risking our lives and that some of us would a pay heavy price later. But we also knew we were obliged to do this, that it was our duty to our people and our country. So nobody hesitated. We consciously entered the radioactive hell, knowing all the consequences. They now say we worked for money. Of course there were some such people. But I am sure that most of them, like me, worked not for money or benefits. The most irritating thing to me is the total lack of responsibility of those who manage huge amounts of money, here in the zone, but can do nothing worthwhile with these funds.

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I do not understand why so far neither the government, nor the President's administration, nor the Verkhovna Rada Commission -- no high officials -- have paid any attention to the people of the zone. Many people live here, and for 10 years have been writing complaints to different offices, usually in vain. Maybe this is what happens to complaints sent from inside the wires? Maybe this is the fate of all those who have been separated by fences from society, for whatever reason? Life within the zone and life outside appear to be in different dimensions. Ordinary people, who come to the zone, begin to change their behaviour and to do strange things.

I have learned from the scientific literature, that thyroid gland dysfunction produces mental disorder and cretinism. Maybe most managers have developed cretinism with respect to their professional duties; maybe I have some other sort of cretinism in my efforts to prove the otherwise. In 10 years we made no real progress in our main task of land decontamination. On paper it looks different. Investments have been made. But what is the result? Who can tell us how many centimetres of land have been cleaned of radiation? On what area have reactor fuel particles been immobilised and fixed to prevent contamination spreading? Some 13,000 people live and work within the zone now. This is enough. It would be possible to start land rehabilitation and land recultivation now. This is feasible. There is the expertise and the technology to do this. The zone would then have some prospects of revival. But there is little hope at present because there is no political will.

* The names of these people were changed for their security.