Report Launch & Tour of Chernobyl Testimonies Begins

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
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               GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> Greenpeace Presents Testimony Report of Chernobyl Victims
and Starts Testimonies Tour Through Europe.
 
KIEV, March 11, 1996 (GP) Greenpeace Ukraine today presented
at a press conference  in Kiev  a report "Stalkery" of
personal accounts of how the disaster has  changed the lives
of ordinary people.  These accounts show us what  the various
confusing and conflicting  numbers never can: the extent of
human suffering of  people who are still effected by the
accident.  The Greenpeace report tells the  stories of just a
few of the estimated 9 million people who have been affected 
by the accident.
 
To deliver the message and lessons of the consequences of the
Chernobyl  disaster directly to the public, a delegation  will
leave Kiev for an  information tour through Europe.   The

people going on the tour are:   
 
Volodymir Usatenko is the head of the Subcommittee on the
Scientific, Social  and Legal Aspects of the Chernobyl
Catastrophe and Nuclear Energy in the  Ukraine. He is engineer
and spent a lot of time working in the zone after the 
accident.   
 
Lubov Kovalevskaya is a journalist and writer. She published
the books "The  Chernobyl Diary" (disaster psychology) and
"Chernobyl Classified". She lived  near the power plant and
was evacuated right after the accident. In 1991 she  was
awarded with the International Women Prize - "For bravery in
journalism".   
Natalia Preobrazhenska is the head of the Fund for Protection
of Ukrainian  Children from the Chernobyl Tragedy. She helped
with evacuation of children  from Kiev in May 1986. She is
biologist and an expert of the National  Commission on
Radiation Protection of Ukrainian Population.    
 
Today, despite 400 000 people being evacuated there are still
270 000 people  living in heavily contaminated areas in
Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. In  Ukraine, 2 million children
still live in contaminated areas.    The nuclear  disaster at
Chernobyl, which released 200 times more radioactivity than
the  bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has contaminated
160 000 Km2 of land  in these three countries.  
 
"The catastrophe didn't just take place on April 26 1986 it
just began at that  date"- Olexi Kabyka from Greenpeace
Ukraine said today,- "If the West really  wants to help
Ukraine, this assistance should be not for the construction of 
new nuclear reactors, but for implementation of renewable
energy projects and  energy efficiency programs in order to
shut down the remaining Chernobyl units".   
 
One of the goals of the tour is to explain what is needed from
the West to help  Ukraine in dealing with Chernobyl problems.  
In particular assistance with  dealing with the collapsing
Sarcophagus, the structure which surrounds the  destroyed unit
4 reactor at Chernobyl and the energy assistance needed to 
enable the immediate closure of Chernobyl, where two reactors
still operate.  
 
 "Ten years after the greatest technological catastrophe in
human history, we  are starting to see the real impact of a
nuclear accident", said Wendel Hilti  from Greenpeace
Switzerland, working in the Ukrainian office. "Unfortunately, 
the effects will continue for generations".  
 
The delegation is going to visit the following countries in
the period of March  12 until April 25: Finland, Germany,
Turkey, France, Switzerland, Czech  Republic, Slovak Republic,
Austria, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands  and
Ireland. Greenpeace is also organizing a second testimony tour
trough the  United States in April and May.     
 
For further information, please call Greenpeace Ukraine,  
Olexi Kabyka /044/ 2443833   

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