By now, I'm sure most of you have heard about the wildfires that are currently raging across Russia. More than 800 wildfires have been reported across the country, which is suffering from its worst heat wave since recod-keeping began over 130 years ago. Russia's Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoygu has warned that some of these wildfires in western regions could release radioactive nuclides from land previously contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Special laboratories are monitoring the potential release of radioactive contaminants in Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine. This area was contaminated with Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 by fallout from the Chernobyl accident. Radioactive substances from Chernobyl still remain in the upper layer of soil in the forests of Bryansk, Lipetsk, Kaluga and Tula.

The Russian wildfires have the potential to raise some of the radioactive fallout from the ground and release it into the air. More intensive fire protection work is now underway in the Chernobyl-affected areas of Russia.

Approximately 425 wildfires have also been reported throughout Ukraine. It is not clear if any are located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Image: Акутагава (Creative Commons)

Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in the aftermath of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The following information includes legal orders for the evacuations and the official Soviet counts of the number of people that were evacuated:

• Pripyat and the nearby village Yanov: Organized evacuation of Pripyat (49,360) and the railway station Yanov (254) from 2:00 - 5:00 PM on April 27, 1986, in accordance with a decision by the Government Commission of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
• On May 3, 1986 from 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM, in accordance with order № -09 dated May 2, 1986 from the Chief of Civil Defense and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Kiev, organized evacuations from the 10- and 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl Plant of 7,392 people from 15 settlements.
• On May 3, 4 and 7, 1986, another 44 settlements from the 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl Plant and some areas near it.
• From May 14 to August 16, 1986, in accordance with decision № -70 from the Speical Group of the Communist Party of Ukraine and decrees № -40 / 1, 49 and 64 from the head of Civil Defense and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Kiev, another 15 locations were evacuated (8 from the Kiev region and 7 from the Zhitomir region).
• Through mid-August 1986, 90,784 people from 81 settlements in Ukraine were evacuated. During the same period, another 25,000 people were evacuated from 107 settlements in Belarus.
• On June 28, 1989, the USSR Council of Ministers, after further testing of the contaminated areas, issued order №-244-C containing procedures and conditions for the relocation of additional settlements in the Zhitomir and Kiev regions due to soil contamination in excess of permissible limits. This set in motion a period of relocation for residents of the zone of unconditional (mandatory) resettlement.
  • The first stage of this order's implementation was resolution № -333 from the USSR Council of Ministers, dated December 30, 1989 that provided for the resettlement of approximately 3,200 residents from 12 settlements in the Narodichi area and 4 settlements in the Polesie area.

As a result of the 1986 nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, approximately 24,700 people were evacuated from a 1,700 sq. km. area in Belarus. At the same time, the land in this area was withdrawn from economic use. In 1988, the Soviet government created the Polesie State Radiation Ecological Reserve (PSRER) was created on most of that land. In 1993, land of an adjacent resettlement area was added to the reserve, increasing its size to 2,154 sq. km.

The purpose of the reserve is to prevent the spread of radionuclides to less contaminated territories, study the effects of radiation on plants, conduct radiation-ecological monitoring and perform research.

In the abandoned village of Masan, within the PSRER borders, is a radiation research monitoring station. The facility is situated approximately 12 km. from the Chernobyl Plant in what used to be an abandoned house on an old farm that previously had 40 cm. of radiation-saturated soil removed.

Two scientists typically live at the station for 12-14 days per month.  The house has a working and living room, kitchen, bathroom and storage for batteries that are charged by solar panels.  Of course, fresh drinking water is brought to the station from outside the reserve.

From the top of a 20-meter high observation tower, scientists can see the Chernobyl Plant, high-rise buildings in Pripyat and beautiful panoramas of the Polesie landscape.

In Belarus, the Chernobyl Zone consists of two areas:

• Zone of Alienation: limited human activity, with forests planted to help prevent the transfer of radionuclides from dust
• Exclusion Zone: humans are not allowed to live here due to high levels of radiation

Below is a new video showing the Reactor 3 and 4 control rooms at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. My friend Sergei, who is the director of Solo East Travel in Kyiv and his guide Yuri were the last people to visit the Reactor 4 control room. Workers have finished building a brick wall that now blocks the control room's entrance, effectively entombing the site.

I always felt very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit the Reactor 4 control room in June 2006, but even more so now. I guess this means I definitely won't be able to see it again in October when I return to Chernobyl.

Here is the video:

On this, the 24th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, it is once again time to remember and honor:

• The nuclear accident that occurred at the V.I. Lenin Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant during the early morning hours of April 26, 1986
• The firefighters who both risked and gave their lives responding to the first calls about explosions and fires at the Chernobyl Plant
• The hundreds of thousands of liquidators who also risked their lives during the clean up operations and Sarcophagus construction following the accident
• The residents of Pripyat, who were unnecessarily put at risk by the Soviet government, which failed to evacuate the city until 36 hours after the accident
• The thousands of people, including liquidators and former Pripyat and Exclusion Zone residents, who continue to suffer adverse health effects due to radiation exposure and contamination from the accident
• The residents of neighboring towns and villages who were also evacuated from their family homes after the accident
• The roughly 250 elderly samosels who moved back to their homes within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and continue living there today

The 24th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is less than two weeks away and there is not much new to report regarding activities within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Therefore, I figured this would be a good time to re-post some reviews I wrote several years ago about some Chernobyl documentary films. Either click on the links below or go to the Articles section of this website to read the full reviews

The first documentary film is Pripyat. This 1999 black and white film by Nicklaus Geyrhalter takes a look at life in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The film not only discusses Pripyat, but also the lives of workers at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and how samosels survive in the Zone. The film also takes a close look at one of the Zone's contaminated vehicle graveyards.

Next is Julio Soto's 2005 documentary, Radiophobia. This color film examines the devastation caused by the 1986 Chernobyl accident. The main location is the city of Pripyat, though it also briefly touches on the samosels. My friends and former Pripyat residents Lyubov Sirota and her son Sasha appear in this film.

Last, but certainly not least, is Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl. Directed by David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky, the moving film is based on Mario Petrucci's book-length poem, "Heavy Water: A Poem for Chernobyl." This film is quite different, substituting Petrucci's poetry in place of facts and general narration. Heavy Water places more focus on the samosels, though it also looks at Pripyat and some abandoned villages.

In early January 2010, reports indicated that groundwater wells at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant were contaminated with radioactive tritium. A new report just released by Vermont State Department of Health Officials indicates radioactive tritium was found in a deeper well than at the location of the previously discovered leak. This news comes on the heels of last week's announcement by Vermont Yankee personnel that they had stopped all of the plant's tritium leaks.

In May 2009, prior to these findings, Vermont Yankee's vice-president of operations told the Vermont Public Service Board there was no underground piping at the facility. However, an October 2009 report by an oversight panel of nuclear experts confirmed the presence of contaminated underground pipes.

Initial tritium measurements at the site showed levels of the isotope were below the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum acceptable amount for drinking water. By mid-January, the levels of tritium had risen to 20,000 picocuries per liter, the maximum federal limit for drinking water.

On February 4, 2010, Vermont Yankee reported that groundwater samples from a new monitoring well had approximately 775,000 picocuries of tritium per liter, over 37 times the EPA safe drinking water limit. Further water samples taken on February 5-6 from an underground vault and groundwater measured between 2.45 and 2.7 million picocuries per liter. Straight reactor water averages 2.9 million picocuries per liter.

Contamination has yet to be detected in the nearby Connecticut River, but officials are continuously monitoring the situation.

In addition to being a product of nuclear fission, Tritium can be found in nature in very small amounts. The substance has been linked to cancer if it is ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

An Associated Press story from early February claims that at least 27 of the United States' 104 nuclear reactors at 65 plant sites are currently leaking radioactive tritium. These leaks are suspected to be coming from deteriorating underground pipes.

Photo: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

My friend Michael Forster Rothbart has a new photo project titled "Chernobyl Today" that is featured in the latest issue of zReportage, an online investigative photojournalism magazine.

You may recognize some of the images from Rothbart's After Chernobyl project, but Chernobyl Today has 20 new photos in the slideshow. If you are interested in purchasing copies of Rothbart's Chernobyl photos, they are now available through Zuma Press.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant administration has announced that, within the framework of the licensing plans for the decommissioning of the facility, all previously unused nuclear fuel has now been removed from the site. The last 68 fuel assemblies were removed on March 5 and exported to Russia per a previously signed agreement.

Assemblies of spent nuclear fuel are still being housed at the Chernobyl Plant. However, the process of unloading used fuel from Reactor 3's holding pool is proceeding ahead of schedule.

In other Chernobyl-related news, meetings are being held to insure the quick and quality implementation of both the ISF-2 spent fuel processing facility and construction of the New Safe Confinement structure.

Photo courtesy of ChAES

Ukraine's Administrative Court has suspended the results of the country's February 7 runoff presidential election while it considers an appeal filed by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych defeated Tymoshenko in the election by 3.48% of the vote. Yanukovych's inauguration is currently scheduled for February 25.

Despite the declaration by international election monitors that the vote was free and fair, Tymoshenko claims the vote was fraudulent. Yesterday, Tymoshenko submitted to the court what she said is evidence of election fraud. Tymoshenko claims to have uncovered evidence of fraud in favor of Yanukovych at every polling station in Crimea, possibly accounting for over 1 million votes. She also claims to have the support of several individual OSCE observers and videos of their assessments. The OSCE has denied the existence of any videos that support Tymoshenko's claims.

At this point, I'm not sure what to believe. However, it is interesting that Tymoshenko is limiting her fight to the courts. She says she will not be arranging any public protests, similar to the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Is it possible that Tymoshenko is not calling for public protests because she does not have credibility with the Ukrainian people to successfully arrange for such a gathering? By not calling for public protests, Tymoshenko appears to be making this a personal issue instead of fighting for the rights of the Ukrainian people to have a fair election.