Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has scheduled the country's next presidential election for January 17, 2010. Parliament had previously scheduled the election for October 25, 2009, but President Viktor Yushchenko appealed to the Constitutional Court, which found the decision to be unconstitutional.

A recent presidential election poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology revealed the following results:

• Viktor Yanukovych (Party of Regions) - 34.7%
• Yulia Tymoshenko (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) - 21.5%
• Arseniy Yatseniuk (Change Front Citizens Initiative) - 17.6%

If a run-off election is required, it will most likely be held on February 7, 2010. The main question is, if a run-off is necessary, who would face off against Viktor Yanukovych? For a long time, the likely choice was Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. However, her inability to deal with Ukraine's economic crisis has significantly damaged her popularity. Meanwhile, former Rada Speaker Yatseniuk's popularity has accordingly increased.

It is unlikely that Yushchenko will gain re-election, with current popularity ratings in the low single digits and his Our Ukraine party recently withdrawing from Ukraine's ruling political coalition.

My friend Sergey has posted a new video filmed earlier this year in Pripyat. The 4 minute clip covers some well-known scenes such as the public swimming pool "Azure", and the amusement park, but also reveals some artwork or places not typically seen in photos or videos:



Sergey's Chernobyl Zone website has more detailed information about Pripyat, both then and now (this information is in English).

My friend Sergey just posted a new video of St. Michael's Church in the abandoned village of Krasnoe in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This church was built around 1800 and was one of the most interesting stops during my two-day trip to Chernobyl in June 2006. The interior murals are just incredible and have stood the test of time extremely well.

Krasnoe is located 5.74 kilometers northeast of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, on the other side of the Pripyat River.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Information Department has released a new report about ongoing work at the facility. In addition to general information, the report provides background radiation measurements at several plant locations. The measurements are (in milli-Sieverts per hour):

• Administration building - 0.41 mSv/hr
• Visitor Center near the Sarcophagus (object "Shelter") - 6.93 mSv/hr
• Local areas at the Sarcophagus (object "Shelter") - 40.0 mSv/hr

Photo by: Mond

Recent video of a bull moose in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone:



Video courtesy of http://www.chornobyl.in.ua/

In case you missed the initial showing of Michael Forster Rothbart's "Inside Chernobyl: life goes on" photography exhibit in Kyiv, you have another chance. From June 5 to July 5, 2009 the exhibit will be on display at the Slavutych Information Center in Slavutych, Ukraine.

This photo exhibit had a brief initial showing from late April to early May in Kyiv's Shevchenko Park. The exhibit will now be appropriately displayed in Slavutych, a city that was built after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster as the new home for Chernobyl Nuclear Plant workers.

The Slavutych Information Center is located at 7 Druzhby Narodiv Street in Slavutych.

Details about the "Inside Chernobyl" photo exhibit can be found in my previous post about the Kyiv opening.

Note: Slavutych is located 40 km from Chernihiv, 45 km from Pripyat and 200 km from Kyiv. Rooms can be found at the hotel "Yevropeyskiy" at reasonable rates.

The following is a short video shot in the now abandoned village of Starye Sheplichi (Old Sheplichi) in Ukraine's Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The village is located several kilometers northeast of Pripyat:



Video by: www.chornobyl.in.ua/en/

On May 14, 2009, a fire broke out in Unit 1 of Ukraine's Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. Personnel from the Rivne Plant were able to extinguish the blaze themselves. The reactor unit was shutdown for routine maintenance and repairs at the time of the incident.

Some sources reported the incident as only a build-up of smoke, not an actual fire. The incident occurred as the result of a short circuited wire in a storage room at the facility's Reactor Unit 1.

The affected unit is a VVER 440/213 reactor with net output of 361 MWe and started commercial operations in September 1981.

Reactor 1 at Rivne NPP was shutdown in June 2008 because of leakage within the containment vessel. The leak reportedly did not exceed operational limits.

The Ministry of Emergency Measures reported the radiation and ecology at the Rivne Plant and surrounding areas were not affected. Reactor units 2, 3 and 4 are still operational.

Of similar interest, Rivne NPP's Reactor 3 was temporarily shutdown on May 4, 2009 to repair reported malfunctions.

A May 2009 scientific expedition captured video of an owlet inhabiting a forest in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone:



Video courtesy of http://www.chornobyl.in.ua/

The International Advisory Group ICG has reviewed materials prepared by contractors for Chernobyl's New Safe Confinement and identified risk factors for the possibility of those contractors falling behind schedule and associated cost increases as the most serious risks to the project.

ICG is happy with a new paper on security within the framework of the project (DBCP) as an effective substitute for the preliminary safety analysis report (POAB). This document could be extremely useful for Ukrainian regulatory bodies, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant administration, contractors and the bank.

The DBCP is based on information developed by Novarka at its early stages as the project contractor and provides a functional specification of the New Safe Confinement including:

• A list of the SC-1 NSC structures, buildings, major components, systems, communications, etc.
• A description of the specific functions of each NSC component from the above item
• Systematic design criteria and requirements including additional criteria and benchmarks obtained through research and the design process
• Analysis of regulatory and legal frameworks applicable to the NSC design
• Methodology and approach of the contractor to implement the design criteria and requirements
• Design procedures and rationale for project licensing where parts of the project are reviewed by regulatory agencies, including the main building (foundations, arch, cranes, edging) and the NSC complex as a whole (life-support systems and control of the NSC)

A working draft document also considers:

• Cleaning the site to build the arch and its mounting systems
• Dismantling the ventilation tube BT-2
• Construction of infrastructure facilities
• Construction of temporary bases
• Information on main technical and constructive solutions for the NSC, based on Novarka proposals

According to comments by regulators, Novarka is expected to finalize a detailed timeline for the entire NSC design as a way to provide for timely project decisions. A detailed schedule for the design and a listing of required licensing documents and the estimated time of need should also be available.