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.

According to Igor Gramotkin, Director-General of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, facility administration hopes completion of the facility's New Safe Confinement structure will occur in 2013. Design delays have pushed back the structure's expected completion date.

Both the state of Ukraine and the Chernobyl Plant administration are looking for the most reliable equipment to avoid future operational risks for the NSC, which is being designed to be functional for at least 100 years. Thus, the Chernobyl Plant administration is not prepared to necessarily accept the cheapest system available.

The cost of the NSC object is currently estimated at 1.6 billion euros, over twice the original estimate of 758 million euros. Gramotkin did not rule out the possibility that the final construction cost will be higher.

The stabilization of the existing Sarcophagus was completed in 2009. This stabilization effort has increased the safe operation of the aging structure for at least 15 years.

The NSC will have the following characteristics:

• Height: 108 meters
• Width: 257 meters
• Length: 150 meters

While the New Safe Confinement project has been delayed, at least it's nice to know they're not "cheaping out" on systems and materials. If building the best and safest possible confinement structure requires a longer period of time, that's fine with me. At least the existing Sarcophagus has been stabilized, minimizing the threat of collapse.

Several exit polls indicate opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly won Sunday's presidential runoff election in Ukraine. Challenger and current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is expected to challenge the election results.

Ukraine's National Exit Poll 2010, which is conducted by a group of leading pollsters, indicated Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of Regions, received 48.7% of the vote, as compared to 45.5% for Tymoshenko.  The poll's margin of error is 2.5%.

International market research firm GfK Group indicated a larger margin of victory for Yanukovych, 49.8% to 45.2%, with a margin of error of 1.6%.

It appears that many Ukrainians were not voting for a particular candidate, as much as they were voting against the other.

Outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko urged his supporters to vote against both Yanukovych and Tymoshenko, saying that Ukrainians will be ashamed of the choice they have to make.

Oleksandr Turchynov, Tymoshenko's campaign manager, said they would contest votes cast at over 1,000 polling stations in Ukraine's Donetsk region, an area that strongly supports Yanukovych. Turchynov indicated that Tymoshenko delegates were barred from polling places in the region. Turchynov also complained of multiple voting and bribery.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry said they had not received reports of serious violations during Sunday's vote.

Yanukovych has indicated if he became president, he will attempt to remove Tymoshenko as prime minister by encouraging defections from her coalition and forming his own parliamentary majority. If that fails, he plans to call for a new parliamentary election a year ahead of schedule.

These election results reflect the feelings of many Ukrainians that the Orange Revolutioin failed to deliver prosperity and stability. Instead, it led to regular bouts of political infighting and the country's current economic crisis. What a shame!

Photo: Rowland Goodman - Creative Commons

On January 17, 2010 Ukraine held its presidential election. With over 80% of the vote counted, it is clear that Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych and current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will face off in a second round runoff election on February 7.

Other candidates include former Central Bank Chairman Sergey Tigipko, former Foreign Minister and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Arseniy Yatseniuk and incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko.

The following are the latest results of Sunday's first round of voting, as reported by Ukraine's Central Election Commission (with percentage of votes):

• Viktor Yanukovych - 35.76%
• Yulia Tymoshenko - 24.72%
• Sergey Tigipko - 13.05%
• Arseniy Yatseniuk - 6.96%
• Viktor Yushchenko - 5.33%

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant administration has uploaded a new video to their website. The Russian-language, 31-minute video has some interesting clips of the clean up efforts and the construction of the original Sarcophagus. It's definitely worth a look. 

I am excited to announce that my interview with former Chernobyl liquidator Sergei B. has been published by Greenhaven Press in David Nelson's new book, Perspectives on Modern World History: Chernobyl.

The Perspectives on Modern World History series provides basic historical information on significant events in modern world history. Each book presents controversies surrounding a specific event along with first-hand narratives.

Currently available from Amazon.com, Perspectives on Modern World History: Chernobyl is a compilation of essays and narratives/interviews about the Chernobyl disaster, the subsequent clean up efforts and aftermath of the world's worst nuclear accident.

In addition to my interview, the book contains contributions from the International Atomic Energy Agency, a number of familiar Chernobyl book authors and people connected with Chernobyl charities, including:

• Svetlana Alexeivich - author of Voices from Chernobyl
• Glenn Alan Cheney - author of Journey to Chernobyl and Chernobyl: The Ongoing Story of the World's Deadliest Nuclear Disaster
• David R. Marples - author of The Social Impact of the Chernobyl Disaster
• Grigori Medvedev - author of The Truth About Chernobyl
• Mary Mycio - author of Wormwood Forest
• Adi Roche - founder of Chernobyl Children's Project International
• Lyubov Sirota - my dear friend, poet and former Pripyat resident

The book's content includes:

• Annotated table of contents
• Introduction to the topic
• A world map
• Three chapters containing essays focusing on general background information, multinational perspectives and first-person narratives
• Full-color photographs, charts, maps and other illustrations
• Sidebars highlighting related topics
• Glossary of key terms, as appropriate
• Chronology
• Bibliography of books, periodicals and Web sites
• Index

I'm still waiting to get my contributor's complementary copy, but have seen the complete table of contents and it appears to be a very interesting book. I'll post a review after I get the chance to read it.

ISBN 13: 9780737745559
ISBN 10: 073774555X

A new exhibit about Chernobyl has opened in Moscow. ХОТИМ, ЧТОБЫ ПОМНИЛИ (Wanting Rememberance) includes a selection of documentary photographs and video installations showing life in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone before and after the 1986 accident at the V.I. Lenin Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The exhibit includes work from five Ukrainian photographers and filmmakers, three Russian artists and my friend, Michael Forster Rothbart. The show has been organized by my friends at the public project Pripyat.com and coincides with the annual memorial day for Chernobyl liquidators (Veterans Day) on December 14.

"Wanting Remembrance" officially opens on December 2, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. The exhibit runs through December 13 in Gallery Creativity, on Taganskaya Street in Moscow.  See the official "Wanting Remembrance" exhibit website for more details( in Russian).

Other events include:

• Daily - Screenings of films by Rollan Sergienko, the director of many films about Chernobyl
• December 6, 2:00 p.m. - Roundtable discussion featuring former Pripyat residents
• December 12, 3:00 p.m. - Presentation about the current status and future of Chernobyl's New Safe Confinement structure
• December 13, 12:00 p.m. - Presentation: Understanding Radiation A to Z

A list of highlights from the exhibit schedule is available on the Pripyat.com website.

A radiation leak has been reported at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Yes, despite the meltdown at this plant 30 years ago, portions are still functional today.

Apparently, an Exelon maintenance crew was performing maintenance work in the Unit 1 reactor building when a radiation alarm sounded. Workers were cutting a large number of pipes at the time. Unit 1 has been shut down for several weeks to overhaul new steam generators and other equipment.

Twenty employees were treated for radiation exposure. Original reports indicated over 100 workers needed to be decontaminated.

Exelon does not know the cause, but believes the incident does not pose an occupational threat, nor a threat to public health and safety. The cause of the leak is under investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the entire plant is now shut down.

Even if this event really is not a threat to public health, it reveals that radiation dangers from nuclear power still exist, despite efforts to improve safety systems following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

According to Korrespondent.net and the Unian News Agency, Forbes magazine has named the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant as the world's most exotic place for tourism.

Forbes mentions that 23 years after the Chernobyl accident, some companies now offer tours of the area, including Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Plant, Pripyat and the Red Forest. I wonder if the Forbes writers know that Chernobyl tours have been occurring for at least 8-10 years?

The Korrespondent article also mentioned Pripyat.com has seen a recent decrease in the number of people visiting Chernobyl due to the H1N1 swine flu crisis in Ukraine.