Nuclear Energy: Remembering Chernobyl’s ongoing tragic legacy

“The Chernobyl disaster reminds us that every nuclear dream is but one accident away from turning into a tragic nightmare.  There are far abundant, safer and cheaper energy in the form of renewable energy which Thailand can develop,” said Tara Buakamsri, Campaign Manager of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“Certificate No.000358” refers to the serial number given to Annya Pashenko from Belarus due to the sheer volume of victims still suffering from the ongoing effects of radioactive contamination.  Photographer Robert Knoth and journalist Antoinette de Jong traveled through the nuclear disaster zones in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, the Urals and Siberia and documented the lives of those affected by the nuclear disaster.  They chronicled these tragedies through essays and photos in their highly-acclaimed book of the same title.

By various estimates, between 5 to 8 million people still reside in the areas that remain highly contaminated by Chernobyl’s radioactive pollution 22 years after the disaster. The most recent epidemiological evidence, published under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences, suggests that the scale of the problems could be very much greater than predicted by studies published to date. Body of evidence concerning human health impacts of the radiation released by the Chernobyl accident includes Thyroid cancer, leukemia, abnormalities in respiratory system, abnormalities in digestive system, abnormalities in blood vascular system, abnormalities in hormone/endocrine status, abnormalities of immune function, infectious diseases, genetic abnormalities and chromosomal aberrations, reproductive system, premature ageing, sense organs and neurological and psychological disorders.

Recently, Greenpeace revealed that an accident at the Spanish nuclear power plant Asco-I resulted in significant radioactive contamination of public areas outside of the plant. The plant’s operator Endesa/Iberdrola had kept this secret for four months. Even after Greenpeace published details of the accident, the state regulatory agency CSN continued to underestimate the severity for several days. Under the pressure of evidence it was forced to admit that the leak was at least one hundred times bigger than originally announced. Hot radioactive particles were spread many kilometres away from the site and several hundreds of people needed to be screened for possible contamination.

Greenpeace is calling on Thai government to immediately scrap its nuclear proposal and revise its long-term energy plan towards environmentally-friendly and socially-just energy choices.  Greenpeace sees no role for nuclear power in cutting the world’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Instead, Greenpeace is calling for an Energy Revolution based on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. Governments which opt for nuclear power will also find their energy independence and security limited to the very few countries and companies which can provide nuclear technology and fuel.