Read this article in:
9 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 22/2001
Tomorrow is the fifteenth anniversary of the world's worst-ever nuclear accident.
This is the moment to reflect on the future of the nuclear industry, says the energy workers' international ICEM, and particularly on ways of tackling the social problems raised by nuclear decommissioning.
On 26 April 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, in Ukraine, exploded. Radiation spread far and near. Many of the workers and soldiers sent in to clean up the site died of radiation-related illnesses, and many more were permanently disabled. The long-term public health impact of the disaster is still being evaluated. Known effects include an increase in thyroid cancers among children in the worst-hit areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
A concrete "sarcophagus" was built over the devastated reactor, but this protective structure is known to be cracking. The international community has pledged more than 700 million US dollars towards sealing off the Chernobyl reactors. However, the full cost of closing and decommissioning the plant is likely to be higher than that. In addition, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development may soon provide a further 200 million dollars for the construction of two new nuclear reactors in Ukraine.
On 15 December last year, the only reactor still operating at Chernobyl was shut down forever, and the station no longer generates power.
"Tomorrow is a time to remember all those who were killed and injured in the drive to contain the effects of the disaster," commented Fred Higgs in Brussels, "but it is also a time to make real social provision for the Chernobyl workers of today."
Higgs is General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The 20-million-strong ICEM represents electricity workers worldwide, including those in the nuclear industry.
"The world owes a great debt to those who sacrificed their lives and health in order to limit the build-up of radiation after the Chernobyl disaster," Higgs said. "One thing that we can and must do now is to ensure that a proper social plan is put in place for the Chernobyl workers and their families, so that they do not suffer unduly from the effects of the shutdown. The international community has found large funds to tackle the physical radiation from Chernobyl. It must also help to limit the social fall-out."
The Ukrainian nuclear workers' union ATU is an ICEM affiliate. Together, the ATU and the international have mounted a sustained campaign to ensure that both the Ukrainian government and the international community fund an adequate social plan for workers displaced by the Chernobyl closure. This is all the more urgent because the Chernobyl workers and their families are concentrated in the town of Slavutich, which was built to house them outside the most contaminated zone. The Slavutich economy is dependent on the power station.
Last year, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a social plan for Slavutich, and the national and local authorities have already begun to put it into effect. The reduction in the Chernobyl workforce will be gradual. Of the 10,000 or so Chernobyl workers, about 1,700 will lose their jobs this year. But decommissioning will keep some employed up to 2008, and possibly beyond. In the interim, the government has brought in measures to guarantee the incomes of dismissed Chernobyl workers.
International assistance is still needed, though - notably to start up new small-scale enterprises in Slavutich, as a way of creating jobs.
And, as a recent ICEM-organised conference in Kiev heard, Slavutich may have to tackle particular health issues, such as the stress-related problems caused both by working at Chernobyl and by the protracted wrangling over its closure.
Held in the Ukrainian capital on 9-11 April, the ICEM conference brought together nuclear industry trade unionists from the Ukraine, but also from a number of other countries. There was, for example, strong representation from Lithuania and Bulgaria - two countries that will face similar decommissioning problems.
Held in the Ukrainian capital on 9-11 April, the ICEM conference brought together nuclear industry trade unionists from the Ukraine, but also from a number of other countries. There was, for example, strong representation from Lithuania and Bulgaria - two countries that will face similar decommissioning problems.
Conference participants said that nuclear is and will remain an important energy source, but they also recognised that the industry raises major safety issues. They called for international assistance for the decommissioning of Chernobyl, as well as for job creation and medical assistance to the Chernobyl workers. And they urged the ICEM to lobby for the safe and socially responsible decommissioning of nuclear power plants. It was suggested that interested ICEM affiliates should set up an informal contact group to develop a strategy for the social and economic protection of nuclear workers when their stations are decommissioned.
At the same time, ICEM representatives at the meeting made it clear that international social action on behalf of Ukraine's workers could not be divorced from political developments within the country. Corruption and attacks on democracy would make it more difficult to mobilise international support.
"The longer-term future of the nuclear industry is uncertain," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs today. "On the one hand, there are quite legitimate public concerns about the safety of nuclear plants and about the storage of nuclear waste. On the other hand, nuclear power generation produces virtually no emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide or nitrogen oxide. So, in view of the need to tackle global warming, nuclear may continue to be part of the world's energy mix for some considerable time.
"What can be said with confidence," Higgs pointed out,"is that nuclear power generation will be needed in many countries in the short- to medium-term. It emerged very clearly from our Kiev conference, and from our previous conferences of nuclear workers, that the industry can function only if it has the full confidence of the public. And it will have that confidence only if it is entirely frank about all the issues involved, including safety. So, on the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the world's nuclear workers call upon the industry to ensure full, complete and open public information about its operations, including prompt information on any incidents. Nothing less than complete transparency will do.
"But at the same time," Higgs added, "it is clear that many nuclear power stations will have to be decommissioned in the near future. The problems are particularly pressing, and particularly daunting, in countries that have Soviet-designed reactors, but the issue will ultimately confront all the countries that use nuclear power. Of the world's 430 existing reactors, 150 were built before 1980. Thirty years is a typical age for a nuclear plant, even though many governments are extending the life of these stations."
Certainly, many countries will be concerned.
Nuclear generation currently provides some 17 percent of the world's electricity - about the same as hydro power. Three countries - France, Belgium and Lithuania - rely on nuclear power for more than 50 percent of their supply. In another twelve countries, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Ukraine, nuclear plants produce 30 percent or more of the electricity. And a large number of developing nations, including Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Pakistan, have operational nuclear power plants.
Especially in parts of Asia, energy demand is growing rapidly and nuclear is seen as an attractive option. Japan, Korea and China are among the countries that have ambitious nuclear power programmes for the next few decades. In 1999, 38 new reactors were reported to be under construction in the world, with a total capacity of 31700 megawatts. However, in major nuclear producing countries such as the US, the UK, France and Germany, no new capacity is being planned.
"Socially, as well as technically and environmentally, the world has every interest in getting the Chernobyl closure right," Higgs concluded. "The decommissioning of Chernobyl is just the first case among many."