A MINOR release of radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was reportedly caused by careless work by staff, officials said yesterday, the eve of the 10th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident.
Mr Oleg Goloskokov, a spokesman for the station 140 km north of Kiev, said the radiation had been cleaned up and there was no threat to the environment.
The incident, similar to an occurrence last November, occurred as preparations were being completed for commemorations to mark the explosion in Chernobyl's fourth reactor which spilled radiation over most of Europe and left a huge legacy of contamination and disease.
Mr Goloskokov said the latest contamination occurred on Wednesday night when staff were changing filters used to pump air from inside the steel and concrete "sarcophagus" encasing the ruined fourth reactor.
"The filters were changed in normal fashion, but when the work was completed, the old filters were left in a room by the third reactor," he said by telephone. "This was radioactive material. As the work was badly organised, radioactive dust contaminated four places." This was a violation of safety rules and people could well have been affected, he said.
The Ukrainian President, Mr Leonid Kuchma, who has agreed to close Chernobyl by the year 2000, yesterday opened a cancer clinic in his native Chernihiv region, just to the east of the stricken station. He told those present that "since the morning of April 26th, 1986, our lives have been divided into periods: before and after Chernobyl."
At 1:24 a.m. this morning, (10:24 p.m. yesterday, Irish time) a candlelight procession wound through Slavutych, the new town created 35 km from the plant, to mark the moment when staff lost control of the reactor.
The Vatican said yesterday that seeking safer forms of energy is the "least we can do" after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster a decade ago.
The Cor Unum (United Heart) Pontifical Council and the Catholic charity, Caritas, said in a statement: "The tragic experience of Chernobyl must encourage us on the one hand to reduce our energy consumption and on the other to increase investment in research into new sources of trustworthy, safe and non-polluting energy." the statement said.
"It is the least we can do for the thousands of children in Ukraine and Belarus whose young lives have been shattered by the Chernobyl tragedy." (Reuter)