- It happened 2500km away and 18 years ago, but it is
still contaminating Scottish sheep with levels of radioactivity considered
unsafe to eat.
-
- After the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine
exploded and spewed radioactivity over most of Europe in April 1986, people
were assured by the authorities that its effects would be seen off in a
matter of weeks.
-
- But new figures released by the government show just
how misguided those assurances were. Today 14 farms covering 16,300 hectares
of southwest and central Scotland are still subject to restrictions on
the movement and slaughter of radioactive sheep.
-
- The concentrations of radioactive caesium-137 from Chernobyl
in the animals' muscles still exceed the safety limit of 1000 becquerels
of radioactivity per kilogram. Farmers have to mark con taminated sheep
with indelible paint, and must wait until they fall below the limit before
they can have them slaughtered for food.
-
- "It is incredible that a small number of Scottish
farms are still under restriction 18 years on from an accident that occurred
hundreds of miles away," said James Withers, the spokesman for National
Farmers' Union Scotland (NFUS).
-
- "The initial advice in 1986 was that the effects
would be over in a few weeks. It is obviously extremely frustrating and
disappointing for the individuals concerned."
-
- Ten of the farms with sheep restrictions are in East
Ayrshire, three are in Stirling and one is in East Renfrewshire. The farmers
have not been named. Similar restrictions on the movement and slaughter
of sheep still apply down south. In Wales they cover 359 farms totalling
53,000 hectares in Snowdonia and the north, while in England they affect
nine farms totalling 12,000 hectares in West Cumbria.
-
- The information was given by ministers in response to
recent questions in the Commons from anti-nuclear Labour MP for Blaenau
Gwent, Llew Smith. "Chernobyl showed how nuclear accidents are both
deadly to those in the area immediately affected, and have an impact thousands
of miles away," he said. "I strongly believe that all nuclear
power should be scrapped.
-
- "It has turned out to be the most costly and certainly
the most dangerous means of generating fuel."
-
- Chernobyl was the world's worst nuclear accident. Errors
by control room staff in an old and poorly designed Soviet-era reactor
led to a blast which ripped apart the building.
-
- Over several days a massive cloud of radioactivity blew
over western Europe, falling to earth wherever it rained. Caesium-137 and
other radio active isotopes got into the soil and were then taken up and
recycled by grass and plants.
-
- As a result, grazing animals, particularly those in rainy
upland areas, became contaminated. As well as sheep, high levels of caesium-137
were detected in deer and grouse.
-
- Chernobyl also triggered an epidemic of thyroid cancers
among children in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. According to the World Health
Organisation, the accident released 200 times more radioactivity than the
US atomic bombs which devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
-
- In the months immediately after the accident, more than
2000 farms in Scotland were subject to sheep restrictions. But by 1991
this had dropped to 60, and by 2001 to 18.
-
- Farmers affected are compensated under the 1986 Sheep
Compensation Scheme. The government has paid out £2.8 million to
Scottish farmers, including £330,000 over the past five years.
-
- "Our primary concern is to ensure public safety,"
said a spokesman for the Scottish Executive. "Monitoring of sheep
on affected farms will continue until radioactive caesium levels comply
with internationally agreed standards."
-
- According to environmentalists, there are lessons to
be learned from Chernobyl's legacy. "When nuclear power plants go
wrong they tend to go wrong in a big way," said Duncan McLaren, chief
executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland.
-
- "The fact that Scottish farmers today are still
feeling the impacts of this accident should be a warning to all those who
think that nuclear power deserves a second chance."
-
- He said two of the countries that have just joined the
European Union ñ Lithuania and Slovakia ñ are still relying
on old Soviet-style reactors. And that the Euratom Treaty which underpins
the EU obliges them to pursue nuclear power.
-
- "Instead of asking these countries to increase their
capacity in dangerous nuclear power we should be assisting them to shut
these plants and move towards safer, cleaner forms of energy production,"
McLaren argued.
-
- He added: "In the run-up to the European elections
the public should challenge candidates as to whether they support replacing
this outdated treaty with something that will prevent future Chernobyls."
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