Chernobyl victims demand 'dues'

Victims of the 1986 disaster have had financial concessions revoked

KIEV, Ukraine -- Victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and their relatives have marched through the Ukrainian capital Kiev, protesting that authorities were letting them die in poverty.

Chernobyl is due to be shut down permanently on December 15.

Fourteen years after one of its reactors exploded in the world's worst peacetime nuclear disaster, one in sixteen Ukrainians is suffering from cancer and other diseases caused by radiation.

Many victims of the disaster now rely on small state pensions for their livelihoods, which are often paid late or only in part.

Waving banners saying: "We protected Ukraine, now Ukraine must protect us" and "We are dying," around 2,000 protestors joined veterans of the Soviet Afghan war to mark an international day for the disabled.

Widows wearing black shawls held up photographs of husbands who died after working on clean-up crews in the aftermath of the accident.

They were joined by half a dozen children in wheelchairs whose parents had received large doses of radiation.

A safe closure of the plant could cost "billions of dollars."

Nina Kharchenko, bearing a portrait of her late husband Boris, said: "We want them (the government) to give us our dues. We have nothing to live on."

She said a 50 percent reduction on utilities bills for Chernobyl victims and their relatives had been cancelled.

Speakers at the protest called on the government to plan more generous social spending in a draft 2001 budget.

The government has been fighting to get a lean budget approved, due to go before parliament for a final vote on Thursday, in an effort to persuade the International Monetary Fund to resume a blocked $2.6 billion lending programme.

Chernobyl's number four reactor exploded in 1986, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe which has been blamed for thousands of deaths.

Ukraine still uses the plant's third reactor, which had to be switched off for most of last week when cold weather downed power lines. The reactor was re-started on Friday.

Western countries have pledged to fund the completion of two nuclear reactors elsewhere to replace Chernobyl's lost capacity.

But the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has not yet made a final decision on disbursing the loans and some Ukrainian officials have said they will renege on closing down Chernobyl if no cash is found.

Ukraine still relies on the reactor for around five percent of its electricity.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Chernobyl workers march on Kremlin
October 25, 2000
Chernobyl: An unthinkable disaster
June 5, 2000

Uranium Institute: Chernobyl
Nuclear Energy Agency: Chernobyl
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
Chernobyl simulation

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.