Radiation is “legal”

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine intends to allow the processing of radioactive metal from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Ukrainian metallurgists expect the ban on the export of radiation scrap metal outside the Chernobyl exclusion zone to be lifted. In the future, the volume of supplies of raw materials to metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine will increase: hundreds of thousands of tons of scrap will be added to the 1 million tons of irradiated metal structures and equipment located on the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a result of the dismantling of the power units of the station themselves.

The plans of the Ukrainian government cause great concern among radiological specialists. And first of all, due to the fact that a significant part of radioactive isotopes remains in the metal regardless of its processing, which does not allow even the most modern methods of decontamination of radioactive scrap metal to purify it by more than 30%. Therefore, partially purified metal poses a serious threat to human health, causing diseases of internal organs, malignant tumors, leukemia, etc.

Radioactive metal is transported to metallurgical plants without any processing, as evidenced by the supply of radioactive scrap to the Dnieper Metallurgical Plant, Zaporizhstal and Krivoy Rog. Radioactive Chernobyl scrap metal is used in the production of beams, fittings and pipes.

According to experts, the quality and safety of metal products imported from Ukraine to Russia must be carefully monitored: annually our country purchases up to 2 million tons of Ukrainian metal products and almost 1 million tons of pipes. In just nine months of 2006, customs officers in the south of Russia identified over 1,600 cases of movement of cargo with exceeded background radiation. According to the head of the Southern Customs Department, Igor Litvinov, we are talking about metal structures and pipes of various diameters. Litvinov emphasized that “Ukraine is processing radioactive metal from which pipes and other products are made that can be transported to the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Metal products made using Chernobyl metal have an extremely negative impact on human health. The greatest danger, according to environmentalists, is the use of radioactively contaminated pipes, especially water pipes, in construction and housing and communal services. “No one can guarantee that everything in our houses is in order with the radioactive background and that they were built and repaired without the use of radioactive pipes,” says Maxim Shingarkin, head of the public foundation “Citizen.” “Plutonium isotopes contained in Chernobyl metal are dangerous for health even in minute quantities." “Human consumption of water that passed through the Chernobyl pipes can cause severe cancer, cardiovascular, intestinal, endocrine and respiratory diseases, pathologies of the kidneys, respiratory organs and others,” says Vladimir Grachev, head of the State Duma Committee on Ecology. “At the same time, given the growing volumes of construction in Russia and the need to replace 70% of water and sewer pipes, the consequences of using radioactive Ukrainian metal products can be felt by every Russian, regardless of where he lives.”

Recently, the consumer rights protection society “People's Control” took the initiative to introduce criminal liability for developers who use radioactively contaminated materials in construction. The appeal of “People's Control” to the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev contains a request to include in the upcoming technical regulation “On the safety of building materials and products” a norm that would allow protecting the protection of life and health of people from the harmful effects of substandard and radioactive building materials. Of particular concern to “People's Control” is the increased background radiation, which is recorded today in residential premises: in Moscow apartments alone, according to the State Unitary Enterprise NPO Radon, the radon content has increased by a third over five years. Against this background, the adoption by the State Duma of a new edition of the Town Planning Code, according to which, from January 1, 2007 in Russia, state radiological examination is abolished during construction, looks at least strange.

published under the heading Position

Anton STRELTSOV