Soviets Put Cost of Chernobyl at $2.9 Billion

Officials today gave the first breakdown of the bill from the Chernobyl nuclear accident, saying the April 26 fire and explosion cost at least $2.9 billion in power losses, new housing for evacuees and other consequences.

The officials told a news conference that thousands of people have been mobilized just to conduct medical examinations, and 600 square miles of land cannot be farmed because of radioactive contamination.

Finance Minister Boris I. Gostev said the direct costs of the disaster were estimated at 2 billion rubles, more than $2.9 billion at today’s exchange rate.

He said this included $885 million spent in housing more than 100,000 evacuees and compensating them for the loss of homes and belongings, plus $590 million as the estimated cost of the ruined No. 4 reactor at Chernobyl.

Double Wages

Other costs include double wages being paid to workers decontaminating the 18-mile zone cleared around the plant after the disaster, and even higher wages paid to workers at the plant itself, Gostev said.

A chemical explosion tore apart the Chernobyl reactor and released radiation eventually detected around the globe. Thirty-one people died in the Soviet Union as a result of the disaster.

The first deputy minister of health, Oleg P. Shchepin, said three of the 203 people hospitalized with radiation sickness after the disaster remain in a Moscow clinic, and eight are in a Kiev hospital.

Gostev said the government had done as much as it could to compensate the evacuees, but “it is impossible to compensate such losses as the death of people.”

Compensation for Homes

Individuals who lost their homes received $5,900 compensation; couples received $10,330 and $2,210 was paid for each additional occupant, he said.

Evacuees also received interest-free 15-year loans and still get monthly $44 food allowances, he said.

Grigory Revenko, Communist Party head in the Kiev region, reported that 90,251 residents were evacuated from the Ukraine by May 4.