WORLD : Chernobyl Need: $320 Billion
A member of the Soviet Parliament said today that about $320 billion will be needed over the next 10 years to cope with the consequences of the disaster April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Ukraine.
Yuri Shtsherbak, vice chairman of the Supreme Soviet’s Commission on Environment and Nuclear Energy, told reporters an international fund should be set up to assist the Soviet Union.
He said the thyroid glands of more than 1.5 million people, including 160,000 children, were exposed to “important levels of radiation” after the Chernobyl disaster. In the Ukraine, the incidence of thyroid cancer was expected to increase as much as tenfold, Shtsherbak said. There are also considerably more cases of leukemia and immunity deficiencies. “We call that Chernobyl AIDS,” he added. “We believe this is only the beginning.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
