*Click here to read "Impressions of Chornobyl" by Ruslan Masnenky

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, the First International Youth Ecology Forum was held in the city of Slavutych on 4-7 April 2006.  Bringing together youth from across Ukraine, the goal of the forum was to attract youth to public life through an ecological education, raise a generation that is ecologically aware, and provide reliable information on the radioecological problems of the catastrophe.  The forum demonstrated that by uniting their intellectual forces, youth and local government can take on the battle for an ecologically sound environment and healthy way of life. 

Participants included students from state universities in Uzhhorod, Sevastopol, Kyiv, Chernihiv and Odesa, the Slavutych lyceum, members of the Kyiv oblast student council, and youth representatives from the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation's (USUF) Community Partnerships Project (CPP) cities of Kamianets-Podilsky, Kirovske, Komsomolsk, Korosten, Volodymyr-Volynsk, and Voznesensk.   USUF was one of the sponsors of the forum.

In his introductory remarks at the forum's opening on April 5, Slavutych Mayor Volodymyr Udovychenko noted that we will probably never know the true consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe and that unfortunately our youth do not have enough information about it - thus stressing the importance of such events. His hope is that this will become an annual forum.  Presentations were then given by experts on current issues and problems related to the Chornobyl disaster:

• "Radioecological problems of the exclusion zone"  Yuriy Oleksandrovych Ivanov - Ph.D. in biology, Chief Research Engineer, International Radioecology Laboratory at the Chornobyl Center for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology
• "Medical aspects of the Chornobyl catastrophe" Volodymyr Hryhorovych Bebeshko - Ph.D. in medicine, professor, General Director of the Research Center for Radiological Medicine, member-correspondent of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine
• "Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant - the trial years" Oleksandr Yevhenovych Novikov - Deputy Technical Director for Nuclear Safety at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant
• "Rehabilitation of radioactive territories" Anatoliy Volodymyrovych Nosovsky, Ph.D. in technical sciences, professor, Director of the Slavutych Training Center at the Chernihiv State Institute for Economics and Management, Director of the Slavutych branch of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
• "Techno-eco-polis Slavutych - effective socioeconomic rehabilitation" Volodymyr Petrovych Udovychenko, Ph.D. in economics, winner of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology, member of the Ukrainian Ecological Academy of Sciences, member of the Congress of Local and Regional Governments of Europe   

The participants then broke up into sections to further discuss these topics.  USUF hosted a discussion entitled "Youth and local government: partners in solving ecological problems in a community". 

The next day participants traveled by train to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) inside the 30 km exclusion zone.  They were given an overview of the accident using a detailed model of the interior of reactor 4, explained current measures being taken to safeguard the reactor, plans for building a new shelter, and provided a description of life within the exclusion zone.  The trip continued two miles to the abandoned city of Prypiat, and further on to the city of Chornobyl, which still houses some temporary workers.  Back at the plant, the participants met with the Head of the Information Department, who discussed the history of the plant and reasons for its shutdown. He assured them that while everyone at the plant is working hard and doing their best to make it as safe as possible, unfortunately, Chornobyl will remain a problem for the next generation.  On their train ride back to Slavutych, participants were able to talk with workers heading home after their daily shifts.  At the close, participants unanimously adopted a forum resolution, before attending a commemorative performance by Slavutych youth and laying flowers at the memorial to the Chornobyl liquidators.  

Slavutych, a participant in the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation's Community Partnerships Project since 1997 (it is a partner city of Richland, Washington), was built by people from across the Soviet Union in 1987-1989 to house displaced workers from the power plant. Slavutych is Ukraine's youngest city historically and demographically; the average age is 31.  In 2005, it was ranked second among Ukrainian cities, after Kyiv, in terms of socioeconomic development.

 

(top, left to right) Oleksandra Prudnikova (Korosten, Zhytomyr oblast), Natalia Tatarina (Kamianets-Podilsky, Khmelnytsky oblast),
(bottom) Oleksiy Lyzenko (Kirovske, Donetsk oblast), Yulia Oladenko (Voznesensk, Mykolaiv oblast), Volodymyr Boyaryn (Volodymyr-Volynsk, Volyn oblast)

Youth from CPP cities (front rows) at the closing session of the forum

Participants listen to a presentation on youth programs in Komsomolsk, Poltava oblast

Memorial to the Chornobyl liquidators in Slavutych

Commemorative performance by Slavutych students