Yury Varonezhtsau: They Work There and Pass Away in a Year

The scientist told why it was not acceptable to abolish the protection zone of the Polessky radiation-ecological reserve.

Yury Varonezhtsau, Candidate of Science, former member of the Chernobyl Commission of the Supreme Council of the USSR, said in a conversation with a Charter97.org correspondent.

- Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Rusy said that after abolition of the protection zone of the Polessky radiation-ecological reserve, the territory can be effectively used. According to him, farmers have learned to grow "clean products". Could you agree with it?

- First, we need to decide what "clean products" mean. Clean products mean a complete absence of radionuclides. I do not know what Rusy meant. Perhaps, he was mistaken in terminology. Although, of course, this is untenable for the person who holds such a position. There should be no mistakes in such issues. Well, it can be done, but it will be too expensive. Products grown there will cost much more than those grown in pure lands.

Work in those territories inflicts enormous harm to human health, to say nothing of what will be grown there. I see dozens of tractor drivers from this zone in cancer centers. They work there and a person passes away in a year. Works there are unacceptable. This violates the Constitution.

There is one more reason why it is prohibited to grow "clean products" there. There are places without radiation, but these pure lands are only of dozens meters not kilometers or hectares. That is, if you measure the content of radionuclides every five meters, which is very expensive, by the way, you can get a clean land plot in a certain place, in a couple of meters the radionuclide content will be exceeded 40 times, in ten - 100 times, and then again zero. Migration of radionuclides leads to the fact that this picture changes from year to year. Therefore, I can hardly imagine how they are going to grow products there.

- Why did the authorities need to abolish the protection zone of the Polessky radiation and ecological reserve? Are we really so short of food that we need to use contaminated lands?

- From the point of view of common sense, you question finds no reasonable answer. In terms of the number of farmlands in Europe Belarus takes third position after Russia and Ukraine. Poland, in my opinion, has three times less, not to mention Holland and Germany. Why is this done for? I see this as a political motive.

If you read a criminal chronicle, you can see that high-ranking district officials are imprisoned for the sale of mineral fertilizers. And the development of those territories requires a huge amount of fertilizers. That is, local leaders are interested in this. In general, I see here also a financial reason. Many are interested in making money there. From the point of view of economics and physics, there is no answer here.

- Maybe Rusy does not have enough competence in this sphere?

- Yes, of course. Although, there (in the government) should be some percentage of scientists who, however, keep silence. There are people who know what is going on, but they do not dare say.

Everything that happened in the 80s, when everything was hushed up and was supposedly normal is now being repeated.