EUROPEAN COMMISSION  INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY    

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

ONE DECADE AFTER CHERNOBYL:

SUMMING UP THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ACCIDENT

Austria Center Vienna, Austria, 8-12 April 1996

Paper number: IAEA-CN-63/228

Title: The Trace of Chernobyl in Consciousness of Victims

Authors/Affiliations: Yuri Saenko

Institute of Sociology of

the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

12, Shovkovychna Street

Kiev 252021

Ukraine

ABSTRACT

Introduction. Social and psychological post-effects of Chernobyl disaster have turned out one of the most unpredicted unexpectednesses by scale and extent in the post-catastrophe period. Certainly, it was necessary to start to study this phenomen from the very beginning in the monitoring comparative mode. However, the lack of understanding the urgency of this problem, from one side, and the lack of funds, from the other side, have led to the fact that beginning only from 1992 thru 1994 there have been carried out in Ukraine three systematic studies of socio-psychological post-effects of the disaster funded from the state budget. All the studies performed further by Western researchers were of episodic nature. If Western funds intend to continue to allocate the funds for such studies, it would be better to do it, involving the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine that functions as the National Coordinator on this problem, possessing of proper experience and system results.

 Method.  Mass socio-psychological interviewing of all categories of suffered population has been conducted by questionnaire. Survey method is the interview. Representative quota sampling is according to the criteria of place of residence (city, village), type of settlement, sex, age and level of education. Reliability of results is equal to 3-5%.

Results. The disaster has made a tremendous destructive impact upon socio-psychological state and socio-cultural orientations of the population. Apathy, passivity, paternalism, lack of initiative, loss of future, fear of suffered environment, loss of belief in support from the side of authorities, syndrome of doomed, fear for health and future of children is the uncomplete list of typical characteristics of the suffered people. The migrants adapt very hardly to natural-climatic and socio-cultural conditions of new place of residence, they have quite a high level of nostalgia, almost all adults want to return to old places. There have been fixed a number of paradoxes in orientations of the suffered people. The radius of socio-psychological impact of disaster was found to be much more greater than the radius of radioactive hitting. There have been detected radioactively “clean” areas in Zhytomyr region, residents of which, by the level of socio-psychological impact of disaster, do not differ practically from the residents of readioactively contaminated territories. In some cases the level of their fears even exceeds the level of fears of the suffered. There have been fixed in the 1994-1995 studies that general and political crisis in Ukraine has “covered” the Chernobyl factor, the people have reconciled themselves to their destiny, and their low living standard and absence of clear perspective to pass through the crisis frighten them out of existence more than the Chernobyl. There has been fixed the  “psychological tiredness” due to permanent stress situation. In my view, methods of mass and socio-psychological rehabilitation are of limited effectiveness, without improving political and economical situation in the country.

Conclusions. Socio-psychological studies should be carried out in complex with the other studies in the monitoring mode. Involved Western funds for conducting  socio-psychological studies of Chernobyl disaster post-effects should be co-ordinated with the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. These studies must be continued, because the “memory of trauma” remains at the suffered population, and while improving an economic situation, the “Chernobyl factor” again will be valid. Especially as, it is not known, how the small radiation dozes will  influence upon socio-psychological state and physical health of 130 000 suffered people who remained to reside in radioactively contaminated zones.

The Chernobyl disaster is the global catastrophe of XX century. The deep bases of mankind -- spiritual, social, material -- have shuddered. Chernobyl has appeared as the result of undoubtful priority of engineering and technology and economics thought over ecologic and humanistic expediency. Chernobyl is the planetary multifactor unique hypercomplex event that should be studied and treated, using not elementary linear or mosaic measures, but involving non-ordinary non-traditional and complex methods.

This Chernobyl “explosion” has occured long before 1986, just in the period of planning, designing and adopting the decisions on the nuclear reactor type and region alotted for the construction of it. This is the spiritual, moral-ethical tragedy, first of all.

Moscow has taken in arbitrary manner the decision on the construction of the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station. Moscow has managed overall work at the Chernobyl construction site. Moscow commanded to start that saddly known experiment resulted in the explosion. Moreover, even today we do not know, for sure, of what nature -- technical or military -- was that experiment at the 4th block?!

Moscow has said no word, it has taken no step to remedy post-Chernobyl situation in Ukraine. Quite the contrary. When Russia fastens the noose of prices on energy carriers, suddenly shot up to the world level, around Ukraine’s neck and strangles, by doing so, it compells Ukraine to run even the blocks of the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station.

Chernobyl is the energetic tragedy, no doubt. The myth of “peaceful atom” is undermined. The safety of atomic power engineering raised doubts. Likely, searching for alternative kinds of energy is the only way to salvation.

Chernobyl is also the methodological and organizational tragedy: neither science nor technology do know and do manage to cope with it. We do not cure,  but do make it worse by unskilful treatment. This the tragedy of crisis and begging. From one side, it ought to curtail nuclear power engineering, bot from the other -- may we allow this to ourselves under the power famine situation that is the result, incidentally, of outdated power consuming technologies.

However, the most striking unexpectedness of Chernobyl has been its socio-psychological strike at the population. Ecological, economical and medical post-effects could be foreseen, to some extent. More than convincing experience of Hiroshima, Chelyabinsk, nuclear test range of Kazakhstan gave some grounds for it. However, it has been Chernobyl that has demonstrated tremendous destroying impact on socio-psychologic sphere of vast masses of population -- up to 6 000 000 of people (including Kiev habitants, suffered, in fact, but not recognized, offcially, as such ones).

The first socio-psychological studies have fixed symptoms of different aspects. Break-down, astheniazation, headache, memory weakening, sharp health worsening. Alarmedness and fear for children’s and own health and fate. Fear of uncertain future. Feeling the total menace and absence of commomn sense. Feeling keenly the dissonance of the authorities statements: ‘Everything is okay, there is nothing terrible in the Chernobyl disaster” and great mass resettlement actually and the other large-scale acts of the Chernobyl disaster liquidation. There is no confidence to the authorities. Acute problems of resettled population. The syndrome of doomed.

The first sociologic study of socio-psychologic post-effects of the Chernobyl disaster has been carried out by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 1992. Beginning from that time, these studies have assumed the more systematic character. There have been interviewed more than 10 000 of suffered people, resettlers, in particular. 60% of the suffered have testified the dread of foodstuffs, feeling of fear and helplessness, sleeplessness and shortness of temper; 20% noted that they have no appetite. Almost 30%, in general, lost their interest to life. 45%, answering the question “What do you intend to do for finding a way out from this hard situation?!”, said  “Nothing”!  The suffered people fall in the state of to be infantile socially. There is formed “the community of doomed”, who rely, mainly, upon God, sometimes on themselves, the near relations, the state aid for life. 90% of these people are concentrated only on their own health, and health of their children and near people.

The resettlers possess of the crippled socio-cultural and landscape space, they are hardly adapted to new conditions. A half of them wants to come back to native places, even radioactively contaminated. Moreover, “the Soviet model of life” -- irresponsibility, helplessness, absence of initiative -- has sticked fast in quite a great number of people. So, for example, only 7% want to have their own property, and it does not matter for 40% who will possess of the property; 30% are for the state or kolkhoz property, and more than 20% have not formed their own opinion of it.

Self-appraisals of socio-psychological state and orientations

(in % to the interviewed people) of

residents of the II and III radioactively contaminated zones, resettlers and residents of comparatively clean zone.

June 1992. The Institute of Sociology of

the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

The people are inclined to hyperbolize the Chernobyl disaster post-effects: whatever happens with them they put down to “the Chernobyl factor”.

Carrying out the resettlement too chaotically has shown what the irreversible influence on the state of mind, social and socio-cultural status of the resettled population, especially, of elder age is made by such unreasoned actions. Due to prolonged hushing up by the USSR government the Chernobyl disaster scales and post-effects, the suffered population as well as population of Ukraine, in general, has experienced hardly the double stress, “two Chernobyls”. The first is obejective, the second is of informational nature when mass media has received, at last, an opportunity to open the truth about the Chernobyl Atomic power Station Disaster. The Chernobyl has marked the beginning of searching for the new post-Chernobyl models of survival for the whole mankind, not only for Ukraine itself. It has dictated the requirement to change cardinally value-normative space of life and complex analysis and synthesis of all factors of the survival.

The interviewing in December 1994 has covered 1 200 respondents, who belonged to such categories of Zhytomyr region population: II zone, obligatory settling out - 300 persons; III zone, free-will settling out - 300 persons; IV zone, high radiation - 300 persons; “clean zone”, control zone - 300 persons. The sample is representative by age, sex, education, place of residence (city, village) and family structure.

Due to the lack of funds, researchers selected, as a “clean” zone, the Zhytomyr region areas, not listed in the register of radioactively contaminated zones, where the people from the II and III zones have been resettled to. Unexpectedly, we registered such a fact. The residents of “clean” areas do not differ in the least, in their socio-psychological self-appraisals, from the residents of radioactively contaminated territories. This fact indicates that the radius of socio-psychologic impact is vastly larger than the radius of radioactively suffered territory.

For example, the life plans of residents of territories under comparison are practically the same:

The population, irrespective of residence area and degree of its radioactive contamination, is fully concentrated on the problems of elementary survival. The most pressing needs are money aid, medicines, food products, clothes. In the interim, such active orientations of activity as a retraining, setting up a business or acquiring a plot for farming remain in the background. In settling the problems of survival, the people rely, mainly, upon themselves, their families and near persons. They rely a little in this matter on public oraganizations and do not trust the authorities’ structures. It is the Ministry of Affairs on Protection of the Population from Chernobyl Disaster Post-effects with which the suffered people connect bigger hopes, comparatively to  the other organizations, to improve the situation that has arisen after the disaster. 30% of the suffered people and 46% of “clean” area residents did know practically nothing of the Law On Status and Social Protection of Citizens Suffered from the Chernobyl Disaster, or could say nothing of it. And only 1% of both the suffered people and “control” respondents consider this Law as the just, complete and effective law.

This is too alarming symptom. It testifies the apathy, distrust, utmostly lowest level of legal consciousness of the population, and spiritual emptiness, information deafness, law-making and organizational insolvency from the side of the state and civil society. It may search for explanations in paternalistic stereotypes of the population that has been weaned from independent thinking and initiative actions by centuries, in the youth and poverty of the state and immaturity of civil society, in absence of experience from the side of world community for large-scale actions of support that Chernobyl needs, though they themselves only will not mend matters.

It is seen from the above that the population of disaster zones, in absence of the proper support and advice, has accustomed to all of this for long ten years after the disaster, and directed thoughts and efforts to getting the living and daily bread, safeguarding children, and then -- higgledy-piggledy.

The studies of December 1995. There have been interviewed 700 persons, including the II zone residents -- obligatory settling out, the III zone residents -- free-will settling out,  as well as the resettlers and the “clean” zone residents from the Poltava region territories. It is the results of studying “samosels” -- the residents of the dead 30 km alienation and astrangement zone, the persons who took their old residence again (or new ones) independently, without authorities permission, the number of which exceeds 1 000 persons that deserve a special attention. This is the particular phenomen of post-Chernobyl situation. The results of the study given below are so significant that they require no comments, taking into account the limited size of this paper.

Self-appraisals of socio-psychological state and orientations

(in % to the interviewed people) of

residents of the I, II and III radioactively contaminated zones, resettlers and residents of comparatively clean zone.

December 1995. The Institute of Sociology of

the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The number of interviewed persons is 700.

Self-appraisals of socio-psychological state and orientations of

“samosels” -- the residents of the dead 30 km alienation and astrangement zone

(in % to the interviewed people)

December 1995. The Institute of Sociology of

the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The number of interviewed persons is 100.