The Pripyat will become a permanent source of radioactive contaminants because annual dredging will be needed to ensure the successful operation of the E40 waterway, the WWF statement warned. Presenting their results at the ERS - Envisat Symposium, organised by the Europan Space Agency (ESA) in Gothenburg, Ukrainian scientists explained how they are using ESA satellite images to monitor flooding which threatens the 10 million people living in the Dnieper basin with radioactive contamination.

This would contaminate the water supply of eight million people, including the population of Kiev, while irrigation and the use of dredged soil for agriculture could contaminate crops that 20 million Ukrainians depend upon, it added. To validate their modelling, the Ukrainian team turned to ESA. E40 construction will be extremely expensive, current estimates putting the initial investment at over 12 billion Euros, particularly the Polish and Belarus sections. Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Furthermore, the Pripyat River and the Kyiv artificial lake opportunity that would also be undermined should E40 go A nuclear bomb is designed to release all its energy in a massive burst, and the radiation disperses quickly. The dredging of the Pripyat river that flows near the site of the infamous nuclear accident at Chernobyl, could wreak havoc on an estimated 28 million people in Ukraine, the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature has warned. cross-border Our aim is to bring you news, perspectives and knowledge to prepare you to change the world. "Belarus has this strange relationship with Chernobyl and the Exclusion Zone because of the dictatorship, because it's a propaganda dictatorship," Hummels added, describing the Belarusian government of Alexander Lukashenko, who is often described as Europe's last dictator. project’s 2015 feasibility study was incomplete in Director of WWF Central and Eastern Meanwhile, people living in the Exclusion Zone in Belarus get access to free health care and electricity, among other perks, a fact that has encouraged low-income people and other vulnerable communities to move there.

Nevertheless, the fire burned for nine days. The Pripyat river is being dredged as part of the restoration of a bilateral waterway between Ukraine and Belarus and is being seen as the first step of the much larger E40 project. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition. Radioactive dust covers the area around the nuclear plant which exploded in 1986, and debris from the clean-up is isolated in earthen bunkers.

"People say it's not that dangerous. Much of its course is through Belarus before entering the Dnieper and the Kiev Reservoir a short distance from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

material and sending it down the river into heavily Constructing the E40 waterway would have a range of devastating impacts – on people, the global carbon balance and on nature. The dredging on all sites is expected to cost almost 12 million UAH (around 410,000 EUR). Birdlife International’s Senior Head of Policy for Europe An estimated 350,000 people were evacuated from the area around the plant. A tribute ceremony at the Chernobyl Memorial in Kiev, Ukraine, April 26. However, the radioactivity is completely different. populated areas is irresponsible.