Chernobyl's poisonous legacy 25 years on... the sarcophagus is cracked and deteriorating

[Fledermaus]

A full quarter of a century after the Chernobyl disaster, and the sarcophagus over the wrecked reactor is cracked and deteriorating, hundreds of tons of highly radioactive material remain to be dealt with, attempts to raise many millions of pounds to make the site safe are falling short, the health of Ukrainian children unborn in 1986 is still being damaged, and it will be 20,000 years before vegetables grown in the area will be safe to eat.

This is the appalling and continuing legacy of the world's worst nuclear disaster. Its 25th anniversary will be on Tuesday, and a meeting in Kiev last week to resolve issues broke up without full agreement and unable to issue a report.

Some $1.1bn is needed to build a planned new cover for the reactor, which will allow the radioactive rods to be dealt with. But the pledges from a range of countries are still falling short by $298m.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/chernobyls-poisonous-legacy-25-years-on-2274070.html

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. I'm convinced there are no hostile aliens out there desiring to "serve man,"

If they were, they would have stepped in by now to protect their food source.

[Gregorian]

2. As a child, my dad used to say to take the first two letters in "nuclear", and swap them.

[Marblehead]

3. the gift that keeps on giving...