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A 21 member International Advisory Committee approved the conclusions and recommedations of the International Chernobyl Project. (Credit: P.Pavlicek/IAEA)

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Timely Response - New systems have been put into place at the IAEA for improving accident response. They include:
International Nuclear Event Scale, a global scale for reliably rating nuclear events.
The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident: A Strategy for Recovery, UN Report 2002.
Chernobyl on the Web
15 Years After Chernobyl
IAEA-Chernobyl Timeline
Thyroid Cancer Effects in Children
Countering Agricultural Consequences
Seeds of Promise for Farmers
Prospects for Ukrainian Dairy
Chernobyl's Liquidators
The Book
Post-Chernobyl Global Co-operation: 5 Years Later
Experts Meeting 3-5 February to Set Roles and Work Plans
Forum Sharpens Focus on Human Consequences of Chernobyl Accident

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IAEA-Chernobyl Timeline: Years of Steady Progress

Staff Report

August 2005

Year by year since the tragic Chernobyl accident, international assistance through the IAEA has made steady progress on multiple fronts. Technical and research projects have targeted social, environmental, and safety problems confronting people in countries most heavily affected by Chernobyl’s fallout, and scientific studies have placed the accident’s radiological effects into clearer perspective. The latest activities seek to help Ukrainian authorities take the closed Chernobyl plant safely out of service and manage highly radioactive waste.

The IAEA timeline of Chernobyl assistance since 1986 extends to dozens of expert missions, reviews, assessments, and field projects. (For full references, see Chernobyl on the Web.) Highlights of the Agency’s response include:

May to August 1986 – Documenting the Accident.

Shortly after the accident, in early May 1986, the IAEA Director General visited the Chernobyl plant, laying the groundwork for the world's first authoritative review of the accident at an international meeting at the IAEA in August 1986. Shortly thereafter, the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, a panel of experts from the Agency’s Member States, issued a summary report of the accident’s causes and immediate consequences.

May 1986 Onwards – Reinforcing the Safety Framework.

Within months of the accident, States had put into place two international conventions under IAEA auspices: the Convention on the Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency. They stand among a wide range of agreements to strengthen global cooperation in areas of nuclear, radiation, and waste safety. (Also see The Global Framework for Nuclear Safety and Timely Response.)

October 1989 to June 1991 -- Assessing Radiological Consequences.

In October 1989, the IAEA coordinated an international study of the accident's radiiological, environmental and health consequences in selected towns of the most heavily contaminated areas in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. Between March 1990 and June 1991, a total of 50 field missions were conducted by 200 experts from 25 countries, seven organizations, and eleven laboratories.

April 1996 – Reviewing the Scientific Record.

In April 1996, the IAEA co-sponsored with the World Health Organization and the European Commission an international conference that summed up scientific knowledge about Chernobyl's radiological consequences one decade after the accident. More than 800 experts from 71 countries and 20 organizations attended.

1991 to 1998 – Evaluating the Safety of Chernobyl-type Reactors.

In 1991, the IAEA initiated a programme to assist countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in evaluating the safety of WWER and RBMK (Chernobyl-type) reactors, and in reviewing safety improvements. International consensus has been established on the major safety issues and their safety significance for these reactors, and the Agency continues to provide nuclear safety assistance to national authorities in various ways.

1990 Onwards – Targeting Social and Environmental Problems.

Projects valued at more than $4.5 million have been completed or launched since 1990 in response to the accident’s social, environmental, and economic consequences. Special attention has been devoted to rehabilitation and other projects in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, such as the establishment of radiation monitoring centers, reclamation of contaminated farm lands, and the control of food products.

2001 to 2005 – Decommissioning & Waste Management.

The Chernobyl plant was closed in December 2000, and entered a new phase called decommissioning that will involve a series of steps over a multi-year period. The Agency's assistance will include engineering and managerial advice for proper planning and implementation of the decommissioning project, which involves three units of the RBMK type. The project itself is being carried out by a new enterprise being established by the Ukrainian Government, and is expected to cover activities related to decontamination of buildings, soil, and water, and to the removal of spent nuclear fuel from the units, a task expected to take about a decade. Other new IAEA projects in Ukraine address the safe management of radioactive waste, nuclear plant safety services, and energy planning. The range of assistance includes analysis of sound waste processing technologies and disposal options, and support for the proper management of fuel containing radioactive material. One new project has been launched in support of efforts at the sarcophagus, or shelter, encasing the fourth Chernobyl unit, which was destroyed in the 1986 accident. Another project is keyed to strengthening the effectiveness of Ukraine's nuclear regulatory regime, and for the provision of safety services to help upgrade the safety of the country's remaining operational nuclear power plants in line with internationally accepted safety standards.

2003 - 2005 The Chernobyl Forum: Determines Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts

In February 2003 the IAEA established the Chernobyl Forum, in cooperation with seven other UN family organisations (FAO, UNDP, UNEP, UN-OCHA, UNSCEAR, WHO and The World Bank) as well as the competent authorities of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The mission of the Forum is - through a series of managerial, expert and public meetings - to generate "authoritative consensual statements" on the environmental consequences and health effects attributable to radiation exposure arising from the accident.

The Forum was created as a contribution to the United Nations?ten years strategy for Chernobyl, launched in 2002 with the publication of Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident - A Strategy for Recovery.

Since 2003, two expert groups - "Environment", coordinated by the IAEA, and "Health", coordinated by WHO - have presented reports for the Forum抯 consideration. In all cases the scientists from the UN organisations, the international community, and the three affected countries comprising the expert groups have been able to reach consensus in the preparation of their respective documents. In April 2005, the reports prepared by two expert groups were intensively discussed by the Forum and eventually approved by consensus. In addition, UNDP has drawn on the work of eminent economists and policy specialists to assess the socio-economic impact of the Chernobyl accident, based largely on the 2002 UN study as above. Therefore, the Forum reports represent consensus within the United Nations system.

In order to give wide publicity to the Forum抯 findings and recommendations, and to inform governments, the international scientific community and the general public, the Chernobyl Forum organized, through the IAEA, the International Conference entitled "Chernobyl: Looking Back to Go Forwards", held in Vienna on 6 and 7 September 2005. The Forum will disseminate its findings widely through Un organizations and the mass media.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has underlined the importance of the Agency’s work, while pointing to continuing challenges ahead:

"The Chernobyl accident showed that nuclear safety issues are not confined by national borders. The past fifteen years have seen the international community make steady progress in the formation of a legally binding safety regime. New safety conventions have been concluded to cover, for example, nuclear plant safety, radioactive waste management and spent fuel management. A major challenge for the Agency today is to help countries implement the obligations they undertake through these agreements.”