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AZERBAIJAN / MINI CHERNOBYL
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STORY: AZERBAIJAN / MINI CHERNOBYL
TRT: 2:52
SOURCE: IAEA
LANGUAGE: RUSSIAN / NATS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
DATELINE: AUGUST 2006, BAKU, AZERBAIJAN
1. Wide shot, house
2. Various shot, woman hanging linen on a line
3. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Agababa Huseynov, Radiation Expert, Baku, Azerbaijan:
"I agree with you that this is a mini Chernobyl in its way."
4. Zoom out, Baku harbour city centre to oil rigs
5. Tracking shot, sea
6. Pan right, pools of murky water amid debris.
7. Pan right, lakes of stagnant water to abandoned iodine factory
8. Various shots, shore of the stagnant lake
9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Agababa Huseynov, Radiation Expert, Baku, Azerbaijan:
"Accumulated on the territory of these two factories are about 200,000 tons of waste contaminated by radionuclides including equipment, soil, construction materials and installations."
10. Various shots, Huseynov checking heaps created by pellets of coal for radioactivity
11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Agababa Huseynov, Radiation Expert, Baku, Azerbaijan:
"Accumulated on the territory of these two factories are about 200,000 tons of waste contaminated by radionuclides including equipment, soil, construction materials and installations."
12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Agababa Huseynov, Radiation Expert, Baku, Azerbaijan:
"Their level is 60, 80 and in places 80 times higher than background level admissible for environment."
13. Zoom in, heap of coal to a row of houses nearby
14. Med shot, woman washing her face
15. Wide shot, dilapidated building
16. Med shot, woman and a boy on a porch
17. Wide shot, man in front of a staircase
18. Pan right, kitchen utensils to a narrow corridor
19. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Andrei Chupov, Project Manager, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria:
"The government of Azerbaijan requested the IAEA to provide assistance in solving this radio ecological problem but it requires a huge investment. We are looking for donor agencies to help us, but I am sure we will take up this challenge and will relieve this not only radiological but also a humanitarian problem."
20. Med shot, children
Where can you find a place with background radiation up to 80 times higher than normal? Chernobyl is the wrong answer but the comparison is not without reason.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Agababa Huseynov, Radiation Expert, Baku, Azerbaijan:
"I agree with you that this is a mini Chernobyl in its way."
This place is a stones throw from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The city's fortune was built on oil extraction and the elegant buildings are a testament to its wealth. With surging oil prices, the oil boom continues but it has taken its toll.
Less than an hour's drive from the city are the ruins of two iodine factories surrounded by abandoned derricks, oil rigs and lakes of stagnant water.
Oil comes with plenty of water containing natural radioactive elements and many minerals. Iodine evaporated from this groundwater until the factories were closed down in the nineties, already a radiological disaster.
Activated coal absorbed radioactive elements in the process of purifying water before extraction of iodine.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Agababa Huseynov, Radiation Expert, Baku, Azerbaijan:
"Accumulated on the territory of these two factories are about 200,000 tons of waste contaminated by radionuclides including equipment, soil, construction materials and installations."
Stocks of coal have not been replaced for many years and accumulated excess radioactivity. Many tons of this radioactive waste lies unattended in the open air.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Agababa Huseynov, Radiation Expert, Baku, Azerbaijan:
"Their level is 60, 80 and in places 80 times higher than background level admissible for environment."
The winds blow tiny ill particles onto the houses nearby. Inhaling them can be a potential health hazard for people who settled here. They are refugees who fled from the zones of conflict with Armenia and took up empty offices of this former enterprise.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has stepped in to help relieve the crisis.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Andrei Chupov, Project Manager, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria:
"The government of Azerbaijan requested the IAEA to provide assistance in solving this radio ecological problem but it requires a huge investment. We are looking for donor agencies to help us, but I am sure we will take up this challenge and will relieve this not only radiological but also a humanitarian problem."
With radiation levels a potential health hazard, solving this radio ecological problem quickly could prove to be the best solution.
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