Chernobyl repeated
THE Arctic Ocean could be another Chernobyl in the making, says Alexel Yablokov, head of Russia's Interagency Commission on Ecological Security, pointing a finger at Russia's environmental callousness. He reports the scut- tling of nuclear submarines in shallow waters, careless storage of spent nuclear fuel rods, and nuclear pollution from unreported disasters. "Every day, a report lands on my desk detailing fresh ecological disasters from Chechnya to Siberia, and from the 14 per cent of the country which can be called ecological disaster zone," he says, adding that the "situation is far worse than most people are aware of".