Soviet Nuclear Disaster Sparks Concern Among Russian Immigrants in Israel About Relatives in Kiev

The nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union has triggered concern among Russian immigrants in Israel for the safety of relatives in Kiev, only 60 miles south of Chernobyl, site of the nuclear power plant where an apparent meltdown occurred last Friday.

It has also raised questions by Knesset members about the wisdom of building nuclear power plant in Israel. Nuclear physicists and engineers have gone on radio and television here to explain the causes and possible effects of a reactor breakdown. Meanwhile, the atmosphere is being checked for radioactive fall-out from the accident in the Ukraine.

Levels are normal and experts have assured the public that even if the high altitude winds were to reverse direction–an unlikely prospect–and blow toward the Middle East, the levels of radioactivity would be harmless by the time the contaminated winds reached here.

The Soviet immigrant community, however, is far more alarmed over the health and safety of their relatives in Kiev, the third largest city in the Soviet Union, and surrounding areas. Their fears have been heightened by the secrecy of Soviet officialdom which has released scant details of the disaster and whose low casualty figures are considered implausible by most Western experts.

TRYING TO REACH KIEV BY TELEPHONE

Russian Jews here trying to reach Kiev by telephone have been told by operators that their parties were not available or that all lines were busy. One woman who managed to reach relatives in Kiev by phone said the people she spoke to were surprised by her anxiety and insisted that conditions in Kiev were completely normal. They said there was no excitement in the city or its environs, she reported.

Kiev has a Jewish population of between 300,000-400,000 out of a total population of some two million people. The calm there may be the result of Soviet secrecy toward their own people. According to Western sources, the Russian population has been given few details of the disaster by the official media and has learned of its magnitude only gradually by listening to broadcasts from the U.S. and Western Europe which are normally jammed.

Israeli ham radio operators who have contacted amateur radio operators in Kiev received assurances that all was well. Only one Israeli operator heard a report of many casualties. Apparently, Kiev residents learned only on Wednesday of the accident that occurred last Friday and from what the Israelis could ascertain, no special precautions had been taken in Kiev.

Yair Tsaban, a Mapam Knesset member, and others are demanding a debate as soon as parliament reconvenes after Passover on the dangers of nuclear power plants in Israel in light of the Soviet disaster. Israel has one such plant, located near Dimona in the Negev. On his visit to France last month, Premier Shimon Peres is reported to have discussed the purchase of another French nuclear reactor to generate electric power in Israel.