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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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030689
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03068900.017
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 49World NotesSOVIET UNIONDealing with The Fallout
Nearly three years after the world's worst civilian nuclear
disaster, Mikhail Gorbachev made his first visit to Chernobyl last
week. The Soviet leader seemed intent on cleaning up the continuing
environmental and political fallout from the accident. Soviet
newspapers in recent weeks have reported the births of deformed
farm animals and widespread radioactive contamination of land and
food. Local workers surrounded Gorbachev to tell him of their worry
about the health consequences.
Clad in a white coat and cap, a sympathetic Gorbachev and his
wife Raisa inspected the reopened facility, in the shadow of the
entombed reactor No. 4, and stopped to ask the plant's staff about
new safety measures. Gorbachev called the Chernobyl accident "very
serious for the whole world," adding, "Through science and
technology, we need to give energy to the nation, but safety
remains the most important thing." Forty-eight hours later, the
first unit of a twelve-year-old nuclear-power plant in Armenia was
shut down. Under public pressure, authorities conceded that the
operation was too risky in the earthquake zone.