Influence of Radioactive Background on an Idiopathic Form of Infertility Incidence in Men from Different Regions of Ukraine

There are 143 men (group I) with idiopathic infertility in the form of asthenozoospermia of the II degree living in the territories of the Kiev region (Poles’ky, Chernobylsky, Ivan’kovsky, Borodyansky, Vyshgorodsky districts) were investigated in the Department of Sexual Pathology and Andrology of the SI «Institute of Urology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine» and exposed to ionizing radiation due to the Chernobyl accident in 1986. All individuals in the I group were born from parents who were in the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the area of radioactive contamination and permanently resided in areas with a high level of radioactivity. The control group was made up of persons born and living in the Ivano-Frankivsk region with a similar condition (group II, n=57). The mean age of the studied group I was 28,3±2,4 years, and persons of the II group were 30,1±2,8 years. Diagnosis of II was performed ambulatory in accordance with WHO and Ministry of Health of Ukraine standards. The study was to study and compare spermogram parameters in patients from both groups. It has been established that the reproductive problems of men with idiopathic infertility living in radiation-polluted areas of the Kiev region of Ukraine consist in a significant violation of the quality indicators of ejaculate (mobility by the pool A+B is less than 1,6 times, p<0,05) correlating with modifications of physicochemicals (the average time of liquefaction is 1,4 times greater, p<0,05) and biochemical (decrease of levels of fructose by 2,2 times, citrate – by 1,6 times, p<0,01–0,05) data characterizing the effect of ionizing radiation, as one one of the leading factors of male genital function violation. The study found that the level of general indicators of spermogramm is significantly worse in the regions of Ukraine who were exposed to radioactive contamination due to the Chernobyl accident, in contrast to the indicators of persons from conditionally pure regions.

Energy and industrial tourism: a specific niche on the tourism market

Energy tourism belongs to the not-so-well-researched fields of tourism. Being a part of the industrial tourism or a special interest tourism, this type of tourism includes visits to the energy facilities and locations such as factories, mines, power stations and renewable energy sites. This paper describes the niche of the energy tourism within the tourism market and assesses its potential. We show that sometimes the energy tourism might intervene with dark tourism (for example, in the case of the tourist visits to the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power station). In addition, we show that this type of tourism is closely correlated with the public and social acceptance of traditional and renewable energy facilities. We conclude that this might be a promising and emerging type of tourism that will likely grow due to the ongoing industrialization and expenditure of energy-generating facilities envisaged for meeting the growing demand for energy all around the world.

Features and trends of the Chernobyl tourism development

The author defines Chernobyl tourism as a visit to the exclusion zone, which was formed as a result of a large-scale technological disaster, i.e., an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in 1986, for educational, scientific, business, recreational and other tourism purposes. The complexity of Chernobyl tourism is proved and schematically presented. The main types of tourism which can be promoted in the Chernobyl Zone (ChZ) such as cultural, cinema, active, scientific, conference, dark, sentimental, adventure, extreme, industrial, business, event, diplomatic and ecotourism had been analyzed. Four stages of the development of Chernobyl tourism are disclosed: 1) illegal visits to the exclusion zone (starting from the late 1980s); 2) official visits (starting from the late 1990s); 3) emergence of Chernobyl tourism companies (starting from the first decade of the 2000s); 4) mass tourism (starting from the second decade of the 2000s). The statistics of visiting the ChZ for the last five years had been analyzed. The number of foreigners visiting ChZ was compared with the total number of foreigners visiting Ukraine. The results of the marketing research of the profile of 1000 random visitors to the ChZ, conducted in November 2019, are presented. The formula of the economic contribution of Chernobyl tourism to the development of the tourism sector of Ukraine and the national economy as a whole has been derived. As a result of generalization of statistical data, as well as the results of marketing research, a number of features of Chernobyl tourism was formulated and analyzed: uniqueness of this tourism product; phasing of development; tours organization; availability of various types of tourism; dominance of foreign tourists; relatively high cost of the product; narrow segmentation of the product; purposefulness of the tours; the game, television and film industry influence; short trips duration; three-level self-organization of Chernobyl tourism; an increase in the number of illegal tourists; the lack of developed tourism infrastructure; the high interest of foreign investors; the lack of a systematic scientific and strategic approach. The recommendations for authorities and representatives of Chernobyl tourism promotion companies were formulated to increase the economic contribution of this type of tourism.

Formation features of inside exposure of population under consumption fish from the waters of Ukrainian Polissya

Environmental habitation features of the population in the northern regions of Ukrainian Polissya are closely related to direct and nutrient contacts of radioactively contaminated water bodies, as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station. Local population is exposed to additional radiation by consuming fish from contaminated water bodies, which accumulates a certain number of radionuclides. The article presents research results concerning the accumulation of 137Cs and 90Sr in the body of definite freshwater fish species from local water bodies and estimates internal radiation doses of rural population, as a result of fish consumption.

Assessment of the ecological state of the Kiev Reservoir by the bioindication method

The ecological state of the Kiev Reservoir affected by intensive contamination as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in 1986 was assessed in terms of the species-indicators of epiphytic algae occurring in the fouling of higher aquatic plants. It has been found that inhabitants of slowly flowing and moderately warm waters, alkaliphiles, indifferent organisms in relation to water salinity, nitrogen-autotrophic taxa tolerating elevated concentrations of organically bound nitrogen, β-mesosaprobionts and eurysaprobes (in relation to organic contamination) and eutraphentic organisms (indicators of the trophic state) prevailed in phytoepiphyton of the Kiev Reservoir. As a result of comparison of the original results with literature data obtained prior to the accident, it has been found that over a span of about 30 years (from the 1970s–1980s to 2010–2013), the taxonomic structure of phytoepiphyton remained almost unchanged. At the same time, the intensity of eutrophication, alkalization, and thermofication processes increased.

A Belated and Tragic Ecological Revolution: Nature, Disasters, and Green Activists in the Soviet Union and the Post-Soviet States, 1960s-2010s

In the late Soviet period, environmental issues gained an unprecedented media resonance and dramatic socio-political importance. The “Ecological Revolution” took a tragic turn in the Soviet Union, against the background of high-impact industrial and natural disasters. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (Ukraine, 1986) and in a context of increased free-speech, Soviet citizens seized on new and old, covered up or forgotten environmental issues and demanded that a hesitant government put them on the political agenda. In a mixture of media revelations, mass demonstrations, and intense voluntary-sector activity, environmental issues of local, national and global significance ranked high among the main preoccupations of the Soviet population. In this introduction to a special issue of SPSR on the environmental history of the late Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, we explore new avenues of understanding the upsurge of ecological perestroika from the 1960s to the 2010s.