Chernobyl champion rejoices in Oscar

ADI ROCHE has not slept for 48 hours but she is still electric with enthusiasm.

Chernobyl Heart has become the first ever documentary on the nuclear issue to win an Oscar and Ms Roche, as founder of the Chernobyl Children's Project, knows it is a priceless opportunity to reach the world.

"We've been working on Chernobyl for 18 long years and all of a sudden it has burst out of obscurity. I can't emphasise how significant that is," she said.

When the documentary's author, US journalist Maryann DeLeo, accepted the Oscar at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, she described Ms Roche as a 'true hero'.

But speaking yesterday from the Beverly Wiltshire Hotel in LA, Ms Roche said it was a victory for the victims and survivors of the Chernobyl disaster, and the Irish public. "When the people of Ireland see the documentary, they will be very proud because running right through it is an Irish accent. We would not be standing here without their support," she said.

Ms Roche first brought the Chernobyl issue to world attention. In 1990, she researched, developed and coordinated the first English-language documentary on the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Since then, her Chernobyl Children's project has delivered around €30 million worth of aid to the region and brought more than 10,000 children to Ireland on recuperative holidays.

This brought her to the attention of filmmaker Maryann DeLeo, who sent an email three years ago, requesting co-operation on a documentary on Chernobyl. Ms Roche agreed, never realising that it would lead to a night at the Academy Awards, meeting stars like Sting and Colin Farrell.

"I was in such a state of anxiety (about the documentary), that the whole ceremony almost passed me by. There were famous people everywhere and I had to ground myself so I kept on thinking of the people who helped to make this film happen," said Ms Roche.

She said she got on really well with Hollywood couple Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, whom she admires for their active interest in political issues. They also share a friend in common: Sr Helen Prejean, the author of the Death row novel, Dead Man Walking.

Although the 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor poisoned up to three million people with radiation sickness, remaining the world's worst nuclear disaster, there is very little awareness of it in the US.

"We are telling them something completely new and they are shocked," said Ms Roche.

The success of Chernobyl Heart is a huge boost for the profile of the Chernobyl Children's Project's New York office, which opened in 2002.

Ms Roche has already been contacted by senior Hollywood figures looking to organise fund-raisers with stars like Johnny Depp and the documentary's financiers, Home Box Office), looking to give it a national release in US cinemas. "We need to get in money because Ireland has carried the burden alone for too long," said Ms Roche.

She said she felt very proud and would be looking forward to returning to Ireland tomorrow.