- Title: UKRAINE: Memorial ceremony for Chernobyl victims held in Kiev
- Date: 26th April 2013
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (APRIL 26, 2013) (REUTERS) MONUMENT TO CHERNOBYL VICTIMS VARIOUS OF HONOUR GUARD CARRYING WREATH, FOLLOWED BY UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS AND CEREMONY PARTICIPANTS HONOUR GUARD UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER MYKOLA AZAROV AND OFFICIALS DURING MEMORIAL CEREMONY HONOUR GUARD WALKING AWAY, AZAROV AND OFFICIALS LAYING FLOWERS AT MONUMENT VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LAYING FLOWERS, CROSSING THEMSELVES MONUMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VLADIMIR REZNIK, CHERNOBYL DISASTER LIQUIDATOR, SAYING: "We live as the rest of the country, everything is fine...they remember us only on this one day. But the same is with the rest of the people, with the whole country - some have everything and others - nothing." HONOUR GUARD MARCHING WIDE OF RALLY WOMAN WITH FLOWERS IN FRONT OF MEMORIAL TO CHERNOBYL VICTIMS ELDERLY WOMAN CRYING ELDERLY WOMAN STANDING NEXT TO MEMORIAL WIDE OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHERNOBYL DISASTER LIQUIDATORS AND FLOWERS FLOWERS AND ETERNAL FLAME AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHERNOBYL DISASTER LIQUIDATORS IN BACKGROUND WIDE OF RELIGIOUS SERVICE FOR CHERNOBYL VICTIMS MAN IN WHEELCHAIR VARIOUS OF PRIESTS DURING PRAYER RELATIVES OF CHERNOBYL VICTIMS HOLDING THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS, CROSSING THEMSELVES RELATIVES OF CHERNOBYL VICTIMS HOLDING THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS MONUMENTS TO CHERNOBYL LIQUIDATORS
- Embargoed: 11th May 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVACRBF3RPMGXGO7ILYMBDSFGPZB
- Story Text: Memorial ceremony to mark the 27th anniversary of Chernobyl nuclear disaster was held on Friday (April 26) in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and other government officials attended the rally and laid flowers to the monument to Chernobyl victims.
Dozens of people died in the three months following the catastrophe, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but the subsequent health fallout of people who lived in the path of the leaked radiation is unknown.
People placed candles, lanterns and flowers by the memorial in the square.
On December 15, 2000, the last of the Chernobyl reactors was shut down and began to be decommissioned -- a process that is expected to take several decades.
Among those who attended the memorial were "liquidators" - those drafted in to handle the crisis at risk to their own lives. Vladimir Reznik was one of them.
"We live as the rest of the country, everything is fine...they remember us only on this one day. But the same is with the rest of the people, with the whole country - some have everything and others - nothing," said Reznik who attended the memorial service for Chernobyl victims.
Yesterday, Chernobyl nuclear plant authorities confirmed that construction of a new shelter designed to prevent radioactive leakage from the 1986 explosion site would be completed by 2015.
Construction to replace the compromised "sarcophagus" built around the No. 4 reactor in the months following the disaster with a 29,000 tonne, 105 by 150 metre structure should be completed by 2015, according to Chernobyl nuclear plant authorities. The cost of that project is estimated at US$2 million dollars. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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