UKRAINE: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster calls for new world rules to be drawn up on safety at nuclear plants

Record ID: 215811

  • Title: UKRAINE: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster calls for new world rules to be drawn up on safety at nuclear plants
  • Date: 27th April 2011
  • Summary: KIEV. UKRAINE (APRIL 26, 2011) (REUTERS) CHURCH NEAR SQUARE WHERE NEW MONUMENT AND MEMORIAL COMPLEX 'WALK OF CHERNOBYL HEROES' IS LOCATED GUARDS CARRY WREATHS TO MONUMENT PICTURES OF CHERNOBYL RESCUE WORKERS FROM THE FIRE SERVICE ('LIQUIDATORS') AT MONUMENT, WITH CANDLES AND FLOWERS GUARDS ARRANGE FLOWERS NEAR MONUMENT, STAND AND SALUTE FLOWERS AT MONUMENT, SOUND OF
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine, Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,History
  • Reuters ID: LVAAL898P290TBDDDFQMEARNAHY0
  • Story Text: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, called on Tuesday (April 26) for new world rules to be drawn up on safety at nuclear plants.
    Medvedev, stood alongside Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich at a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident.
    "Today the whole world is convinced that such catastrophes go beyond borders, and Fukushima One is a bitter reminder of this, today the whole world is sure that it is impossible for one country to fight against such catastrophes alone," Ukraine's Yanukovich said at a memorial ceremony outside the plant.
    Medvedev said the disaster had taught states that they must tell the whole truth to their people.
    His words amounted to an acknowledgement of wrong-doing by Moscow since the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was then a part, delayed announcement of the full scale of the accident at the Chernobyl plant for some days.
    "In the face of such a threat we have to be honest. The duty of a state is to tell the truth to its people. It must be acknowledged that the (Soviet) state did not always behave correctly," he said.
    His words took on added poignancy amid continued efforts by Japan to control the crisis at its Fukushima nuclear plant which was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami.
    "The tragedies of recent times and particularly of course the Japanese tragedy in Fukushima One station showed that we must adopt additional measures so that nuclear energy is really used for peace and meets the big demands it has to resolve," said Medvedev.
    The Kremlin leader, echoing similar words by U.N. Secretary general Ban Ki-moon, said what was happening in Japan and what happened at Chernobyl made it imperative to draw up new rules covering the peaceful use of nuclear energy and safety.
    "Today, I sent proposals to world leaders, to our allies including of course Ukraine, aimed at guaranteeing the necessary development of nuclear energy in the world, while preventing at the same time catastrophic global consequences (of accidents). It seems we must consider the preparation of a new international convention and we must do this for the sake of the memory of those who 25 years ago came first to help humanity," he said.
    On April 26 1986, the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl plant exploded and caught fire after a safety test experiment went badly wrong. The blast sent radiation billowing across Europe.
    A total of 31 people died immediately but many more died of radiation-related sicknesses such as cancer, many of them in what is today Belarus.
    In Kiev a new memorial complex called the 'Walk of Chernobyl Heroes' was unveiled in the square on the capital's Chernobyl Street.
    People filed past the memorial holding pictures of their loved ones - emergency and fire service workers who battled to contain the radioactive contamination in the first period after the accident. Many of those whose portraits were carried by weeping relatives died later of radiation-induced illnesses.
    More than 7,000 firemen from across Ukraine joined the emergency effort at Chernobyl in 1986.
    Chernobyl has remained the benchmark for nuclear accidents. The total death toll and long-term health effects of Chernobyl remain a subject of intense debate.
    On April 12 Japan raised the severity rating at its Fukushima plant to seven, the same level as that of Chernobyl.
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