Opening of the Plenary: Remarks on Chernobyl nuclear disaster

Dear colleagues,

I assume that all of us still know what we were doing on the 26th of April 1986. This day is etched deeply in our memory as 30 years ago, on the 26th of April 1986, in the former Ukrainian Soviet Republic, reactor unit 4 of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl exploded. This was followed by a total core melt down, a huge disaster, and a resulting tragedy with dire consequences. Radioactive material was ejected into the atmosphere, large parts of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine were contaminated; the radioactive cloud drifted to Central Europe and the North Cape.

Until today the exact amount of people who fell sick or died as a consequence of the radiation is controversial. The exact number will probably never by identified. Estimations concerning the health effects and the cases of death vary substantially: some studies refer to a few thousand, others to several thousands, some others to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

So-called “liquidators”, notably young persons, were sent without any protection or warning right into the catastrophe to contain it. It is thanks to them that the situation did not become any worse. However, many of these heroes paid for their service with their lives. In the entire region hundreds of thousands had to leave their homes and their homeland. Families were resettled, communities torn apart. Until today, soil and food continue to be contaminated. People are still suffering the consequences, even the children that were born many years after the catastrophe.

The ruin of Chernobyl remains as a monument of the catastrophe - and as a problem. The rebuilding of the nuclear facilities is technically as well as financially extremely costly. The new containment sarcophagus, for example, which is to replace the provisional one of 1986, will not be finished until 2017 and is to cost about €1.5 billion or even €2 billion.

The decision over the use of nuclear energy is the responsibility of the member states of the European Union. However, nuclear clouds and radiation do not respect national boundaries, therefore our efforts for security and prevention must not stop at national borders. It is therefore the right decision that the nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima is taken as an occasion to conduct risk and security assessments of 145 European nuclear power plants. Beyond political and national discussions over the use of nuclear energy, we must at least agree to fulfil our responsibility of delivering sae nuclear power plants in Europe and in our neighbourhood. That is the reminder and the order from the disaster of Chernobyl that happened 30 years ago today.