ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Ukraine in Pakistan Volodymyr Lakomov on Sunday said most important lesson learnt from the Chornobyl accident was to bring about lasting improvements in nuclear and radiation safety globally.
Talking to APP, he said the remembrance of 30th anniversary of the Chornobyl Nuclear power plant accident in Ukraine on April 26, 1986 is a big incident in the history of the country and every year a number of programmes were arranged to salute the sacrifices of the victims.
The ambassador said this year on that day, Ukraine and the whole world honoured the memory of the liquidators and victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster in connection with the anniversary of the tragedy and government of Ukraine has organized a number of high-level events.
Ukrainians honor the memory of the liquidators and victims of the Chornobyl tragedy with a moment of silence, laid flowers to memorial mound “To Heroes of Chornobyl” and memorial sign “To Warriors of Chornobyl” in the Memorial Complex of the Victims of Chornobyl Disaster.
“This disaster entered the history of civilization as a sad and tragic page. Mankind did not know such technological catastrophe before in terms of its scope and complexity of long-standing humanitarian, environmental, social, economic and health consequence,” he said.
The G-7 countries and the European Union took the lead to assist Ukraine in finding a solution to the risks posed by Chornobyl’s unit 4. International donors financed the work of international and Ukrainian experts to elaborate a programme through which the Shelter could be transformed into an environmentally safe site.
He said construction of a new safe confinement is expected to be completed by November 2017.
The ambassador said Chornobyl’s catastrophe introduced essential changes in many spheres of human activity not only in Ukraine, but also across the globe.
The disaster had a serious political impact and changed attitudes towards nuclear energy all over the world.
International regulations and standards for radioactive protection, national strategies for nuclear energy development, nuclear safety and radioactive waste management have been substantially revised.
Practical and theoretical knowledge gained after the disaster at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was widely used by the expert community to address the causes and consequences of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP in Japan in 2011, he said.
The Ambassador said this sad tragedy offers an important opportunity to focus the attention of the international community on the problems of recovery and the needs of the affected areas and mobilize the international assistance to complement the national mitigation efforts.
He said several people were died in this incident.
