Chernobyl accident victims mourned at 25th anniversary
Apr. 26, 2011
Ukraine and other former Soviet republics mourned the victims of the Chernobyl blast Tuesday, holding ceremonies to mark the quarter-century anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident.
In Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, bells were rung 25 times at a church as about 700 people, including the families of those who died in the aftermath of the accident, offered prayers that such an accident will never happen again.
''The world had never experienced such a disaster in peace time,'' said Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, stressing the magnitude of the accident, which is ranked at the highest level of 7 on an international scale.
Similar memorials were held in areas near the Chernobyl power plant where access is still restricted, while Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych are to attend a service in Chernobyl later in the day.
The memorials took place as Japan scrambles to contain radiation leakages from the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on the Pacific. The accident has also been assigned the worst disaster rating on the international scale, putting it on a par with the Chernobyl explosion.
The No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power plant spewed radioactive materials over a wide area after an explosion, killing firefighters with acute radiation.
Experts say elevated levels of radiation have led to an increase in the number of thyroid cancer deaths, with the International Atomic Energy Agency putting the estimated number of disaster-linked fatalities at 4,000 and the World Health Organization at as many as 9,000.
But the exact number remains inconclusive. Some environmental groups put the death toll at about 200,000.
The reactor exploded during a test run, and is believed to have spewed hundreds of times the amount of radioactive materials released by the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima in 1945.
The contamination spread across Europe. A total of about six million people still live in areas in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia that are contaminated with low-level radioactivity.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on April 26, 2011)
In Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, bells were rung 25 times at a church as about 700 people, including the families of those who died in the aftermath of the accident, offered prayers that such an accident will never happen again.
''The world had never experienced such a disaster in peace time,'' said Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, stressing the magnitude of the accident, which is ranked at the highest level of 7 on an international scale.
Similar memorials were held in areas near the Chernobyl power plant where access is still restricted, while Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych are to attend a service in Chernobyl later in the day.
The memorials took place as Japan scrambles to contain radiation leakages from the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on the Pacific. The accident has also been assigned the worst disaster rating on the international scale, putting it on a par with the Chernobyl explosion.
The No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power plant spewed radioactive materials over a wide area after an explosion, killing firefighters with acute radiation.
Experts say elevated levels of radiation have led to an increase in the number of thyroid cancer deaths, with the International Atomic Energy Agency putting the estimated number of disaster-linked fatalities at 4,000 and the World Health Organization at as many as 9,000.
But the exact number remains inconclusive. Some environmental groups put the death toll at about 200,000.
The reactor exploded during a test run, and is believed to have spewed hundreds of times the amount of radioactive materials released by the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima in 1945.
The contamination spread across Europe. A total of about six million people still live in areas in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia that are contaminated with low-level radioactivity.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on April 26, 2011)
