Chernobyl an ‘open wound’ 32 years on
KIEV: Ukraine marked 32 years since Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, saying it would “remain an open wound in the hearts of millions”.
The accident spread radioactive fallout across Europe in 1986, particularly contaminating Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
“Chernobyl will always remain an open wound in the heart of our country, in the hearts of millions of people,” President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.
Several hundred people gathered overnight for a ceremony at a memorial to victims in Slavutych, a town 50km from the nuclear power plant.
Mourners lit candles and put flowers in front of memorial plaques. Many of the power station’s personnel moved to Slavutych after the accident.
In Minsk, people also gathered at a memorial to victims and soldiers marched bearing baskets of flowers.
On April 26, 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant, some 100km north of the capital Kiev, exploded during a botched safety test.
The reactor burned for 10 days, sending radioactive elements into the atmosphere that contaminated three-quarters of Europe, according to some estimates.
Soviet authorities tried to cover up the accident. Sweden was the first to raise the alarm after scientists detected a spike in radiation levels on April 28. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev did not make a public statement until May 14.
A total of nearly 350,000 people living within a radius of 30 km of the plant were evacuated for many years. The number of deaths directly due to the accident is still a matter of debate, with estimates varying up to 100,000.