International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day

The explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in April 1986 spread a radioactive cloud over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Nearly 8.4 million people in the three countries were exposed to radiation. The Soviet Government acknowledged the need for international assistance in 1990. That same year the General Assembly adopted resolution 45/190 , calling for “international cooperation to address and mitigate the consequences at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.” That was the start of the United Nations’ involvement in the Chernobyl recovery. An Inter-Agency Task Force was established to coordinate the Chernobyl cooperation. In 1991 the UN created the Chernobyl Trust Fund – currently under the management of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ). Since 1986, the UN family of organizations and major NGOs have launched more than 230 different research and assistance projects in the fields of...

Since the early development of nuclear technology, it has been highly controversial, with among the key concerns the ecological impacts of nuclear accidents and radioactive waste disposal. Land Isotopes released during a meltdown or related event are typically dispersed into the atmosphere and then settle to the surface through natural occurrences and deposition. Isotopes settling in the topsoil layer can remain there for many years as a result of the half-life of said particles involved in nuclear events. Due to the long term detrimental effects on agriculture, farming and livestock, it carries further potential to affect human health and safety long after the actual event. In Chernobyl, the amount of focused radiation caused severe damage to plant reproduction, resulting in most plants being unable to reproduce for a minimum of three years. Many of these occurrences on land can be a result of the distribution of isotopes through water systems. Water Due to the violent nature of the a...

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed concerns about the dangers of the conflict in the area. On 26 April, IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, headed an expert mission to Ukraine’s Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant to step up efforts to help prevent the danger of a nuclear accident during the current conflict in the country . The IAEA provides daily updates on the situation in Ukraine. More information is provided in the resources below: Nuclear Safety and Security in Ukraine | IAEA IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine on Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day | IAEA | 26 April 2022 IAEA finds normal radioactivity at Chernobyl on disaster’s anniversary | The Washington Post | 26 April 2022 IAEA mission at Chernobyl, as anniversary is marked | World Nuclear News | 26 April 2022 Heightened security fears on Chernobyl disaster anniversary | UN News | 26 April 2022 IAEA Chief Grossi to Head Assistance Mission to Ukraine’s Chornobyl Nuclear Pow...

Many count the year 1990 as a crucial point in the United Nations’ involvement in the Chernobyl recovery. The Soviet Government acknowledged the need for international assistance. As a result, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 45/190, which called for “international cooperation to address and mitigate the consequences at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant”. This Resolution also entrusted one of the Under-Secretary-Generals with the task of coordinating the Chernobyl co-operation and called for the formation of an Inter-Agency Task Force. The Quadripartite Coordination Committee, which consists of ministers from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, as well as the United Nations Chernobyl Coordinator, became part of the coordination mechanism at the ministerial level. In 1992, a year after the Task Force was established, the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, which came to be called the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ) in 1997, began to coordinate international...

  Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant , 26 April 1986 – A routine 20-second shut down of the system seemed to be another test of the electrical equipment. But seven seconds later, a surge created a chemical explosion that released nearly 520 dangerous radionuclides into the atmosphere. The force of the explosion spread contamination over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. According to official reports, thirty-one people died immediately and 600,000 “liquidators,” involved in fire-fighting and clean-up operations, were exposed to high doses of radiation. Based on the official reports, nearly 8,400,000 people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were exposed to radiation , which is more than the population of Austria. About 155,000 sq. km of territories in the three countries were contaminated, almost half of the total territory of Italy. Agricultural areas covering nearly 52,000 sq. km, which is more than the size of Denmark, were contaminat...

No reports were released until the third day after the Chernobyl explosion . Then, Swedish authorities correlated a map of enhanced radiation levels in Europe with wind direction and announced to the world that a nuclear accident had occurred somewhere in the Soviet Union. Before Sweden’s announcement, the Soviet authorities were conducting emergency fire-fighting and clean-up operations but had chosen not to report the accident or its scale in full. No established legitimate authority was able to immediately address the situation and provide answers to questions such as: Is it safe to leave the house? Is it safe to drink water? Is it safe to eat local produce?  Communicating protective measures early would also have most likely enabled the population to escape exposure to some radionuclides , such as iodine 131 , which are known to cause thyroid cancer. Early evacuation would have helped people avoid the area during the period when iodine 131 is most dangerous, 8-16 days aft...