Ukraine Marks 37th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Accident

Ukraine on Wednesday marked the 37th anniversary of the incident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 with a solemn ceremony held at the affected locale.

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The Ukrainian Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Ruslan Strilets, along with employees of the Exclusion Zone, honored those who engaged in decontamination efforts at the plant in the aftermath of its catastrophic accident, during the ceremonial proceedings.

During the ceremony, the attendees proceeded to pay their respects to the heroic firefighters who tragically lost their lives while combatting the radioactive fire at the power plant soon after the accident. Floral wreaths were placed at the monument erected in their memory.

Following the ceremony, media correspondents were afforded access to the New Safe Confinement (NSC) dedicated to the containment of the devastated reactor, which was successfully commissioned in July 2019.

The control room of the NSC, accompanied by the monitoring systems situated behind the antiquated defensive structure referred to as "Shelter," were subject to scrutiny by the reporters.

The monitoring systems reported that the radiation levels in the surveyed region were deemed safe.

The fourth reactor located at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, situated approximately 110 kilometers to the north of Kiev, caused the dispersion of hazardous levels of radiation across various European countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

The Exclusion Zone was established, encompassing an area of 30 kilometers in radius around the plant.

The arch-shaped Nuclear Safety Confinement (NSC) facility, constructed in lieu of the erstwhile Shelter structure, has the potential to shield the ecosystem from the radioactive emissions emanating from the reactor for an approximate period of one hundred years.

In February 2022, there was an occurrence wherein Russian military forces acquired control over the Chernobyl plant, and their command over the facility lasted for a period of approximately five weeks.