Moscow, April 20 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute this Monday to those who eliminated the consequences of the most serious nuclear accident in history, which occurred at the Ukrainian Chernobyl plant on April 26, 1986.
“We will always remember the unparalleled courage of the plant employees, firefighters, soldiers, workers, arsonists and paramedics who, despite the mortal risk and danger, eliminated the consequences of the accident, evacuated people and carried out reconstruction work,” the presidential telegram states.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the catastrophe, the Russian leader admitted that April 26 is “a special date in the country’s history.”
“We bow our heads before the milestone of the heroes who 40 years ago (…) faced the fire. They did not hesitate or retreat, they fulfilled their professional, civic and human duty until the end, many at the cost of their own lives,” he said.
He stressed that Russia has taken measures in recent years to ensure the social protection and rehabilitation of those known in the former Soviet Union as Chernobyl ‘likvidator’, many of whom complained for years in Russia and Ukraine of lack of care.
The tragedy occurred when an explosion occurred in reactor number 4 of the plant located 120 kilometers from kyiv, after which the massive radiation emission could only be stopped in the middle of the following month.
Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the efforts to eliminate the fire and other consequences, of which an unknown number died as a result of radiation.
According to official assessments, the explosion that occurred in Chernobyl spread up to 200 tons of material with a radioactivity of 50 million curies, equivalent to 500 atomic bombs like the one dropped on Hiroshima.
Radiation continues to affect thousands of inhabitants of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, where 70% of the almost 200,000 square kilometers of contaminated land are located.
The damaged reactor was covered in 2016 by an arch-shaped sarcophagus, 110 meters high, 256 meters long and weighing more than 30,000 tons, considered the largest mobile structure ever built, with a reliability of a century and which replaced the reinforced concrete one erected after the tragedy.
The Russian army briefly took control of the Chernobyl plant, located a few kilometers from the Belarusian border, by invading Ukrainian territory in February 2022, which was harshly condemned by the international community. EFE
