Chernobyl still felt in Wales

Friday, April 25, 2008

Twenty two years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Plaid MEP Jill Evans says tomorrow's anniversary (Saturday) serves as a timely reminder of why nuclear power must be phased out.

The radioactive cloud spread radiation from Chernobyl right across Europe, and more than 300 farms in the north of Wales are still affected by restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the disaster.

Ms Evans visited the the site of the nuclear power plant two years ago with a group of MEPs and met local people whose lives were shattered by the disaster as well as people who are now working to secure the site.

In the early hours of 26 April 1986, reactor number four in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded resulting in substantial radioactive fallout whose effects were felt as far away as Wales.

Speaking ahead of Chernobyl Day tomorrow, Jill Evans said:
"More than twenty years have passed since the Chernobyl disaster and its effects are still being felt today. The disaster has claimed many lives and reports suggest that up to 90,000 people may die of cancer as a result of the radiation from Chernobyl.

"When I visited Chernobyl two years ago I met people whose lives had been destroyed as a result of the disaster. Most of all, I was struck by the eerie calm and silence in the area around the plant with so many deserted villages. You can't see the
radiation but it has meant that this area will be uninhabitable for hundreds of years.

"The radioactive cloud spread radiation from Chernobyl right across Europe, and over three hundred farms in the north of Wales are still affected by restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the disaster.

"What happened at Chernobyl shows us that nuclear power is not the solution to the world's energy needs. Nuclear power is dirty, dangerous and expensive. It must be phased out. The world cannot afford another Chernobyl."

Jill Evans MEP represents the whole of Wales in the European Parliament. She is Deputy President of Plaid Cymru the Party of Wales.

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