In his Saturday radio address, Victor Yushchenko spoke about the twentieth anniversary of the Chornobyl accident, the world’s worst nuclear disaster. He is convinced that Chornobyl must no longer be “the incurable tumor of Ukraine.”
“Chornobyl has been dead for years but it cannot always be lifeless. This is the land we must renew,” he declared, President's press office reported.
Yushchenko said international effort in Chornobyl should be switched from protection to development.
“Together we will carry out health programs, re-cultivate soils, create wildlife preserves, produce biological fuel, etc. When we stop doing mere declarations and start doing specific things, we will be able to bring this territory back to life,” he opined.
The Chief of State thanked volunteers and people that have been living and working in the zone for years for helping renew this territory.
“Lina Kostenko and her ethnographic expeditions play a vital role in the revival of the zone,” he said.
Yushchenko added that we must now spare no effort to make the nuclear power plant an ecologically safe place: “We must understand that further delays can cost the whole continent too much.”
The President thinks Ukraine has enough money to start building a new safe shelter over Unit 4 of the station. He believes it is also important to expand the scope of scientific research in the area and create an institute to complexly study the problems of Chornobyl.
“Helping this land and renewing it with our hard work and care
is our common task. We will then be able to mollify the Chornobyl pain. It is
time to serve this land. … I am sure together we will face the challenge with
dignity for the sake of Ukraine and its future,” he said.
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