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Exactly twenty five years ago today, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the small Ukrainian town of Pripyat, triggered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. Plumes of highly radioactive smoke poured out of the plant, much of it landing on Russia, the Ukraine, and Belarus, but spreading as far as Western Europe. More than 300,000 people had to be evacuated, and about 6 million people overall were affected. Greenpeace estimates that 5-8 million people still live in areas that are highly contaminated and that at least 200,000 people ultimately died from resulting cancers and other related health problems. Chernobyl changed forever the perception of nuclear power safety. The 25th anniversary comes mere months after the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident that resulted from the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. Yesterday, former Soviet Col-Gen Nikolai Antoshkin criticized Japanese efforts in Fukushima. Antoshkin was in charge of pilots who flew thousands of flights over the Chernobyl plant, dropping lead, sand, and clay to contain radiation (The Telegraph). According to him, the Japanese authorities wasted crucial time in the early days of the disaster. United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon visited Chernobyl last week, and, in an op-ed for the New York Times, said “nuclear accidents respect no borders. They pose a direct threat to human health and the environment. They cause economic disruptions affecting everything from agricultural production to trade and global services.”

GUEST: Linda Pentz Gunter is the international specialist at Beyond Nuclear

Find out more at www.beyondnuclear.org.