Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-26-Speech-3-031"
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"en.20060426.9.3-031"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the accident that occurred exactly twenty years ago in the western part of what was then the Soviet Union was the first European environmental disaster to have an impact on the whole of the continent, and one of our responsibilities today is to ensure that it remains the only one. We are, on a day such as this, profoundly touched by the fates of the victims of this tragedy and their families, of the workers at the power station and the rescue workers who sacrificed their lives in order to save the population from something worse, of those who lived in the immediate vicinity and those who were later to be, directly or indirectly, the victims of the nuclear fallout, among them many children, who were particularly hard hit by the effects.
An area of some 40 000 square kilometres, corresponding approximately to the territory of Belgium, is so heavily contaminated by radiation that it will, for decades to come, be uninhabitable and incapable of being used for agricultural purposes. I have just been reminded that the explosion in this nuclear power plant occurred, not when it was being used for civilian purposes, but while military experiments were being carried on there.
For us, today, who have to discuss how dictatorships handle nuclear energy, the name of Chernobyl must be a warning. It still, alas, needs to be said today that the attitude of those who were in positions of responsibility at that time in the Soviet Union towards the people in the affected towns and villages around the stricken reactor was very largely one of contempt.
Over the past twenty years, a great deal has been done in every quarter of the world to help those affected by the disaster and to support people who have to deal with its after-effects. The innumerable associations and institutions that have done such splendid work in this field deserve our gratitude. The sufferings of the victims and the dedication shown by many people in the European Union make it quite improper that that anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster should be used for political ends and as the occasion of a debate on the evils of atomic energy as such. What is of fundamental importance is that nuclear safety be improved and guaranteed.
The power station at Chernobyl was shut down in December 2000; the decision to do so was welcomed in this House and by the European Union as a major contribution to improved nuclear safety in Europe and I would remind Commissioner Piebalgs of our consistent record of very good cooperation with the Commission. The European Union has also played a substantial part in making safe the site of the accident at Chernobyl. December 1997 saw the setting-up of a fund for the sheltering of the Chernobyl reactor, the intention being that the population and the environment would be protected from further radioactive contamination.
Both the collapse of the Iron Curtain and – in particular – the eastward enlargement of the European Union two years ago helped to make the use of atomic power in Europe safer. Whereas, as recently as 2001, nine nuclear power stations with a total of 27 blocks of similar design to Chernobyl were connected up to the network, the new Member States, in the accession treaties, undertook to decommission them over the years to come. It is very important that the compromise on the 2007-2013 Financial Perspective be used to help make funds for the decommissioning of these sites available as quickly as possible. Rather than now leaving to their own devices those accession countries that have to cope with the problems arising from the Chernobyl disaster, we must act in a spirit of solidarity with them, and in so doing we will be doing something for ourselves.
Over the years, a high standard of safety for atomic power plant has been established within the European Union, and it is now time for our neighbours to share in it, while we, at the same time, must further promote research into reactor safety, to which the research framework programme currently being considered by this House can make an important contribution. This is a policy that we want to pursue and we very much hope that we will be able to guarantee security of energy supply without interfering with sustainable development or the well-being of the environment. Whatever the safety requirements, then – and they are absolutely justified – the peaceful use of atomic power has to be considered in the context of the security of Europe’s supplies, and it is with that in mind that we must all work together."@en1
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