Yuri Raptanov, chairman of the Supreme Council of “Podorozhnik” All-Russian Public Ecological Organization

– Substantial tectonic shifts have taken place in the world since Chernobyl

Apr 26 is the 23rd anniversary of the accident at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Substantial tectonic shifts have taken place worldwide in the field of nuclear technologies and consciousness of political and business elites since Chernobyl. The public has become less anxious of nuclear threat. Today, we can say that the world is on the threshold of nuclear renaissance. However, we can see little real progress in the field of nuclear technologies. Today, nuclear power plants are built quite slowly, which is a big ecological problem for humanity. Here we can see no nuclear renaissance. The process of introduction of advanced nuclear technologies (fast-breeder reactors, floating nuclear power plants, etc.) is developing even slower.
 
The key reason why we need nuclear renaissance is the need to attain reduction in greenhouse gas emission and energy independence. But there is an even bigger reason. I mean ecology but not just environment protection. I mean that humanity must be provided with enough electricity to be able to live comfortably and safely and to form a new comprehensive system of global safety. One of the key ways to attain this is to develop nuclear energy.

As regards the safety of nuclear power plants, I can say that our nuclear power engineers have made a real breakthrough in this field in the 23 years following the Chernobyl accident. And humanity must thank them for it. They have not only created multi-level safety systems but have also managed to regain people’s confidence and this is a quite important basis for a new breakthrough in this sector.