By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will present a proposal for increased safeguards for nuclear power generation at the G8 summit of world leaders to be held in France next month.
“The proposals will concern the responsibility of the countries using nuclear power, including the timeliness of measures in case of emergency,” Medvedev said in a special address to mark the 25th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 in the erstwhile Soviet Union.
“Today we mourn for those who died and lived through that tragedy,” Medvedev said.
The Russian president called for greater transparency during nuclear emergencies.
“Additional safety requirements are needed for the construction and use of nuclear facilities,” he said.
Medvedev is visiting Chernobyl Tuesday along with a number of Ukrainian officials including President Viktor Yanukovych.
On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the No.4 reactor at the Chernobyl power plant sent a cloud of radiation over large areas of Europe. At least 30 people died in its immediate aftermath. More than 350,000 people were evacuated from nearby areas.
A 30-km exclusion zone still remains in force around the plant.
The anniversary comes amid the ongoing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Ukraine, along with the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is building a new shield above the ruins of Chernobyl’s No.4 reactor and the existing concrete and steel sarcophagus that covers it.
An international conference in Kiev has raised 550 million euros of the 740 million euros needed to finance the new radiation shield.
Medvedev said Russia would allocate 45 million euros for the shield’s construction in the next two years.