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December 14 – the day of honoring the participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP

      On December 14, Ukraine honors the heroic feat of participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

     The accident that occurred in April 1986 at the fourth power unit of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant became one of the largest man-made disasters in the history of mankind, which forever changed the history and fate of thousands of people.

     On December 14, 1986, the construction of a protective sarcophagus over the destroyed power unit was completed at the Chornobyl NPP. It was the first serious and important victory over the ominous atom that had escaped human control since the explosion in April. It is on this day that we remember managers, ordinary construction workers, military personnel, scientists and specialists in the field of radiation safety, who, simply fulfilled their civil and professional duty and built the Shelter object in very difficult radiation conditions without eloquent words about heroism and self-sacrifice, without presenting the society with demands for social protection.

     On this day, we honor the brave liquidators, courageous and selfless people, those who are close to us, and bow to the memory of those who went beyond eternity, saving the world at the cost of their lives.

     From the first days after the accident, the employees of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine took an active part in the scientific provision of measures to overcome its consequences. At the beginning of May 1986, under the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Permanent Commission on the Liquidation of the Consequences of the Accident was established, which ensured communication with the relevant ministries and agencies, and prepared proposals for authorities. An operational headquarters was created, which coordinated the scientific activities of 42 academic scientific institutions, which carried out diagnostics of the condition of the destroyed reactor of the fourth unit, assessed the radiation contamination of the territories, resolved the issues of water resources protection, etc. Employees of academic institutes developed and implemented, in particular, the first control systems for the parameters of the destroyed reactor, recommendations for the protection of personnel, the population and the environment, provided recommendations for the action program for the destroyed 4th power unit, and others.

      Academicians of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine B. Ye. Paton, V. I. Trefilov, V. G. Bariakhtar, O. O. Kliuchnykov, I. K. Pokhodnya, I. M. Vyshnevskyi, V. P. Kukhar, K. M. Sytnyk, V. M. Shestopalov, E. V. Sobotovych and many others made a great contribution to the organization of the work on liquidation of the consequences of the disaster.

     After Ukraine gained independence, the vice-president of the Academy, Academician V. G. Bariakhtar, put forward a proposal to create a scientific organization in Chornobyl, which could take over the functions of scientific management of works to eliminate the consequences of the accident. The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated February 4, 1992 established the Interdisciplinary Scientific and Technical Center “Shelter” of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which in 2004 was transformed into the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plant of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Employees of this institute even today, in this difficult time for the country, provide scientific and technical support for works related to the transformation of the Shelter object into an ecologically safe system. Current monitoring of the facility, detection and analysis of danger factors is constantly carried out, scientifically based recommendations are issued to increase the safety level. It was the scientists who were the first to conduct research into the state of the emergency nuclear reactor and building structures under the most difficult radiation conditions.

     Over the past years, we have gone through a difficult path of awareness and rethinking of the huge complex of problems associated with the use of nuclear technologies. Only one thing remains unchanged – the deepest respect for the people who saved the world from an atomic disaster.

Dear liquidators of the consequences of the accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant! Kudos to you for your courage and bravery. We wish you good health, well-being and prosperity in your families, as well as peaceful sky above your head and long and happy years of life.

Let the horror of the Chornobyl disaster be in the past and never repeat itself, and the memory of those events will teach us to value peace. After all, a nation that remembers the lessons of its history is worthy of a bright future.

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