MINSK, 26 April (BelTA) – Head of the Radioactive Waste Management Office of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) Dmitry Pavlov explained at a press conference what principles are used to ensure nuclear and radiation safety, BelTA has learned.
Dmitry Pavlov said: “In Belarus there is a conglomerate of territories with a certain status. The Belarusian part of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant evacuation zone as well as a system of Chernobyl-related burial sites, which are quite large arrays. Years later all of it represents the legacy that we will have to live with for a long time. A year ago Gosatomnadzor undertook to coordinate activities in this sphere. Now the notions and the approach are being transformed with a view to merging them into universal principles for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety.”
In his words, the main ten principles have been formulated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Guided by these principles, Belarus put together a separate document last year: the uniform state policy in the field of ensuring nuclear and radiation safety.
“Out of these ten principles at least four are focused on the Chernobyl catastrophe. In the IAEA’s understanding the nuclear legacy includes previously used nuclear materials, nuclear technologies, and the territories that have been polluted as a result of the nuclear power plant accident. I’d like to note that the necessary approaches to overcoming the consequences and reviving the territories have already been worked out. For instance, by implementing protective measures, by following concrete methods and a certain sequence of actions, the population can stay safe and the release of radionuclides can be prevented,” the head of Gosatomnadzor’s Radioactive Waste Management Office stressed.
