W O R L D

World marks Chernobyl’s 25th anniversary as Japan struggles with Fukushima
Medvedev for tighter safety regime at atomic plants
Moscow, April 26
On the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today announced that he will propose a plan to introduce tighter safety regime at the world’s atomic power plants at the next month’s G-8 Summit. In his special address on the Chernobyl anniversary, Medvedev stressed on the need for tighter safety regime at atomic plants as he projected that nuclear energy will “remain the cheapest source of energy” in the foreseeable future.

A woman who became a widow during the Chernobyl disaster cries as she holds a portrait of her late husband during a memorial service at the Chernobyl Victims' Monument in Kiev on Tuesday. — AFP

World marks Chernobyl’s 25th anniversary as Japan struggles with Fukushima
Medvedev for tighter safety regime at atomic plants

Moscow, April 26
On the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today announced that he will propose a plan to introduce tighter safety regime at the world’s atomic power plants at the next month’s G-8 Summit.

In his special address on the Chernobyl anniversary, Medvedev stressed on the need for tighter safety regime at atomic plants as he projected that nuclear energy will “remain the cheapest source of energy” in the foreseeable future.

Medvedev announced that he will table the nuclear safeguards proposals next month at the G-8 summit of world’s most industrialised nations in France. “The proposals will concern the responsibility of the countries using nuclear power, including the timely measures in case of emergency,” he said.

“Today we mourn for those who died and lived through that tragedy,” the Russian president said.

Explosion at the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, now in Ukraine, in the early hours on April 26, 1986 in ex-USSR is considered as the world’s worst nuclear accident.

At least 30 persons, mostly firemen were killed in the first hours of the blast which sent a cloud of radiation over large areas of Europe, including parts of Britain and Scandinavia. The Soviet government kept mum on the disaster for several days until the radiation trail was registered in the West.

More than 350,000 people were evacuated from the 30-km exclusion zone around, including the Pripyat township of the Chernobyl NPP workers.

In the wake of the Japanese Fukushima-1 NPP accident, Medvedev also called for greater transparency during nuclear emergencies. “Additional safety requirements are needed for the construction and use of nuclear facilities,” he said.

He announced that Russia would allocate 45 million euros for construction of a new protective shell to cover the destroyed reactor.

An international conference in Kiev last week raised 550 million euros of the 740 million euros needed to finance the new radiation shield.

In his message to the members of the All-Russia Society Chernobyl uniting the rescuers, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the nuclear disaster was a lesson for the entire mankind and forced to seriously review the nuclear energy safety. — PTI

Deal on Yemen crisis may happen next week
Protesters wary, demand Saleh’s trial

Sanaa, April 26
A Gulf Arab deal for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to cede power could be finalised next week, Gulf officials said today, as Yemen struggles to end a political crisis that threatens to plunge it into chaos.

A senior opposition leader said the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdullatif al-Zayani, was expected to visit capital Sanaa within days to determine the time and venue for signing a deal requiring Saleh to step down within 30 days.

“We expect an arrangement and signing of a deal to be completed, the sooner the better,” opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa, who is seen as a top candidate to lead a transitional government, told Reuters.

Yemen’s Western and Gulf Arab allies have tried for weeks to mediate a solution to a three-month crisis in which protesters, inspired by the toppling of leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, have taken to the street demanding an end to Saleh’s 32-year rule.

One opposition official said a Gulf-brokered deal might be signed on Thursday or Saturday in Riyadh, but that was not confirmed. Basindwa, asked if a deal could be signed within the next few days, said: “Hopefully. It’s possible.”

But in a sign that a deal was not yet certain, a Gulf official said while the meeting in Riyadh could see a deal signed, it could also be a forum for direct talks between the sides to haggle out the final terms. — Reuters