Ecologist: Human factor behind Chernobyl tragedy

Not a technological malfunction but the human factor is the reason behind the Chernobyl tragedy, said Yuri Solovyev, Chairman of the Council of the Belarusian public association Ecological Initiative, during the online conference hosted by the BelTA website on 25 April.

“It has been proven that the human factor was the main reason behind the tragedy in Chernobyl. The considerations that were discarded 20-30 years ago have very vividly demonstrated that fooling around safety matters can have a terrible end. The impact of such errors on the nature and the mankind can last for centuries instead of decades,” he remarked.

The ecologist is convinced that paying close attention to safety matters during the construction and operation of nuclear installations is the main lesson that the mankind has to learn.

In the near future the mankind will not be able to do without nuclear power engineering. It is confirmed by the recent statement made by the Japanese authorities, who intend to continue operating nuclear power plants despite the Fukushima tragedy. Yuri Solovyev underlined that safety must be the overriding concern in the operation of any nuclear installation.

“Very modern designs are worked out these days. They focus on automatic control systems that combine active and passive safeguards. Thanks to them the possibility of emergencies at installations built using the AES-2006 design — the design is used to build the Belarusian nuclear power plant — will be virtually zero,” noted the expert.

However, he went on saying, the situation must be controlled all the time, including safeguards and the personnel employed to operate nuclear installations.