On 26 April 1986, just after one o’clock in the morning, the fourth 
reactor of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Power Station exploded, sending 
a radioactive cloud over Europe, and causing nuclear fall-out to 
contaminate a wide area of what is now the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. 
Twenty years later, people in this region – including thousands of 
children who have since been born – still suffer the consequences. But, 
apart from out of humanitarian concern for the affected populations, 
why should we remember Chernobyl? What is its relevance to the world 
today?

Chernobyl – which revealed for the first time since Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki the cataclysmic potential of nuclear disasters – raised 
questions that are still pertinent, and largely unresolved. How can we 
be sure that the states which possess nuclear power, whether civilian 
or military, today adhere to the necessary safeguards and regulations? 
How can we justify gambling with the well-being of future generations 
for the sake of our “national security” or energy consumption? And, 
finally: Is nuclear power a viable solution to our energy or climate 
change challenges anyway?