The nuclear accident at Chernobyl on 26 April 1986 had a heavy impact on life, health and the environment. It caused agony to people in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and anxiety far away from these countries. The economic losses and social dislocation were severe in a region already under strain. I think our thoughts at the opening of this Conference should first go to the many people who have suffered, or may yet come to suffer, as a result of the accident. I propose that, as a tribute to the countries and people affected, we begin our Conference by standing up in a minute of silence.
At the outset of this Conference let me further note that, although much help has been rendered by public and private organizations to alleviate the situation, there continues to be a crying need for further assistance to the peoples and countries to whom the Chernobyl consequences are a formidable burden added to an already very difficult situation. We urge such assistance.
If the first reaction must be one arising from human solidarity, our second reaction should be a demand for rigorous scientific analysis. The errors in technology, organization and management, which caused the accident, must be identified to prevent any repetition and the damages caused by the accident must be accurately assessed and diagnosed so that rational remedies may be applied.
The causes of the Chernobyl accident are by now rather well traced and identified. Only a few months after the accident the IAEA organized a major conference at which nuclear experts from all over the world were enabled, here in Vienna, to hold a first thorough discussion of the matter. Since then further information has been forthcoming and improved our understanding. As a result of analyses undertaken important technical, managerial and regulatory steps have been taken with regard to all Chernobyl-type (RBMK) reactors.
Other lessons from Chernobyl have prompted the conclusion of new international conventions. Already in 1986 the General Conference of the IAEA adopted one convention concerning emergency assistance in case of a nuclear accident and another convention to ensure that instant information would be available to facilitate protective measures in case of any future nuclear accident. Two years ago a general international convention on nuclear power reactor safety was adopted which we expect will soon come into force. Through these and many other measures, including new international safety services, governments and utilities have gradually sought to put in place a global nuclear safety culture that will reduce the risk of accidents occurring and mitigate the consequences of any accident that may yet occur. As safety is not a static concept, this culture will continuously evolve with new technology and experience.
Let me mention yet another example of lessons learned. After the Chernobyl accident the public was confused by governments applying widely diverging standards as to what constituted an acceptable level of radioactivity in different types of foodstuffs. Strawberries which could be safely eaten in one country, could be rejected in another, etc. After considerable work uniform international standards are now available.
The Conference which we open today is not focussing on the causes of the Chernobyl accident but on the consequences of it, a subject on which many investigations have been made but on which less consensus has been available. Yet, if decades of painstaking scientific research has brought a large measure of important knowledge and consensus about the consequences of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it should also be possible, by applying respectable scientific methods, gradually to attain a consensus about the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. To move toward such consensus is the aim of this Conference.
Much work has been done in the past ten years - not least by the three organizations sponsoring this Conference - to compile relevant data and to analyse them. Under the guidance of an international scientific committee the IAEA, together with a large number of sister organizations, in 1989 embarked on the International Chernobyl Project to assess the measures taken to enable people to live safely in areas affected by radioactive contamination. It involved more than 200 experts from 23 countries and was the beginning of an ongoing co-operation with the intergovernmental organizations represented here today. The conclusions of this early assessment, which were submitted to global expert discussion in 1991, have been generally sustained by subsequent scientific inquiries. In updated form they will be reviewed by this Conference. One of the conclusions of this early inquiry, namely that an increase in the incidence of thyroid tumours could be expected, seems tragically to be borne out by subsequent data.
The sessions of this Conference will also provide extensive information about and opportunity for discussion of the large scientific programmes of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union (EU), in particular of the major technical conferences organized by WHO in Geneva last November and by the European Union, Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine last month in Minsk. This Conference will also be familiarized with the work done by the United Nations, UNESCO and others. Much work relating to the consequences of the accident naturally consists in efforts of alleviation rather than investigation. Let me mention, as an example, the countermeasures developed through an IAEA-FAO project, sponsored by the Norwegian Government, to lower the levels of radioactive caesium in cattle by administration of an inorganic compound known as "Prussian Blue".
During this week a wealth of material will be presented and laid open for international discussion and critical analysis. Responsible Ministers from Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine will inform the Conference on the social, economic, institutional and political impact of the Chernobyl accident.
I would like to pay tribute to the many people who have put so much effort into the preparatory work of the Conference. I have in mind scientists of the co-sponsoring organizations and many scientists from the three Republics, who have worked, over the last year in particular, to bring the results of their ongoing work to a point at which it could be reported here.
To facilitate the discussions of the Conference, background papers on key issues have been prepared. They are the result of months of work by teams of scientists from around the world to assemble and present the current state of knowledge in these key areas. Altogether 34 scientists worked on the six papers produced in this way. I express my thanks to them. I also want to thank the distinguished scientists on my right - Academician Illyin, Professor Rolevich and Dr. Kholosha, the members of the advisory committee who monitored all aspects of the preparation of the Conference.
It would be unrealistic to expect consensus among the scientists here on all issues presented. However, it might well be possible, on the basis of the scientific data now available, to reach broadly supported answers to many of the principal questions which have been publicly discussed in the past years. If so, this Conference would have served, ten years after the Chernobyl accident, to solidify our knowledge and understanding of the consequences of the accident and thereby help to better alleviate them.
It will be the arduous task of the Conference President, the Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Angela Merkel - herself a physicist by education - to prepare, with the assistance of a bureau of senior scientists, conclusions and recommendations arising from your discussions. I warmly thank her for undertaking the task of chairing the Conference. On behalf of the sponsoring organizations I now formally declare the Conference open. Before asking Minister Merkel to take the chair and before requesting my co-hosts, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, Director General of the WHO, and Mr. Hendrik Tent of the European Union, as well as Mr. Griffiths, representing the United Nations, to address the Conference, I have the honour to read to you a message from the Secretary- General of the United Nations, Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali.