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Pope Leo XIV has appealed for atomic energy to be used solely for peaceful purposes. The pontiff made this call during the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, the world’s worst nuclear accident, which occurred on April 26, 1986, at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Pripyat in what was then the Soviet Union (now northern Ukraine).
The explosion occurred during a late-night safety test on Reactor 4. Operators made a series of mistakes while running the experiment. Combined with design flaws in the reactor, this led to a sudden power surge. The reactor overheated and exploded, releasing a large amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere.
The Pope said the lethal explosion “marked the conscience of humanity” and “remains a warning of the risks inherent in the use of increasingly powerful technologies,”
“I hope that at all levels of decision-making, discernment and responsibility will always prevail, so that every use of atomic energy may be at the service of life and peace,” he said.
The 1986 Chornobyl explosion is regarded as the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history.
A 2005 United Nations (UN) report put the number of confirmed and projected deaths from radiation exposure at 4,000 in the three worst-affected countries, but other NGOs and bodies have given higher tolls.
About 600,000 people involved in the clean-up operation, known as “liquidators”, were exposed to high levels of radiation.
