Who can guarantee?

25 April 1986: explosion of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, in the Ukraine. It is the worst nuclear incident that has ever occurred: and a disaster whose consequences have not yet been exhausted. On the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl, the German Churches have, in various statements, adopted a clear position on nuclear energy, emphasising the paramount need to preserve the creation and use clean and sustainable sources of energy. UNACCEPTABLE RISK . In the German diocese of Münster, the Catholic diocesan committee, in a statement issued on 25 April, called for “sustainable development as fundamental principle of a responsible policy. Nuclear energy is an uncontrollable source of energy in the event of war, terrorism and in terms of permanent stockpiling”. According to the committee, the management of nuclear power stations is “no longer an acceptable risk. Chernobyl is a constant reminder to us that absolute safety does not exist in the exploitation of atomic energy. For this reason, the Christian position of sustainable development proposes as wide as possible a policy of energy saving”, since it “represents the simplest form of climate protection”. But this must be complemented by an increase in energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources, such as those of sun and wind. The committee also presented proposals to implement these principles in daily life, for example by the purchase of renewable energy, as has been happening in the parishes of the diocese for years. HELPING THE VICTIMS . Renovabis, a charity that offers solidarity with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, has recalled the need for “further aid for the victims” of Chernobyl. Father Dietger Demuth, director of the charity, has placed the emphasis on the anomalous increase of diseases linked to the radiations emitted by the exploded reactor twenty years ago, and the forced transfer of many people from the contaminated zones, with repercussions also at the psychological level. In particular, Demuth emphasized that “poverty is, among others, one of the main problems”; hence the commitment of Renovabis, to ensure that the victims “perceive that they are not abandoned, that there is an alternative to alcoholism, or even suicide”. With the money it raises, the charity funds projects for the population struck by the disaster: recently a further 400,000 euros were allocated to provide accommodation to children in six specialised centres in Ukraine. Over the last ten years the charity has donated funds amounting to roughly 1.5 million euros to Chernobyl relief. EQUITY BETWEEN GENERATIONS . The German Catholic rural youth movement (KLJB) for its part asked for the immediate renunciation of atomic energy in a statement issued on 24 April. “The enormous risks of the use of nuclear energy cannot be ignored and the final stockpiling of nuclear wastes, the irradiation during the degradation of the uranium, and the risk of parallel military use remain insoluble problems. It’s an incredible burden that today’s authorities want to leave to future generations”, declared Elmar Schäfer, federal representative of the KLJB. The movement has indicated the “safe alternatives” to nuclear energy and those that are “sustainable in the long term: energy generated from the sun, from wind, from water, from biomasses and from geothermic sources”. It has also underlined the need for a responsible use of the potential of energy savings. “Energy policy must above all signify a serious attitude to the principle of equity between the generations. Whoever aims solely at short-term financial profits must pay a stiff price in the aftermath”, added Schäfer. The movement was one of the promoters of the Youth Energy Summit YES ’06, held in Berlin on 20 April, where energy prospects were discussed with experts and ideas on the energy supplies of the future presented. “We wish energy supplies to be without atomic energy and to abandon the fossil fuels that are contributing to global warming. The development of renewable energies must be accelerated”, said Franziska Vogt, KLJB representative at the conference. CHANGING MENTALITY . The German Evangelical Church has also remembered the victims of Chernobyl on the 20th anniversary of the disaster: a church service was held in Berlin on 26 April, with a sermon given by the chairman of the EKD Council, Bishop Wolfgang Huber. “We cannot forget the victims of tumours in Belarus and in Ukraine, who have increased in a dramatic manner over the last twenty years. These people need help”, declared the vice-chairman of the EKD Council, Christoph Kähler. And the Evangelical bishop of Saxony, Axel Noack, declared: “Not only we Christians are pledged to the conservation of the world and of the creation. We can fulfil this obligation only by renouncing the technologies that involve unpredictable and irreversible consequences. The Chernobyl disaster demonstrated that the dangers of atomic energy are uncontrollable”.