” ” ” “"Chernobyl, 20 years later: local and regional powers before catastrophes": on the initiative of the Council of Europe, an international conference will be held in Slavutych, Ukraine, from 2nd to 4th March, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the worst nuclear catastrophe ever, which occurred on April 26th 1986 and caused 32 official victims, tens of thousands of injured and contaminated people and over 100 thousand evacuees. The conference (which will be followed by other meetings nearer to the anniversary date) "will bring together explain the organisers in the head-office of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg local and regional delegates, members of the national parliaments, government delegates and members of non-governmental organisations as well as experts and specialists". The participants "will discuss the problems of nuclear safety today, risk management and the role, by now widely recognised, of local and regional powers in this respect". During the conference, the first European Forum for Catastrophe Management will be opened. The conference will be opened on Thursday 2nd March by Yavuz Mildon, president of the Chamber of the Regions (CdE). Speakers will include Viktor Baloga, Minister of People’s Protection of Ukraine.” ” ” “
