Baltic States – CIS, Energy, History, Latvia, Nuclear power plant, Society

Photo: iem.gov.lv

Addressing participants of the event, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (Unity) said that Latvia has issued a special commemorative badge to mark the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The minister presented the badges to 125 participants of the Chernobyl rescue works and their relatives as a sign of honor and respect.

Over the next three years, such badges will also be presented to other Latvians who took part in the rescue works following the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant.

The minister said that Latvia will never forget the names of the people who 30 years ago saved the world, putting their health and lives on the line.

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident that happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, on April 26, 1986, and huge territories were contaminated. After the accident the Soviet authorities sent thousands of people from different Soviet republics to participate in the clean-up operations, including some 6,000 people from Latvia.