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Conf on Chernobyl

disaster opens

in Vienna

VIENNA: An international conference on the tragic health and environmental effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 10 years ago began in Vienna on Tuesday.

The keynote speeches were being delivered by Hans Blix, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), followed by German Environment Minister Angela Merkel, who is chairing the conference.

About 700 delegates from around the world, including the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus, were expected to attend the four-day meeting to discuss the consequences over the past decade of the world's worst nuclear accident.

Heads of delegation from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia - the countries most affected by the radioactive fallout from the explosion - will address the conference directly, the Vienna-based IAEA said.

On April 26, 1986, reactor four at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine exploded, sending radioactive particles in the atmosphere across much of Europe. It took 11 days for the reactor to begin cooling down and for the release of radioactivity to decrease.-Reuter