One Decade After Chernobyl: Summing Up the Consequences of the Accident

Ten years after the tragic accident at Unit-4, the world rightly continues to take a keen interest in Chernobyl and wants to know what the consequences have been, notably as regards people's health and the environment.

In an endeavour to shed as much light as possible on the many issues involved -- scientific, medical, psychological, socio-economic, environmental and political -- the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is co-sponsoring, with the European Commission (EC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), a major international conference to take stock of the situation as it is now known.

The Conference, which will be chaired by the German Environment Minister, Dr. Angela Merkel, will take place at the Austria Center, Vienna 8-12 April, and is open to the media. Some 700 delegates are expected to attend, from the three affected republics (at high level) as well as from the international community. Speakers will be making a broad spectrum of presentations and the aim is to sum up, synthesize and draw conclusions from the findings of work done to date, including the outcome of two major international conferences, one hosted last fall by WHO, the other currently underway under EC auspices in Minsk. An overview of the conference programme is available on-line.

Briefings for the media on the day's proceedings will be held on April 10 and 11 at 5:30 p.m. near the conference hall, and Dr. Merkel will hold a press conference at the close, on Friday, 12 April at 1 p.m. Press accreditation will begin on the afternoon of April 8 at the Austria Center, where facilities for journalists will be available.

Media representatives intending to participate are invited to notify the IAEA, Division of Public Information in Vienna (Tel. 43-1 2060 21276 or Fax 43-1 2060 29616) in advance to facilitate their accreditation upon arrival.