Moscow, April 26 (Interfax) - Accidents similar to he one that occurred at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant will not happen in the future, said Valery Strizhov, a deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Problems.
"According to information available to me what happened in Chornobyl will not be repeated, as nuclear power plants of the Chornobyl type have been upgraded. The Chornobyl nuclear power plant operated an RMBK reactor (a channel-type large capacity reactor)," Strizhov told Interfax.
RMBK reactors are also used in Smolensk and Kursk, but no more nuclear power plants of this type are being built today, he said.
The nuclear power plants under construction in Russia – the Rostov, Baltic and Voronezh nuclear power plants use water-water reactors, he said. The Leningrad nuclear power plant has such reactors, too, he added.
Nuclear power engineering has been developing quite well in Russia under federal and agency programs, Strizhov said.
The Institute’s other deputy director Igor Linge said the Chornobyl nuclear disaster provided many lessons in how safety standards must be enhanced and emergency measures taken. "The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan has demonstrated that Russia has a well developed emergency reaction system. We managed to assess the situation quickly and make a forecast," Linge told Interfax.
"Additional checks are being made at the nuclear power plant, the range of safety issues is being widened and the most improbable scenarios simulated," he said.
"This work is continuing. Conclusions have been made and plans drawn up. The decision has been taken to provide nuclear power plants with additional water cooling systems," the expert said.
Concerning the Chornobyl disaster, he said that the cost of delayed iodine treatment has been assessed for the thyroid gland. "Hundreds of people have developed thyroid cancer. The initial forecast that the nuclear disaster will have no other health effects except thyroid cancer, has been confirmed, Linge said.
