16.04.2026
Topic: “CHERNOBYL – FROM RENAISSANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”
40 years ago, on April 26, 1986, there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the largest in the history of nuclear energy, which entailed large-scale economic and socio-psychological consequences. Belarus suffered more than other countries.
Almost a quarter of the territory of Belarus, where one fifth of the country’s population lived, was contaminated with radionuclides. 479 settlements have ceased to exist (306 in the Gomel region and 173 in the Mogilev region). According to experts, the total damage is estimated at 32 of the republic’s budget in 1985.
While the world was debating who was to blame and what to do, Belarus was eliminating the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, investing huge amounts of money to minimize them. On April 25, 2025, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, listening to a report on the development of the districts of the Gomel region affected by the Chernobyl accident, stressed: “We have done a lot, we took unpopular steps – we did not give out rubles, as was customary, but concentrated on those projects that people needed: housing, clean water, sewerage, sanitation, gasification, and so on. A lot has been done during this time. And this time has shown that we acted absolutely correctly and correctly.”
The revival of the territories of Belarus
affected by the Chernobyl accident
Over four decades, Belarus has restored life in the affected territories step by step, having made a difficult journey from disaster relief, rehabilitation and revival of the affected territories to their transition to sustainable socio-economic development.
The State policy was primarily aimed at reducing the radiation risk to human health and ensuring the safety of their lives. For these purposes, resettlement, decontamination of territories and burial of radioactive waste, restriction of access to contaminated territories, a large-scale set of measures to minimize radiation doses, special measures in agriculture and forestry, restriction of consumption of contaminated food, etc. were carried out.
In total, 138 thousand people were resettled during the post-accident period., 200 thousand left on their own. Evacuated and resettled citizens were provided with living quarters, compensation payments, allowances and benefits.
In 1988, the Polessky State Radiation and Ecological Reserve, which plays an important role in the conservation of biodiversity, was established in the resettled territories of the Braginsky, Khoiniksky and Narovlyansky districts, which posed the greatest danger to human habitation. Its area is 217 thousand hectares (1% of the total territory of the country).
For reference:
The purpose of the reserve is to provide radiation protection to the population of the republic, prevent the spread of radionuclides beyond the exclusion and resettlement zones, carry out radiation monitoring, conduct radioecological research, study the animal and plant world, typical and unique ecosystems and landscapes, study the natural course of natural processes characteristic of the Pripyat Polesie.
The experience of the work carried out in the initial period dictated the need for a systematic solution to the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. In this regard, state programs have become the main tool for implementing state policy in the field of overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, each of which contained a number of measures to comprehensively address problems in various fields. The programs continuously followed one another. Each subsequent program was formed taking into account the changes in the post-Chernobyl situation. Their main goal is to create living conditions that minimize the negative effects of radioactive contamination, while at the same time carrying the functions of social protection of the population, had a positive impact on the socio-economic development of the regions.
Six state programs have been implemented to overcome the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster and the socio-economic development of the affected regions.
Today, the Republic of Belarus has a State program “Public Safety Infrastructure” based on 2026-2030, which is a logical continuation of the implementation of the state policy aimed at solving the problems of the “nuclear legacy” and ensures the integration of management of the modern post-Chernobyl situation into a unified system of integrated nuclear and radiation safety in the Republic of Belarus.
In addition, the Chernobyl events are integrated into the state programs of the new cycle: “Society of Equal Opportunities”, “Intellectual Belarus”, “Health of the Nation”, “Agro-industrial complex of the Future”, “Sustainable Energy and energy efficiency”, “Housing Construction”, “Comfortable housing and a favorable environment” for 2026-2030.
****
The Chernobyl disaster has become an important reminder of the need for extreme caution in the operation of nuclear power plants around the world. It is thanks to this sad experience that modern nuclear power plants, including the Belarusian one, are now equipped with multi-level safety systems.
The Belarusian NPP, which has been successfully operating for five years, generates about 40% of the country’s total electricity. This made it possible to completely abandon its imports and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But the most important thing is that Belarus has provided itself with a reliable source of environmentally friendly and affordable energy for decades to come, while making it accessible to the population.
The launch of the first Belarusian nuclear power plant has launched a new stage in the country’s development. As President Alexander Lukashenko noted on November 14, 2025: “The construction of the NPP not only strengthened our energy security, but also determined the further development of Belarus as a high-tech state.”
MATERIALS FOR THE UNIFIED INFORMATION DAY ON THE TOPIC: “CHERNOBYL – FROM RENAISSANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”:
– Material addressed to the intelligentsia
– Material addressed to employees of enterprises in the real sector of the economy
– Material addressed to young people
