President of Moldova's Chernobyl Union warns of risks of 1986 disaster: “New nuclear reaction is possible at a critical moment”

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster continues to pose a danger to humanity even four decades after the explosion, says Tudor Capatana, president of Moldova’s Chernobyl Union. The former liquidator warns that risks associated with radioactive contamination still exist, including the possibility of long-term effects caused by radioactive dust particles dispersed after the accident.

“Many see this event as something in the past; yet; the harmful consequences of this catastrophe continue to negatively affect people’s health and the environment, even though 40 years have passed. I do not want to frighten anyone, but the research carried out by specialists using equipment installed on both sarcophagi indicates a situation that is not good at the moment. Everything that was thrown out of the destroyed sarcophagus in 1986 has crumbled and turned into dust like any dust in the world, and at a critical moment a new chain nuclear reaction is possible, which could become a second Chernobyl, much more frightening,” Capatana said at the rally commemorating the victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

The former liquidator recalls that, in 1986, thousands of young people were mobilized and sent to Chernobyl without being fully informed about the risks. Capatana says that radioactive particles entered the participants’ bodies and continue to affect their health.

“The so‑called doses, the heavy particles that entered the participants’ bodies, together with the air we breathed, lodged themselves in all our organs and are slowly destroying the body until the death of each of us. As a result of the action of ionizing radiation on humans, since the date of the explosion until April 1, 2026, 1,212 participants have died. Almost half of the participants have left us; the number of deaths has increased 5.2 times in recent years. At the moment, 1,606 participants are still alive. Of them, every fourth participant is bedridden and suffering from a multitude of serious diseases. These people were taken from their beds at night and sent into the pit of radiation at Chernobyl,” Capatana said.

Capatana called on the authorities to revise the pensions of the liquidators, which currently amount to about 1,600 lei.

According to official data, over 3,500 citizens of Moldova took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Around 70 out of all participants were employees of the Interior Ministry and more than 3,000 were reservists, including officers called up by military commissariats, as well as other specialists.

Sunday, April 26, marks 40 years since the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, which occurred in 1986, when an explosion at reactor number four released massive amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. The accident, still considered the most severe in the history of nuclear energy, generated a radioactive cloud that quickly spread over much of Europe, affecting millions of people and contaminating vast areas of land. According to United Nations data, more than 3.5 million people were hit and approximately 50,000 square kilometers were contaminated.