More nuclear accidents likely,warns UN chief

Nuclear power “is a relatively clean and logical choice in an era of increasing resources scarcity,” Ban said. “The unfortunate truth is that we are likely to see more such disasters.”

During a brief visit to the explosion site 60 miles (100 kilometres) north of the Ukrainian capital earlier in the day,Ban proposed a strategy for improving nuclear energy security worldwide,including strengthening the International Atomic Energy Agency and devoting more attention to “the new nexus between natural disasters and nuclear safety.”

The ongoing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was triggered by last month’s huge earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that flooded the plant.

“Climate change means more incidents of freak weather,” Ban said in Kiev. “Our vulnerability will only grow.”

IAEA head Yukiya Amano,who accompanied Ban on the trip to Chernobyl,echoed those sentiments.

“Many countries will continue to find nuclear power an important option in the future,and that is why we have to do our utmost to ensure safety,” he said,speaking a few hundred yards (meters) from the exploded reactor,which is now covered by a hastily erected sarcophagus.

The sarcophagus has gone past its expected service life and work has begun to build an enormous shelter that will be rolled over the reactor building. The new shelter,designed to last 100 years,is expected to be in place by 2015,but a substantial amount of money for the project is still lacking.