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It was said during the conference "Fukushima - 25 years after Chernobyl" held by the newly created movement in Greece Stop Nuclear Reactors that there is no safe nuclear energy, it is very expensive for the countries and is detrimental to people's lives.

The reactors producing nuclear energy cost billions of euros and the return on investitment begins after more than twelve years, stated Andreas Teofilou - physicist from the Democritus Nuclear Research Centre. Much cheaper are the investments in smaller projects related to alternative and sustainable methods for production of wind and solar energy. Unlike the reactors for the nuclear power plants, the solar and wind installations begin to produce electricity as soon as they are installed.

Daunting is the statistics of lives lost because of cancer after the Chernobyl accident as well as the statistics for abortion and the harm of radiation over the next 60 years.

On the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the explosion of the nuclear plant in Chernobyl and the incident in Fukushima, Greek activists against the nuclear power have decided to start new campaign to inform the citizens in order to stop the operation of nuclear plants in Europe and the Mediterranean region, said Olga Atanidi. Although the nuclear energy in Greece has never been a government priority, the members of the movement believe it is necessary to hold campaigns and petitions for suspension of nuclear power plants in other European countries, as the radiation resulting from accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima is fatal for the people and devastating for the environment for decades to come, and there are radio active waste that can not be destroyed without damaging the environment.

"25 years after Chernobyl we see the same in Fukushima and the same defenders of the nuclear lobby protect the nuclear energy even after the revelations about the scale of the disaster," said Maria Sotiropoulou from the organization Physicians against nuclear power. Sotiropoulou presented data on deaths due to cancer in adults and children in Ukraine and Russia and noted that the areas affected by radiation are 25% of the European continent, 8% the Asian, 2% of the African and 36% of Russia. She noted that the World Health Organisation made a statement in 1956 that the genetic inheritance is the most valuable for the human beings and believes that the health of future generations is threatened by the development of the nuclear industry. "It is also believed that the mutations caused by the nuclear power threatens the future of humanity," says the text of the International Health Oranisation.

There is evidence that after the explosion at Chernobyl births in Europe fell by 1 million, 23% of pregnancies in Greece were suspended in the first three months after the explosion and 2500 wanted kids were not born. "We know that because of intrauterine infection the cases of leukemia in children have increased by about three times. The World Commission on Atomic Energy does not calculate the systematic damage from low doses of radiation, although it enters the body and continues to emit longer than the duration of human life," says Sotiropoulou. The consequences of Chernobyl continue to cause casualties and it will not stop in the next 60 years at least while the cesium is still acting. We know now that cesium in increased quantities is found in food throughout Europe, noted Sotiropoulou. According to data from research papers, another 1.7 million people are expected to die as a consequence of the Chernobyl radiation. The people who have been irradiated at Chernobyl are the 830 000 "cleaners" over 100,000 of whom have died and they were mostly volunteers or people who were forced to go there on the spot - firefighters and soldiers. At risk are about 350 000 people who lived within 30 kilometers and have been displaced, and over 8 million people who live in highly polluted areas in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. 600 million people live in areas with low radiation in Europe, including Greece, said Dr. Sotiropoulou. The most frequent diseases caused by radiation are thyroid cancer, brain cancer and cancer of other organs, genetic abnormalities, brain disorders, accelerating the process of cell aging and psychological problems. The only positive development of the whole story is that the effects of radiation in the human body have been investigated for the first time since the Chernobyl disaster. The conclusion from these data is that there is no radiation exposure, which is not harmful, and the lower the radiation dose, the greater is the period of the occurrence of cancer. After the Chernobyl accident, 200,000 preventive abortions were made in Western Europe and nevertheless the number of children born with disabilities has increased by over 1000 only in Bavaria and to 10 000 throughout Europe. The phenomenon of fewer girls than boys being born since 1986 was observed in Europe for the first time.