Today the world will remember the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. According to unconfirmed statistics more than a million people died because of the disaster. The meltdown and explosion back then sent radiation across Europe.

Today inhabitants of the Ukraine lit candles beneath a memorial containing pictures of the rescue workers and plant workers who died in the disaster. The Ukrainian president Yanukovych , who visited the scene together with russian president Medvedev  said that “Chernobyl has become a challenge of planetary magnitude." Medvedev added: "Chernobyl will forever remain a symbol of huge human grief." He will propose a plan to boost safety at the world's nuclear power plants at the Group of Eight summit next month.

History repeating?

In the early hours of April 26, 1986, workers at the Chernobyl atomic power station in the then Soviet republic were carrying out a test on reactor four when operating errors and design flaws sparked successive explosions. Radioactive debris landed around the reactor, creating an apocalyptic scene in the surrounding area, while material also blew into the neighbouring Soviet republics of Belarus and Russia and further into western Europe.

What do you think, what did the world learn until today? Did we learn at least something? What are your personal conclusions on Chernobyl?

Here's a report of our DW-TV colleague Mareike Aden who met victims from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, it's a brief history of the accident as well: