«The issue of nuclear safety will affect every ordinary person». Oleksandra Romantsova at the Nobel Peace Conference

On August 6, the Nobel Peace Conference: A Message to Humanity was held in Oslo, Norway, on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through this event, peace prize laureates, activists, and experts from around the world honored the memory of the victims of the disaster and reminded everyone of the constant danger of nuclear weapons. One of the honored participants was Oleksandra Romantsova, executive director of the Center for Civil Liberties. Together with other participants, she emphasized that this history must never be repeated. 

Oleksandra Romantsova was invited as a representative of a human rights organization that won the 2022 Nobel Prize to talk about the situation with the unique nuclear threat. She delivered the keynote speech during the first session of the conference “Nuclear Threat 2025.” The topic of her speech was “How is the nuclear threat becoming real for people living in Ukraine?” 

After all, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest of its kind in Europe, is located in an active combat zone. Not everyone is aware of this situation, and often the scale and real danger are not understood. In addition to the fact that the plant is located in a bombing zone and is still under occupation, the Russians (Rosatom and the Federal Security Service) are pressuring, intimidating, and sometimes torturing its unique employees. This is why a large number of people have already fled from there, and now we have the world’s largest nuclear facility in a combat zone, where there is also a shortage of licensed workers. 

The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam also poses a huge danger. In particular, it supplied water to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Therefore, if an unforeseen situation arises where urgent cooling is needed, there will be no water. In addition, restarting the plant itself poses enormous risks. All this creates a truly unique situation of danger for the whole world. 

“The issue of nuclear safety concerns every ordinary person. It is not just a matter for politicians or diplomats. 

Unfortunately, the possession of nuclear weapons does not guarantee that no one will attack a country. Nor does it guarantee that the country itself will not become a major aggressor. Therefore, Ukraine’s decision in 1992 to become a country without nuclear weapons is a tremendous example of how ready we were to prevent the spread of this danger. On the other hand, we did not do enough to ensure that Russia also did not have nuclear weapons.

The movement of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a unique phenomenon because these are the only people in the world who have survived such a catastrophe. Their special message was that they, the witnesses of these terrible events, would soon be gone. And there would be no living memory of the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. This movement consists of people who have a unique experience, as does a large part of Ukrainian society,” added Oleksandra Romantsova. 

The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, which brings together survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It works to protect the rights of victims and lobby for a ban on nuclear weapons. Participants of the Nobel Peace Conference support this mission and call for action.

The full video of the event can be viewed below: