Chernobyl Memories : In Communist times, disasters just did not happen
6672 Mins Read
When a unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in then-Soviet Ukraine exploded in the early hours of April 26, 1986, it sparked a fire that burned for nine days, as well as controversy and consequences that are still felt today.
Caused by a botched safety test in the fourth reactor of the atomic plant, the explosion released 50 million curies of radiation – equivalent to 500 Hiroshima bombs. Clouds carrying radioactive particles drifted as far as Canada, releasing toxic rain in their wake.
The disaster, and Moscow’s handling of it, drove home the culture of secrecy in which the Soviet system was shrouded, and for many signalled the first weakening of a structure that would collapse five years later.
Two plant workers were killed within the facility – one in the explosion and the other in the immediate aftermath by a lethal dose of radiation. Over the following months, 28 firemen and plant employees died of acute radiation syndrome (ARS). Of the 134 people initially hospitalised with ARS, 14 died of radiation-induced cancers over the next ten years.
Estimates of the final death toll of those killed by radiation-related illnesses range from 9,000, by the World Health Organization, to 90,000, estimated by environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
The event remains the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.
“At the time, there were rumours circulating that the high-ranking politicians were sending their kids away and the airports were crowded with those kids. If there is something to hide, it will spread anyway, even if there’s a huge propaganda machine that’s trying to hide it from people.” – Natalia Liubchenkova, Kyiv, Ukraine (then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) – 135km from Chernobyl. Natalia’s mother said that “despite making the decision to send her daughter away from Kyiv, she says she did not realise the full extent of the danger and the damage of Chernobyl until around six months after the disaster.”
