Chernobyl 2019 (Videos)

On 26 April 1986, a scheduled safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR, went hideously wrong.

The Chernobyl disaster was considered the most worst nuclear power plant accident in history at the time, devastating in terms of casualties and overall costs. The nuclear energy accident was classified as a “level 7 major accident”, the maximum classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale. It would be another twenty-five years before the Fukushima nuclear energy disaster in Japan would receive the same maximum classification.

The resulting explosion and fire threw hot particles of nuclear fuel and dangerous fission products including radioactive isotopes such as caesium-137, iodine-131, strontium-90 and other radionuclides, into the air. All the citizens in the area surrounding the plant observed the expanding radioactive cloud.

It would be thirty-six hours after the initial explosion and fire before the government sent out an order of evacuation for the city of Pripyat, and the buses began to arrive. By then, people were already dead, and many others were ill and required hospitalization due to radiation exposure.

“For the attention of the residents of Pripyat! The City Council informs you that due to the accident at Chernobyl Power Station in the city of Pripyat the radioactive conditions in the vicinity are deteriorating. The Communist Party, its officials and the armed forces are taking necessary steps to combat this. Nevertheless, with the view to keep people as safe and healthy as possible, the children being top priority, we need to temporarily evacuate the citizens in the nearest towns of Kiev region. For these reasons, starting from 27 April 1986, 14:00 each apartment block will be able to have a bus at its disposal, supervised by the police and the city officials. It is highly advisable to take your documents, some vital personal belongings and a certain amount of food, just in case, with you. The senior executives of public and industrial facilities of the city has decided on the list of employees needed to stay in Pripyat to maintain these facilities in a good working order. All the houses will be guarded by the police during the evacuation period. Comrades, leaving your residences temporarily please make sure you have turned off the lights, electrical equipment and water and shut the windows. Please keep calm and orderly in the process of this short-term evacuation.”

A translated excerpt from the 27 April 1986 evacuation announcement

By ten days after the initial explosion and fire, the smoke plumes which were sending particles of nuclear fuel and dangerous fission products through the air had been stopped. Those radioactive particles were carried far afield across Central and Western Europe, although the deadliest concentrations fell on what is now known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This evacuation area had been expanded to cover a core nineteen miles in diameter. Although the shape and size would be changed and expanded over time, this ‘Exclusion Zone’ remains in place today (1,600 square miles). The total residents in the area who were displaced at the time of the incident and in the years immediately following has been estimated to number over 400,000.

The world first received notice of the Chernobyl disaster on 28 April 1986 when radioactive atmosphere set off the alarms at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, 620 miles from the Chernobyl Plant. Investigation determined the radiation level increase was not from Forsmark, and Sweden contacted the Soviet government, who initially denied anything had happened but eventually conceded a ‘minor’ accident had occurred. It was the massive population evacuation from the Chernobyl area which alerted the world to the radioactive disaster, although it would take time before the full details would finally be known.

After the 1986 disaster in Reactor 4, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant continued to operate and generate electricity until the end of 2000, when the still operating Reactor 3 was deactivated, and the entire site shut down.

Today, in the hushed, dead city of Chernobyl, silence has the upper hand. There still are a small crew of clean-up workers there, finishing authorized tasks required to secure the remaining radioactive areas. This effort is expected to take another forty years at least.

Sanctioned guides take visitors on day tours or overnight tours through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, visiting the abandoned, empty buildings and disaster impacted locations while staying alert for the real dangers which still exist in the area. 

The huge, lush forest which surrounded Reactor 4 at Chernobyl absorbed massive amounts of the discharged radiation when the accident happened. The name of ‘Red Forest’ was given to the specific wooded area where all of the Scots pine trees turned a reddish color and then died from the radiation.

Today, this forest of dry, dead trees continues to stand, a stark reminder of that terrible moment. Any small spark could ignite them, and the resulting ash and cinders would release large amounts of radioactive particles into the atmosphere to be dispersed by the wind, becoming a real forest of death for any living creature exposed to the freed radiation. An installed automatic wind alarm system stands active sentinel over the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, ready to sound out an evacuation warning to visitors when the wind direction shifts.

Despite the impact of the disaster, the human abandonment of the area has resulted in a natural recovery of the larger wildlife species in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Even the domestic dogs left behind during evacuation have thrived. The radiation has made Mother Nature’s return a slow process, but the green of new foliage can be seen painting the landscape. 

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has evolved from a disaster zone into a nature reserve, teeming with elk, deer , boar and wolves, along with wild horses and cattle. 

Scientists who visit to do research and map radiation level impacts on flora and fauna are seeing a return of birds and insects as well.

The scar left by Chernobyl is slowly being healed, the naturally occurring cycles of life finding a new pattern to follow. 

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster