back-words... 20 years since Chernobyl...

Sunday, April 23, 2006
20 years since Chernobyl...
On April 26th it will have been 20 years since the tragic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On April 28th it will have been 20 years since the rest of the world learned of the tragic accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The Soviets official news agency said only that there were casualties and that they would be sending aid, trying to underplay the horrors that had taken place.

The Chernobyl disaster is considered to be the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power. So great that by the time the discharge made it the thousand miles to Sweden it still managed to register at twice the normal level of radioactivity in our atmosphere. The Swedes originally believed that this was proof of a disaster at their own nuclear power plant and called a full-scale alert. When they realized that it wasn't their own, people began to question where the radiation was actually coming from. It was registered by monitors in Sweden, Finland, and Norway.

In 2005, the World Health Organization in association with the UN and several governments set up the Chernobyl Forum to analyze the results of the disaster. They came to the conclusion that under 50 people died because of the meltdown, some of which survived right up until 2004. They also estimated that another 4,000 people could die as a result of radiation exposure which is disputed by Greenpeace who say it could be as high as 93,000.

The contamination spread though Belarus into Europe and in many places radiation levels in animals must still be tested before the meat can be eaten.

The Soviets built a concrete sarcophagus to cover the damaged reactor, which has been slowly decaying over time and is due to be replaced in 2007. Chernobyl even continued to produce power until 2000 when it was closed down due to problems with internal pressure.

20 years later Chernobyl is still one of the most radioactive places on the planet.
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i remember when this happened. i was 12 at my grandparents house watching tv. this was only a couple years after a couple movies had been released about what would happen if nuclear war between the us and ussr happened. it seemed all so real and to see this major disaster on the news really brought it all home to me. it was scary that people could let something like this happen, intentionally or otherwise. it bothered me that the physically extenuating circumstances would have such far reaching results to affect more than those involved. i saw footage of bald children in poland drinking iodine out of little medicine cups, deformed children in hospitals throughout europe, people with burnt and mutated flesh suffering everywhere... thats pretty overwhelming stuff for a 12 year old to have to take in. yes you can change the channel and look at other things, but the fact is its still there. you have to learn from the past to make your future different and hopefully better. just think, if there had been ww3 between the two superpowers, chernobyl would have looked like a festival.

now that's scary...