Page 72 - All About History - Issue 180-19
P. 72
Contemporary pictures show
the damage to the plant
Chernobyl’s impacts were vast and wide-ranging,
though the sheer degree of devastation continues
to be hotly contested decades later.
The catastrophe did immediate damage as
it contaminated portions of the western Soviet
Union, concentrated in what became Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus after the Soviet Union’s
collapse in December of 1991. Estimates from the
United Nations put the number of individuals
affected by the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl
power station at some 8.4 million across Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus alone. Some 600,000 people
were involved in – and impacted – by efforts to
clean up the nuclear power plant.
Around Chernobyl, trees in the nearby forest
turned a sickly reddish-brown as a result of high
radiation, in what became known as the ‘Red
Forest’. The crew that cleaned up the accident
ended up exposed to high degrees of radiation;
28 of the plant’s workers died within months of
the explosion, while another 106 suffered from “Soviet pilotS chaSed The West German foreign minister, Hans-Dietrich
acute radiation sickness thanks to high radiation Genscher, demanded nothing short of the closure
exposure during the clean-up process. the cloudS and peppered of all Soviet nuclear reactors.
Food supplies, too, were contaminated as The disaster at Chernobyl horrified Mikhail
radioactive isotopes fell on crops, farms and them with Silver iodide Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the
grazing areas for livestock. A slew of new Communist Party of the Soviet Union. For
regulations and orders tried to grapple with to make it rain” Gorbachev, the damage done by Chernobyl drove
the enormity of the problem. Soviet officials home the dangers of the atomic age and of nuclear
introduced new mechanisms to monitor come. Rather than see it rain radioactive droplets annihilation. Countless of Gorbachev’s advisers
contamination, distributing new advice to farmers over Moscow, Soviet pilots chased the clouds later recalled that the horrific accident encouraged
across the contaminated areas. Often, these and peppered them with silver iodide to make it the General Secretary to seek dramatic nuclear
attempted solutions merely hid the problem. One rain. Seeding the clouds brought down a heavy, reductions in negotiation with his American
group of KGB officers, for instance, found four radioactive rain across swaths of Belarus in order counterpart, Ronald Reagan.
train cars of radioactive meat in 1990. For the to spare the Soviet capital from those same rains. Chernobyl also spurred on Gorbachev in
past four years, the contaminated meat had criss- Spikes in radioactivity could be found, too, pursuing a policy of glasnost – or openness – in
crossed railroads, trying in vain to find any takers in the United Kingdom. Scientists tested sheep, Soviet society. In the years that followed, that
willing to accept it. only to discover that the animals possessed same policy of openness made it possible for
The devastating effects of the accident were radioactive isotope levels far too high for human citizens in the affected areas of the Soviet Union to
hardly contained in and around Chernobyl or consumption. Again, it was the rain as storms express their frustration with how the government
kept within the confines of the exclusion zone in early May of 1986 contaminated farmland, had handled (or mishandled) Chernobyl.
set up by Soviet authorities. Radioactive particles as pools seeped into the water table. Farmers in By 1989, there were mass demonstrations taking
travelled far and wide, carried by weather systems Wales faced restrictions on their livestock; their place in Ukraine and Belarus, as residents of the
and wind patterns. After all, it was precisely these sheep were classed as radioactive, monitored and two republics tried to lift the veil of secrecy about
weather patterns that made it possible for Swedish restricted for years after the 1986 disaster. the degree of damage caused by the accident.
scientists to figure out — and inform those around Across the globe, the catastrophic accident Demonstrators decried a Soviet cover-up of
the globe — that a nuclear accident had taken place at Chernobyl inflamed anti-nuclear sentiments. the dangers, as concerned citizens produced
in the Soviet Union. Individual citizens and national governments documents that showed that Soviet officials had
In the days after the explosion, Soviet officials demanded that Moscow take steps to pushed on with a May Day parade in Kyiv, just
tracked the radioactive clouds emanating out of prevent another such accident. Some 40,000 days after the accident, despite knowing that
the explosion. A large accumulation, over Belarus, demonstrators showed up to protest a nuclear radiation levels were extremely high. Chernobyl
was headed toward Moscow where meteorologists power plant in Brokdorf, a small town in the became a rallying cry in the Ukrainian push for
anticipated a sizeable spring storm in the days to northern parts of the Federal Republic of Germany. independence.
Timeline Of april 1986 01:00 14:00 23:10 april 1986 00:28 01:00 01:23:04
Permission
Emergency
Power drops
Test is given
A power surge
Preparations
Disaster for a safety core cooling for the test below stable permission occurs as the
to continue
limits. Operators
test begins on
to proceed
on reactor
check on
break safety
reactor no. 4
once power
reactor no.
is given
no. 4 is also
The lead-up and aftermath Day Zero – 25 4 begin with disabled even though one – 26 guidelines by stabilises.
so it won’t
power being
Emergency
removing the
the less
of the terrible Chernobyl reduced interfere experienced control rods in shutdown and
safety features
nightshift
with the test
hopes of raising
reactor accident takes over Day the power output are deactivated
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