Page 74 - All About History - Issue 180-19

Numerous international organisations have “their Sheep were claSSed aS radioactive, monitored
been involved in addressing the ongoing effects of
the Chernobyl disaster, much of it focused on the
safety of the site itself.
Despite the devastating accident in April of
1986, the other three reactors at the Chernobyl
plant remained in operation. At the beginning of
1990, the Ukrainian parliament voted in favour of
closing the plant by 1995. These timetables were
sped up in the fall of 1991, after a fire broke out at
unit 2 and destroyed part of the roof of the turbine
hall. Unit 2 would be closed effective immediately,
with the remaining two slated to be closed in
1993. But, before that could be done, parliament
reversed its 1990 decision in the autumn of 1993.
The reactors would remain in use.
European governments tried to make the
closure of the plant a crucial issue in the early
1990s, linked to broader development assistance
for Ukraine. These attempts failed: the plant
remained in operation until December of 2000.
Starting in 1990, the United Nations took on a
more active role in addressing the consequences
of the disaster, a role made possible by the
Soviet government’s growing acceptance that
international assistance was needed. The General
Assembly called for international cooperation to
deal with the ramifications of Chernobyl.
A vast array of initiatives received support from
the United Nations, dealing with all aspects of the
The control room of another
reactor at Chernobyl, which
continued to produce power
for years after the disaster
Fires are still common in the
uninhabited zone, sometimes
caused accidentally by people
passing through, but with
radioactivity still present they
need to be extinguished quickly
74
and reStricted for yearS after the 1986 diSaSter”
issue. Since 1986, according to the UN’s estimates, When one thinks of the so-called ‘ghosts’ of
various UN bodies and major non-governmental Chernobyl, the most immediate connection is
organisations have started some 230 research and to the exclusion zone ringing the nuclear power
assistance programs to address issues arising out plant. Chernobyl, as the site is often summed up,
of the Chernobyl accident. is a ghost town. Tourists and journalists flock
The most visible sign of international cooperation there to see an abandoned site, the latest batch
to deal with the aftermath of Chernobyl, however, inspired by HBO’s hit television series, Chernobyl.
is the vast engineering project to contain the Seemingly frozen in time, the buildings of
radioactive remains of the nuclear reactor. In Pripyat show signs of life from a state that no
1986, in the months following the accident, the longer exists, that of the Soviet Union. It is
Soviet Union constructed a shelter to seal off hardly surprising, then, that it is tempting to see
Reactor 4. But this initial structure, known as the Chernobyl as something of the past, maybe even
sarcophagus, began to crumble, threatening the as a relic unique to the Soviet era.
release of new radioactive contaminants. Historians, scientists and activists, however,
An international effort supported the all remind us that the high-profile accident
construction of a new structure to surround continues to be a pressing issue, decades after
Reactor 4, a project known as the New Safe the initial accident. News reports detail the
Confinement. A massive metal half-cylinder, ongoing impact of high radioactivity levels on
measuring 109 metres high and 257 metres in agriculture across Europe, not just in the three
length, the New Safe Confinement covers both countries most affected by the disaster. Others
the old, crumbling sarcophagus and the damaged continue to debate how disease rates are linked
reactor. It was installed in late 2016, some 30 years to Chernobyl. Ongoing international cooperation,
after the initial accident. And the project’s cost is like the immense project to build and install a
immense: the European Bank for Reconstruction new structure to confine the radioactive rubble
and Development, responsible for coordinating the remaining, is a stark reminder that the ghosts of
funds, estimates the total cost at some €1.5 billion. Chernobyl remain. We’re still living with the fallout.
Pripyat remains a chilling ghost
town, with the fairground left
as it was in 1986
Everyone needed
to be tested for
their radioactivity
levels after the
evacuation
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