Extreme Disasters - The Children of Chernobyl
- 6 years ago
Nuclear energy has not always been viewed with the caution that this useful but potentially disastrous power source deserves. In the early 1980s, especially in the U.S.S.R., citizens were led to believe that nuclear power offered the ultimate in safety, cleanliness, and reliability. As this text excerpted from Richard Rhodes' book, Nuclear Renewal and reprinted on the FRONTLINE Web site explains, such beliefs led to the complacency responsible for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, the worst accident of its kind in history.
Chernobyl's legacy: Kids with bodies ravaged by disaster. ... Their parents were children in 1986. These children have a range of illnesses: respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, eye diseases, blood diseases, cancer, congenital malformations, genetic abnormalities, trauma.
30 years after the nuclear disaster, cancer rates among those living close to the contaminated exclusion zone are high. A million people in Ukraine and Belarus are affected.
On April 26, 1986 a series of unsuccessful tests at the 4th reactor of Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north-west of Ukraine caused an explosion which turned into an extensive fire, resulting in the world’s worst nuclear accident.
The Soviet government attempted to cover up what happened but was forced to admit it after it was reported by a Swedish nuclear energy authority.
Two people died in the immediate explosion and 29 more in the hospital over the next few days. The 4th reactor continued to burn for almost three weeks and scores of people worked as so called “liquidators” putting the fire out. A lot of them died subsequently from health problems linked to exposure to radiation.
The total number of Chernobyl fatalities over the years is a disputed figure. International Agency for Research on Cancer (a UN body) claims that by 2065 40,000 people will have died from cancers that could be traced to Chernobyl. Many scientists put the figure well into six digits.
A 30 km exclusion zone was created and still remains around Chernobyl. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the areas around the plant, mainly the town of Prypiat and nearby villages. A temporary cover over the 4th reactor was erected in the summer of 1986 to be replaced later with a stronger structure. The building of the latter continues to this day, slowed down by the complexity of the project and high levels of radiation still present around the burnt-out reactor.
29 years after the accident Euronews spoke to three young Ukrainians, born within days of each other in that fateful month. We asked them: what is it like being a child of Chernobyl?
Olga Zakrevska is a professional photographer, running her own studio in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. She was born on April 11, 1986 in Prypiat, a town nearest to the Chernobyl plant where many of the staff lived. Her father was a young nuclear energy expert.
Chernobyl's legacy: Kids with bodies ravaged by disaster. ... Their parents were children in 1986. These children have a range of illnesses: respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, eye diseases, blood diseases, cancer, congenital malformations, genetic abnormalities, trauma.
30 years after the nuclear disaster, cancer rates among those living close to the contaminated exclusion zone are high. A million people in Ukraine and Belarus are affected.
On April 26, 1986 a series of unsuccessful tests at the 4th reactor of Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north-west of Ukraine caused an explosion which turned into an extensive fire, resulting in the world’s worst nuclear accident.
The Soviet government attempted to cover up what happened but was forced to admit it after it was reported by a Swedish nuclear energy authority.
Two people died in the immediate explosion and 29 more in the hospital over the next few days. The 4th reactor continued to burn for almost three weeks and scores of people worked as so called “liquidators” putting the fire out. A lot of them died subsequently from health problems linked to exposure to radiation.
The total number of Chernobyl fatalities over the years is a disputed figure. International Agency for Research on Cancer (a UN body) claims that by 2065 40,000 people will have died from cancers that could be traced to Chernobyl. Many scientists put the figure well into six digits.
A 30 km exclusion zone was created and still remains around Chernobyl. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the areas around the plant, mainly the town of Prypiat and nearby villages. A temporary cover over the 4th reactor was erected in the summer of 1986 to be replaced later with a stronger structure. The building of the latter continues to this day, slowed down by the complexity of the project and high levels of radiation still present around the burnt-out reactor.
29 years after the accident Euronews spoke to three young Ukrainians, born within days of each other in that fateful month. We asked them: what is it like being a child of Chernobyl?
Olga Zakrevska is a professional photographer, running her own studio in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. She was born on April 11, 1986 in Prypiat, a town nearest to the Chernobyl plant where many of the staff lived. Her father was a young nuclear energy expert.