For the 34^th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster

 

The name of a small Ukrainian town Chernobyl located a few kilometers from the southern border of Belorussia has been a synonym for “technological disaster” for already three decades.

On 26 April 1986, the unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded entailing the total destruction of the nuclear reactor core, partial collapse of the power unit building and considerable emission of radioactive materials into the environment.

The accident led to death of 3 persons, with 28 more having died in medical assistance centres afterwards. Of 499 individuals who were directly in the disaster area, the diagnosis of acute radiation injury was confirmed by specialists in 134 cases.

During May 1986, about 116.000 residents were moved out of 188 localities in the 30 km exclusion zone surrounding Chernobyl. The USSR’s territory of about 200.000 sq km was subjected to radioactive contamination, with 70% of the said territory belonging to present-day Russia, Belarus and Ukraine and remaining 30% to other European countries.

About 600.000 people from the whole Soviet Union participated in aftermath of the Chernobyl accident.

In terms of its scale, the Chernobyl disaster is among the largest disasters of the 20^th century. The collapse of the Vajont Dam (Italy) in 1963 caused flooding of 5 villages and death of 2.600 people. Leak of 30 tons of poisonous methyl isocyanate from pesticide plant in Bhopal (India) resulted in the instant death of 1.762 people with total number of victims having reached 15.000 by the end of 1995. Well-known are accidents on the nuclear power plant in Windscale (Great Britain) in 1957 and on the Three-Mile Island nuclear station (USA) in 1979 as well as more than 50 large and small incidents in different countries.

Although the vast majority of the population of the former USSR and subsequently of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine perceived and perceive the Chernobyl disaster as an awful tragedy, there are still those attempting to benefit from it, both politically and economically.

The accident was turned into a trump card for those nuclear energy opponents who seek to question the legitimacy of the branch itself and, for that purpose, stoop so low as to manipulate information and resort to blatant populism.

Thanks to “black PR” the accident has become a mass culture phenomenon to a large extent. Chernobyl spawned dozens of films including the trumpeted miniseries released in May-June 2019. As a result, general public and primarily those who lack knowledge on Chernobyl develop a largely mythologized idea of the accident and its consequences due to insufficient understanding of radiation impact on humans and the environment.

We regard it as nothing less than a form of unfair competition for the benefit of nuclear technologies of other countries as well as manufacturers of equipment for the so-called renewable energy sources.

Therefore, it should be noted that for more than 30 years after the disaster world’s nuclear energy saw significant changes. A new generation of nuclear reactors (“post-Chernobyl”) emerged, minimizing the risks of similar accidents. New and higher standards of nuclear safety have been adopted, with due consideration for the Fukushima nuclear accident, vast experience in implementing protective activities has been accumulated.

It is becoming increasingly apparent, that issues of sustainable energy supply for needs of further development including ecological ones can only be solved with the help of nuclear energy. According to IAEA, nuclear power stations generate from 30% to 70% of electricity in such countries as Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland etc.