25 years since Chernobyl accident today

[gary]

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident,
when on 26th April 1986, the number four reactor at the plant ruptured
and exploded, resulting in radioactive fallout drifting over large areas
of the western Soviet Union and Europe.

The first fire fighting crews sent in were exposed to lethal levels of
radiation.

On the night of the explosion, some people from the neighbouring town of
Pripyat gathered on a bridge about a mile away from the reactor where
they had an unobstructed view of the burning core. Many suffered lethal
exposure and today the landmark is known as the "Bridge of Death".

Helicopter crews were employed to drop sand and boron and later lead
into the molten core.

Molten radioactive lava also burnt its way through the base of the
reactor and through underlying concrete and a desperate battle took place to
try and prevent it from reaching water below which would have almost
certainly resulted in another explosion otherwise.

When robots were sent in, after a short time their electronics would fail due
to the intense radiation. Military personnel, including part-time national
servicemen, were employed as "bio-robots". In one operation, these men,
working in teams of six at a time, would enter the reactor, run onto the roof
and shovel one scoop of extremely radioactive debris off the roof and then
run back out. 40 seconds was deemed the maximum time one could spend
on the roof but some men undertook multiple trips.

Ultimately, approximately 100,000 military personnel and 400,000 civilians
took part in the battle of Chernobyl. These people were termed "liquidators".

In one of the largest and most hazardous civil engineering operations ever
undertaken in history, the reactor building was entombed in a gigantic
sarcophagus.

When the sarcophagus began to fail over subsequent years, a global fund was
set up at the 1997 G8 Summit to help finance stabilizing it and then to
construct an even more massive confinement structure over the top of it.

An excellent 1 hour 30 minute 2006 documentary entitled "The Battle for
Chernobyl" appears on YouTube here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiCXb1Nhd1o
This documentary has extensive amounts of footage shot at the time and
interviews with key people involved. One of the interviewees is
Mikhail Gorbachev.

Another documentary, entitled, "Inside Chernobyl's Sarcophagus"
can also be found on YouTube. Part 1 starts here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KeSXMTzt6M&feature=related

Though the Soviet Union was in decay at the time, the Chernobyl event
is seen by many historians as a key turning point for its final
collapse and the end of the Cold War.

[Ric]

Thanks for the links Gary.

Blimey it's hard to believe it was 25 years ago.

[gary]

Hi Ric,

25 years passes rapidly!


With the recent events at Fukushima in Japan and with the military
action in Libya, I was recently reflecting on parallels between March
2010 and April 1986, 25 years earlier.

On April 15th 1986, the U.S. launched an air strike on Libya and on 26th
April 1986, the Chernobyl event occurred.

These two events are still fresh in my memory as I was only a block away
from an event that gave rise to the air strike and narrowly missed being
in the Soviet Union when the Chernobyl meltdown took place.

I had been traveling for some months. Whilst in Rome, I had begun to
make plans to travel to the Soviet Union when I received a letter
from a friend in Sydney. The letter basically read, "Stop traveling.
Come back to Sydney. We have an exciting new job for you".

However, before returning, I decided to press onto Berlin, then
a divided city. On April 5th 1986, a bomb blasted through the
"La Belle" nightclub, which was around the block from where I was
staying in West Berlin. Frequented by US servicemen, the blast killed a
woman, two US sergeants and injured 230 others.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Berlin_discotheque_bombing

In the following days, as we drove back across Europe, Ronald Regan
and Margaret Thatcher came over the BBC claiming intelligence
sources showed that Libya was responsible.

As retribution, the U.S. flew F-111's out of the U.K in air-strikes
against Libya in what they called "Operation El Dorado Canyon".
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_El_Dorado_Canyon

When I reached London, I witnessed protesters in the streets condemning
the air-strikes. (See photo below).

I purchased an air ticket back to Sydney and a few days later, the
Chernobyl event occurred. The friend's letter was fortuitous as
otherwise I had planned to be in the Soviet Union at the time.



Years later, in 1995, the same friend and I were in Japan on business.
I had passed through the city of Kobe earlier in the day to then join
up with him for some meetings in Kawasaki. We stayed in a high-rise
hotel and early in the morning he awoke me saying, "I think we just
had an earthquake". When I turned on the television in the morning, I
saw live images of the city of Kobe severely damaged and burning - where
I had been only a few hours before. Thankfully where we were in Kawasaki
was out of harm's way.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake

[GrahamL]

Didn't seem that long ago Gary. I read a really interesting book years back on the official investigation into the leadup and initial aftermath of the accident.

You can certainly see some similarities to the events in japan in that neither for a time had a clear idea of what had happened .
In russia the scope of what had occured was lost on many directly after
in that they believed the reactor core to be still intact for a time.
Not even experianced workers at the plant clicked on the significance of all the bits of black stuff ( graphite fuel rod casing) that was scattered around the countryside.

One workers account I remember was , He was working in the gantry crane are at the top of the reactor building when the alarm went off
Down all the stairs and levels he arrived at the top of the reactor vessel to find the huge concret plugs (tons of weight in each) that seal the
chamber lifting up and down with the enormous preasure building within.He stood looking at what was happening in front of him and gave in to an overwhelming feeling he should not try and call the control room ,, "but run".

aussie visits the site
http://www.news.com.au/national/one-mans-journey-to-nuclear-fallout-hell-at-chernobyl/story-e6frfkvr-1226027489190

[Waxing_Gibbous]

I was in Germany at the time and there was a good deal of "Holy ****!!!" "Which way is the wind blowing?!!!"

There was quite an interesting docco that looked at the flora & fauna of the surrounding area 20-odd years on.
The radiation levels were still quite high and the crew had to wear NBC gear.
However, far from being either an uninhabitable wasteland or a hell-hole filled with mutant birds, it was positively teaming with life and all of it healthy and happy.
You'd think even 'lower' (less genetically complex) organisms would be affected by the levels around the site, but apparently not.

You might not want to build a nest on top of the 'sarcophogus' though.

[WadeH]

Is it that long already! How time flies. Thanks for the heads up.

[Dennis]

Hi Gary

Thanks for the very interesting and topical summary of events. Remind me not to travel with you though; :D your proximity and close misses to some of these iconic events remind me somewhat of Forest Gump’s encounters with other famous events that helped shape history.;)

Interesting to see how communications have changed…”when I received a letter from a friend in Sydney”. These days it would have been an e-mail, Twitter, Face book or Skype event!

Nice photo with the London Bobbies!:lol:

Cheers

Dennis

[hotspur]

And what a sad day that was.Interesting reading your posts Gary.Certainly very educational.The Russian Government did not really care much about the people-those figures you mention and the name they called them,really show that!

Lets hope the world does not go through another episode like that one,although this Japan one recently shows similar events can happen any time.Thankfully the Government there did a bit more to keep everyone informed.

[AstralTraveller]

I caught a bit of a doco from the BBC (via ABC News Radio) about Chernobyl. It's sobering to think that there is a village that is still exactly as it was 25 years ago when the residents were told to run for their lives. The mail is still in the letter boxes. Peoples past gone in a flash; possessions, memories and connections. The community could never be rebuilt elsewhere, lives had to be restarted. How are those people going today?