This is Why the Chernobyl Disaster was No ‘Accident’
Disasters are ill-starred events that authorities refer to as “accidents”
What does it take to completely destroy a population? I have pondered this question for quite some time now. The answer: disaster. Disaster can refer to many things, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, etc. But in this article, disaster will refer to the ill-starred events that larger authorities call ‘accidents’. Take the Chernobyl disaster, for instance. Upon googling ‘Chernobyl’, the word “disaster” was used synonymously to “accident”. The horrid event that took place in 1986 Ukraine is referred to as the “Chernobyl accident”. Looking back at the facts, I refuse to believe that it was an “accident.”
It all began on April 25th, 1986. After having done my research, I found that the reactor in Unit 4 at the nuclear power station exploded because workers were conducting “a poorly designed experiment. Workers shut down the reactor’s power-regulating system and its emergency safety systems” thus leading to a series of explosions that released radioactive material into the air. Because of the wind currents, the radioactive material was spread across the continent and contaminated around 3/4 of Europe. In addition to those who died from the explosive fire, many suffered birth defects and cancers as a result of the radiation. Lyudmilla Ignatenko, the wife of a fireman, who was dispatched to go tend to a fire at the reactor, speaks of the event from her experience. Her story is shared in the book, Voices of Chernobyl, by Svetlana Alexievich. A short excerpt is also recited at the Firehouse Gallery Burlington, Vermont.
“I didn’t see the explosion itself. Just the flames,” she says, “Everything was radiant. The whole sky. A tall flame. And smoke. The heat was awful. And he’s still not back. The smoke was from the burning bitumen, which had covered the roof. He said later it was like walking on tar.”
When her husband, along with other firemen, were hospitalized, she was told that they were to be transferred to Moscow and that the firemen needed a new change of clothes. Lyudmilla and the wives of the other firemen hastily made their way home to grab their husbands a new change of clothes; however, upon their return, they had discovered that their husbands were already sent off on a plane to Moscow without them.
This disaster was more than an accident because it could have been avoided. Had proper training and supervision been a job requirement, then the disaster could have been avoided. In addition, many attempts were made to cover up the disaster. The issue was brought to the attention of the rest of the world when Swedish monitoring stations noticed high amounts of radioactivity in the air. Moreover, close family members of the disaster victims, such as Lyudmilla Ignatenko, were kept in the dark and manipulated. Those who lived in the contaminated area were forced to leave their homes and abandon all of their belongings. Perhaps the worst part of the disaster is that the effects are on going, from one generation to the next. Analysts claim that the radioactivity from Chernobyl is worse than that of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Twenty years after the incident in Chernobyl, leukemia and thyroid cancers began to appear in those of Belrussian and Ukranian descent. Yet even after all this suffering, the government has taken advantage of the disaster. Today, the site is a tourist attraction.
Additional sources: http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx
