Back In the USSR (UPDATED 4/29/2016)

      Do you know what today is? Some of my older readers might know. It's a day that changed the world's mindset on energy and power creation. Thirty years ago today, Reactor Number Four blew up at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station. The disaster at Chernobyl has had lasting implications across multiple continents and will continue to do so for the next 20,000 years.

The destroyed Number 4 Reactor at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

     While I was growing up, I heard many 2nd or 3rd hand accounts of the Three Mile Island incident and the meltdown that occurred there. Almost everyone living in Pennsylvania has heard the story. I even visited a small museum near there that had some artifacts and the story on display. But the impact of that accident was small and insignificant compared to the Chernobyl disaster. Three Mile Island, while not on the same scale, changed how the USA treats nuclear power. The Chernobyl disaster changed how the world thought about it. 
     I think I first got a fascination with the Chernobyl disaster in the 90's after watching the blockbuster-flop Godzilla. In it, a character is studying the effects of radiation on earthworms in the exclusion zone around the reactor. He's brought in as a consultant to investigate a much larger creature who was the result of radiation exposure from nuclear testing. It was a cheesy and generally terrible movie. But it opened up an new period in history to my interest.
     The year before I was born, 1986, was an interesting year in international politics. The Cold War was still going strong. But the cracks were beginning to show. At the Reykjavík Summit, the USA and USSR met to discuss nuclear arms control. Mikhail Gorbachov had recently initiated perestroika in the USSR and would, in two years, introduce glasnost to the world. However, this was still the USSR and the party still ruled with an iron fist.
     The tendrils of control reached all the way down to nuclear power and energy generation. Hard-nosed and strong-willed leaders oversaw the operation of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant since its first reactor was commissioned in 1977. Located about 62 miles (100km) north of Kiev, near the Belarus border, it was the first nuclear power station built in Ukraine. But a series of operator errors during a test combined with design deficiencies to create a buildup of pressure within Chernobyl's Reactor Number Four. In the early hours of April 26th, 1986, the reactor exploded and subsequently burned, sending tons of radioactive dust and debris into the atmosphere and surrounding land. It forced the permanent evacuation of neighboring villages and the nearby town of Pripyat. The cleanup was extensive but it only brushed the surface. Literally in some cases where topsoil was cleared and villages were bulldozed. It's had lasting effects for Ukraine, Belarus, Europe and the world. Those effects will continue for years to come.
     Currently, very few people live within the exclusion zone around Chernobyl. Mostly they are elderly people who illegally returned to their homes with disregard for the persistent radiation. The zone was established shortly after the disaster, leading to towns and villages being hastily evacuated to get people to safety. But due to the nature of the Soviet government, the evacuation wasn't started until several days after the fact. By then, thousands of people had been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. The damage wasn't limited only to Chernobyl. May 1st was International Workers' Day in the Soviet Union. While party officials evacuated their families from the area, the regular citizens were sent outside to celebrate with radioactive clouds still hanging over the country. Many children living in northern Ukraine at that time now face serious health affects as adults and will continue to face these until the ends of their lives.
     Many workers still travel daily into the exclusion zone. While the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is no longer creating electricity, the decommissioning process is ongoing. The last reactor went offline in 2000. Under normal circumstances, decommissioning is not a nontrivial undertaking. But due to the contamination of the entire site, the process will continue for many decades to come.
     Along with the decommissioning project, a more permanent solution to the broken reactor is under construction not far from Reactor Number Four. It is called the Chernobyl New Safe Containment (NSC) and resembles a giant arch. It will cover the entire Reactor Number Four building. The old containment structure (often referred to as a sarcophagus) was never meant to be a permanent solution. As such, it is now in severe disrepair and has experienced collapses due to weather conditions; the most recent being in 2013 from heavy snowfall. The NSC will allow for disassembly of the sarcophagus as well as protection against further radioactive contamination of the surrounding environment. Collapse of debris inside the sarcophagus could lead to radioactive dust escaping. Unfortunately, due to the substantial construction and financial challenges, the NSC has experienced numerous delays over the years since its construction began. Currently, it is slated for completion in 2017.

The NSC with Reactor Number Four in the background. (March 2016)

     Over the years, there have been many hoaxes and lies printed about the effects of the disaster. The Internet is replete with jokesters, frauds, and liars looking to make a quick buck on the back of a very serious incident in world history. Thus, sifting through the click-bait to find good information about the disaster and cleanup is difficult. This is a good timeline of the events surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant from 1970 to now. Over the years, many documentaries have been produced about Chernobyl and it's effects. Probably the best documentary I've seen on the disaster is called The Battle of Chernobyl. Some of the statements are hype. But it includes quite a lot of contemporary footage of the cleanup and aftermath. Definitely worth a watch. Another that I would recommend is the BBC's docudrama Surviving Disaster. Like most documentaries, it hypes some things but it is good at giving historical context around the disaster. It is a dramatic reenactment of the hours leading up to the disaster along with more details on the "how and why" of the events. This last one, I won't recommend. It's a cheesy, over-hyped, over-dramatized documentary. But if you can get past all of that, it does include some interesting contemporary footage from Kiev and Chernobyl after the disaster.
      For the more current-events focused among you, I read these articles recently. This first article from Yahoo News gives a brief overview of the history and current situation at the power plant. These second and third articles are about the current situation of tourism in the exclusion zone. On April 21st and 22nd, the Kyiv Post published a series of articles called Chernobyl Frozen in 1986.  They mainly focus on the human cost and continuing effects of the disaster. You can find them here, here, here and here.
     Back around July of 2014, I had just announced to my boss and coworkers that I would be going to Ukraine for a short missions trip. One of my coworkers asked if I would be going to Chernobyl. At that time, I knew I would not have that opportunity. I told him no. But in the back of my mind, I was secretly hoping I would get to go there some day. During this trip, I have visited the Chernobyl museum in Kiev twice. While highly recommended if you are ever in the city, it is not the same as standing outside Reactor Number Four or in the streets of Pripyat. It has taken almost two years but in a few days, I'll be taking a day trip up to the exclusion zone.
     Today, the zone after the cleanup efforts is safe enough for short visits. Workers still travel daily to the power plant for work. As a condition of their employment, their daily and yearly radiation doses are closely monitored. Several companies now conduct day-tours of Pripyat and the surrounding area for interested tourists. Spending a day in the zone, you will get about the same radiation dose as a transatlantic flight. Much of the contaminated topsoil has been removed. The hardest-hit villages have been bulldozed. But the radiation still persists in buildings, dust and the plants. It is necessary to be careful about where you go. Hence the need for tour-guides. Along with keeping me safe, they will ensure that I'll get to see first-hand exactly what kinds of damage irresponsibly used power causes.
     I won't be going there as a tourist. I'm not a travel junkie getting high on disaster tourism. I'm just an amateur historian. You won't see many pictures of me there. In fact, I'll do my best to avoid showing people in the pictures I do take. This is a solemn place. As I stand outside Reactor Number Four and walk the silent streets of Pripyat, I will be thinking about the events that shaped the world I know before I was born. They are a testament to the very serious nature of nuclear power and the lives it can ruin if not used responsibly.
     Even though the disaster happened thirty years ago today, that doesn't diminish the impact of the radiation. It still infests every square meter of the exclusion zone. Thanks to the brave (and unfortunate) people who worked in the cleanup, we now have a silent memorial to the power of the atom. Both for good and evil, its energy has been harnessed for decades. Hopefully with the effects of the Chernobyl disaster in mind, we will be able to learn how to responsibly harness the atom in the future.

UPDATE 4/29/2016 I found this video today on Youtube. Vice News sent a reporter to Chernobyl and Kiev to experience the exclusion zone tour. It's a very interesting look at the trip and it's hazards from the view of a layman. I know something like this won't alleviate everyone's fears or concerns. But I thought it was a good video.