Rogue Keeper on 26/4/2006 at 08:18
In memory of all victims of this tragedy.
It takes death toll even today.
Inline Image:
http://www.belarusguide.com/images/chernobyl/Massimo_Bonfatti_images/19.jpgQuote:
Ukraine remembers Chernobyl blastBBC News, Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 04:10 GMT 05:10 UK
Ukraine is holding a series of events to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant.
The blast was marked by tolling bells and a minute's silence at 0123 local time (2223 GMT on Tuesday) - when the alarm was set off on 26 April 1986.
The explosion tore off the plant's roof, spewing radioactive fallout over swathes of the then-USSR and Europe.
President Viktor Yushchenko will visit the site later in the day.
He will meet some of the people who worked at the plant and those who risked their lives to deal with the accident.
A monument to victims is due to be unveiled, and parliament is holding a special hearing into the disaster.
In neighbouring Belarus, also badly affected by fallout, opposition groups are expected to hold a rally in the capital Minsk to protest against government attempts to rehabilitate contaminated areas.
At evening ceremonies in Kiev, hundreds of mourners, each carrying a single red carnation and flickering candles, gathered for an outdoor Orthodox Christian service.
President Yushchenko laid a wreath to remember those who were sent to deal with the accident and to the many who have since been affected.
At precisely 0123, the church bells tolled 20 times.
A similar ceremony got under way an hour earlier, to coincide with 0123 Moscow time, in Slavutych, the town built to house the Chernobyl plant workers displaced by the accident.
To the sound of bells tolling and alarm sirens blaring, mourners laid flowers and candles at a monument dedicated to those who died in the immediate aftermath of the accident.
"I knew all of these people," a tearful Mykola Ryabushkin told AFP news agency, pointing to the portraits hanging on the monument.
The 59-year-old had been working as an operator at the plant when the explosion happened.
"I look at them and I want to ask them for forgiveness," he said. "Maybe we're all to blame for letting this accident happen."
The accident happened at one of four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 110km (70 miles) north of the capital, Kiev.
Throughout most of the following day the Soviet authorities refused to admit anything out of the ordinary had occurred.
It was only two weeks after the explosion, when radiation releases had tailed off, that the first Soviet official gave a frank account, speaking of the "possibility of a catastrophe".
Official UN figures predicted up to 9,000 Chernobyl-related cancer deaths. But a Greenpeace report released last week estimated a figure of 93,000. Greenpeace said other illnesses could bring the toll up to 200,000.
A restricted area with a radius of 30km (19 miles) remains in force around the destroyed nuclear reactor which is encased in concrete.
The hazards remain
(
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4942828.stm)
And this is how the area looks 20 years later. Think about true Necropolis.
(
http://freeenergynews.com/NOT/ChernobylTour/index.html)
dvrabel on 26/4/2006 at 10:28
Please don't copy and paste entire articles without linking to the original source. Preferrably, provide a link to the article and a few paragraphs of insightful commentary.
Kolya on 26/4/2006 at 11:01
Only lately it turned out there was an (
http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/23/0,1872,3923511,00.html) nuclear accident in Germany (also in 1986) near Hamburg where lots of radioactive material was released. In this area there is the highest concentration of kids ill with leukemia today, worldwide. The accident got covered up by the officials.
As one man living there pointed out: "So shortly after Chernobyl this would have meant the end for nuclear energy in Germany."
Today the government is considering to stop the exit on nuclear energy that had been finalised by the previous government.
Remember Chernobyl
Dia on 26/4/2006 at 22:29
I saw a brief clip on the news this a.m. about Chernobyl. They showed a young girl lying in a hospital bed with leukemia and went on to say that she and her family lived in one of the 'danger zones' close to Chernobyl. The commentator then said something to the effect that it still has yet to be determined if the fallout from that horrendous accident has actually been responsible for so many deaths from cancer related illnesses in surrounding towns and villages. I couldn't believe my ears! I actually just sat there and cried.
My heart goes out to all of Chernobyl's victims.
Rug Burn Junky on 26/4/2006 at 22:41
Quote Posted by some wedding anniversary site
5th Anniversary = Wood
10th Anniversary = Aluminum
15th Anniversary = Crystal
20th Anniversary = Enriched Uranium
25th Anniversary = Silver
50th Anniversary = Gold
Heh. Go figure.
Scots Taffer on 26/4/2006 at 23:38
To be honest, I'm disappointed. I thought the OP with the image was going to spawn a host of MSPaint replies of TTLG's depiction of Chernobyl. Of course, I'm not going to do that
now, that'd be bad taste... and Lord knows I'm above that.
Heh, good one, RBJ.
Also, (
http://todayspictures.slate.com/inmotion/essay_chernobyl/) on topic (disturbing imagery).
Nicker on 27/4/2006 at 02:50
I can't remember if the (
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm) Kid of Speed site has been posted on this forum before but it bears reposting even if it has.
Haunting images of motorcycle tours through the fall out zone.
Mr.Duck on 27/4/2006 at 04:51
Damn...it's been ages since I saw that site. Glad to see it's still up. Great images and a telling of the events that occurred so many years ago. A damned shame.
Rogue Keeper on 27/4/2006 at 09:09
Elena Filatova has at least two sites about her trip into "30 km zone". The one linked in Nicker's post is newer than the one at Angelfire.
Well, it would be kinda naive to think that only people in Ukraine and Belarus were affected by the radiation... sure, they got the worst part of it, but when you look at this...
Inline Image:
http://freeenergynews.com/NOT/ChernobylTour/images/Chernobyl_Fallout_1986_420.gif... it immediately reminds you that most of the Europe and northern hemisphere has been contaminated by fallout quite nicely. The particles were falling on our agricultural land which we used for growing vegetables and fruit, on our grass lands on which we were feeding sheeps and cows, on our lakes and rivers, sources of drinking water. Yeah, it may sound scary, but most Europeans can consider themselves as true "Chernobyl generation". The Ukrainian and Belarussian people with thyroid cancer and babies with genetic defects just represent the very top of the consequence hill.
Yesterday evening Discovery channel showed a comprehensive documentary called "Battle of Chernobyl", containing some rare footage of the cleanup and evacuation operations. The interviewed photoreporter was pointing out how the strong radiation around the plant and town of Pripyat left significant traces on the film, like occassional bright flashes and disrupted colors. Footage shows sunny weather, people having a walk, kids playing outside. Nobody really told them in the first days what threat are they facing. Just when you look at the broken footage it makes you think what horrible doses of invisible death they must have absorbed.
Some military officers were recalling the clean up operatins the were leading and one officer (lucky to be still alive, although with a pretty disrupted organism) said that when they were measuring the radioation levels in the area, they've had a strange sour taste in their mouth, like if they were licking steel. Only later they realized it was caused by radioisotopes of iodium in the air.
Tens of thousands soldiers, civilian defense workers, miners and civilian engineers were ordered to fight an invisible, omnipresent enemy, secure the plant and prevent further leaking of radiation, at least to some degree. They've had no choice, really. They've had obligation to the country and the Party. Neither they've been precisely told what levels of radiation they sustained. Safe levels of radiation doses were raised on purpose.
Especially the miners have made a great effort to prevent leakage of the fuel magma into ground water. The best Soviet experts feared a possible reaction of the fuel magma, graphite particles and water under the remains of reactor.
Such reaction would have caused a much more dangerous explosion, possibly destroying other three reactors as well - which would make at least half of the Europe
permanently inhabitable.
The construction of concrete sarcophagus had to be done very quickly and remotely controlled robots were of little use, as the radiation of the material they were cleaning from the plant roof was disabling their sensitive electronics. So again, there was no other option than use of human labour and skill.
It was hard to physically work on construction of the sarcophagus. Workers were getting tired very quickly, radiation was disrupting their bodies every second and also because of the raised temperature around the plant.
These "biorobots", as they were called, sacrificed their chances for healthy future in order to secure at least some healthy future for millions across the Europe.
But the worst thing that came out of the accident probably wasn't radiation.
It was an ignorant, all-consuming lie.
