Memories of Chernobyl

The 26th of April marked the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster. This, along with the recent issues in Japan, has brought the issues associated with nuclear power to the forefront of many of our minds.

At the time of the Chernobyl disaster I lived in the capital, Kiev, home to 4.5 million people, which is located 80km from the power station.

I was about to graduate as a young electrical engineer from Kiev Polytechnic University. It was a sunny spring day and that night we were invited to attend a wedding of our student mate whose father (ironically) was a minister of Electrical Power Industry of Ukraine back then. In the middle of the wedding his father took a call and had to leave the wedding. From his son we learned that a disaster had happened at the Chernobyl power plant.

A few days went by and government officials were telling people that nothing serious has happened and that our lives should continue as usual, while at the same time people in protective clothing were washing streets with chemicals.  Most of the people no longer trusted government-controlled media and took ‘prolonged holidays’ temporarily relocating away from Kiev. Everybody was calm and helpful to each other. All hotels and motels in the other parts of Ukraine were packed full of such ‘holidaying’ people from Kiev.

After the disaster almost everybody had a sore throat for a couple of weeks. Doctors(!) were recommending consuming at least 3-4 glasses of red wine every day which was found as one of the best ways to wash out any nasty chemicals from our bodies. During that spring, leaves on some trees grew unusually enormous (about 3-4 times of their usual size). We were told to keep away from such leaves which were collected when they fell off the trees in autumn and buried somewhere.

Four months later we returned back to our homes. Life slowly settled down but one will never forget such an experience and the area around the power station will remain unsafe for people for many years.

So from my personal experience I can tell you: It is a really great thing to live in nuclear-free country!

- Posted April 29, 2011