Chernobyl: 25 years on

Twenty Five years to the day of the world's worst technological disaster, we post a video from HDEO's own Joe Lowry.

Humanitarian Workers and Technological Disasters

For many years, it was said that the next Chernobyl would be Chernobyl. The creaking sarcophagus seemed to be the world’s biggest risk of a civilian nuclear accident. Never did we think that Japan would have to deal with a level seven disaster at a nuclear power plant, which – like Chernobyl – would require setting up exclusion zones, moving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, putting all national emergency plans into place, and watching almost helplessly as radiation poured unseen into the surrounding environment.

Radiation poisoning is the most sinister, agonising way to die. The “liquidators” who shovelled sand onto the burning Reactor number 4 at Chernobyl in the hours after the disaster died horrible deaths, disintegrating as their families and doctors watched.

And now Japan faces a similar tragedy at home. No-one thought that Fukushima would be mentioned in the same breath as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Yes, the latter occurred in time of war, but the human consequences are the same – long-lasting medical effects, pollution of the soil, loss of home and identity, the stigma of coming from contaminated land.

Nuclear engineering and building safety had moved so far from the Chernobyl design that the world could declare that nuclear was the safest form of power for our future. Then came a massive wall of water, and our illusions were dashed. Now we can no longer say “never again”; we can see the impact of a civilian nuclear disaster on a country that is a word leader in disaster-resilient engineering. Japan has been brought to its knees by a few minutes of nature’s fury: would – to name but a few - nuclear Germany or the UK be better prepared? Or Pakistan? Or Armenia?

And although we look on the behemoths of Chernobyl and Fukushima with dread, we must also consider non-nuclear events such as chemical disasters like Bhopal or Seveso. Or the fears of hazardous material from a terrorist attack like 9/11, or Hungary’s red sludge episode of last year. Psychologically and emotionally there is a great gulf between terror attacks and technological disasters (or viral outbreaks) but the effects are similar: sudden onset, mass panic, an overwhelming of infrastructure and huge disruption of normal life.

Research shows that between 2000 and 2011 some 10,000 people have been killed and 500,000 more affected by chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear disasters, where such data has been reported. (Chernobyl affected some 8 million people).

These figures show the pressing need for governments to invest in community-level preparedness. There are currently more than 400 nuclear power reactors in 30 countries, and the number is expected to grow rapidly. If accidents are to be treated as an unavoidable risk, there must be all-out preparations for this eventuality. Experiences gained through past accidents need to be widely shared, as well as guidelines created for a global standard in accident response and agreements reached on the process of international cooperation.

Of course the elephant in the room is nuclear weaponry and the devastation that one act of war or terror could wreak on our world. People may say that humanitarian workers have no place in a nuclear disaster, that we have no voice in the debate. But as we have seen from Fukushima, and as we see 25 years after Chernobyl, the comfort we bring to survivors, the services we provide to evacuees and the long-term efforts to restore human dignity are as relevant as they are in our better-known responses in Haiti, Pakistan and other “natural” disasters.

/PC

Greenpeace continue to inspire action and change

Greenpeace is an organization many of us have grown up with. This 3 min video is a brilliantly edited and catch-all video about the major climate and environmental challenges we face from pollution to over-fishing. The spectacular stunts carried out by greenpeace volunteers over the years have become a hallmark of the organization, derided by some and applauded by many. Enjoy this and if you know of other inspiring video clips which advocate for change and action let us know, we are always keen to see what's out there.

Still living with the fall out

“That explains the hairstyle.” The almost inevitable response when I tell people outside of Belarus, Ukraine or parts of Russia that I’ve been to Chernobyl four times. (I’m bald as the proverbial coot… although I never understood why a coot got picked on. The Russian, bald as a knee is a lot more accurate. But I digress).

Four times I’ve stood next to “it”, the remains of Reactor number 4, which exploded with the force of a hundred Hiroshimas 23 years ago this month. Last week I was rattling the collection box/banging the drum for the Red Cross Chernobyl programmes (yes, there are still many needs) when I found myself saying that Chernobyl is an icon, the explosion (or the first cognizance of it) a generation-defining moment, like the Kennedy assassination for my older pals, or 9-11 for my younger ones.

The fact is, 23 years ago hundreds of tons of radioactive material was spewed into the atmosphere (I tried to write “puked”, and “vomited” but it looks too gross. “wet-farted” would be le mot juste, but let it be spewed).

Radioactive iodine, with its half-life of eight days, did it’s work and then literally faded away. In those eight days, millions of thyroid glands in the affected region – no one knows exactly how big that region is, but we work across half of Belarus, much of west Ukraine, and the bordering region in Russia, covering seven million people – sucked in an invisible time bomb.

Years went by and then the thyroid woke up, and started doing thyroidy things, like announcing puberty. And then the radioactivity ingested (sucked, gobbled, imposed) in the week beginning 26 April 1986 did its thing and started to show up as nodules and cancers.

Now, 19 years after we started screening, using mobile labs that can boldly go where no other endocrinologist goes, we are finding 200 cancers a year (that’s one every day the teams go out to work) and the science suggests we are entering a peak. If one case of cancer a day doesn’t sound like much, consider this: there were NO thyroid cancer specialists in the region before 1986 and thyroid cancer was rare as rocking-horse droppings. It was almost never seen in young people – now it’s cutting a scourge through a cohort aged from 23 to 60.

And that’s one cancer, from one radionuclide. Let’s not even talk about the hundreds of tons of strontium cesium or plutonium which will be with us for the next… oooh… 23,000 years. No, let’s not talk about that, especially if we are “the international community” which aims to “minimize” the effects of the Chernobyl disaster. Don't forget that nuclear power is big big business, and Chernobyl ("couldn't happen today", "safe clean and cheap don't you know") is an inconvenient reminder of what happens when the fuel rods hit the fan.

Now, can someone explain to me how nuclear weapons – clean or dirty - can be developed without nuclear power as we currently know it?

Joe Lowry blogging from Chernobyl for 'Head Down Eyes Open'

The photo above shows a young boy being screened for unusual nodules or thyroid activity. One of the most positive features of the International Red Cross's Chernobyl Humanitarian and Relief Programme is that it reaches places where the local authorities have few facilities. As such, it provides vital moral support. In the picture above the Mobile Diagnostic Laboratory (MDL) has come to the tiny Russian hamlet of village of Medvedovo, some 140 kilometres from Chernobyl but right in the middle of the path taken by the radiation cloud. The previous photo is of Chernobyl's nuclear power plant as it looks today and the first photo at the top of the post is of an abandoned school inside the 'dead zone'.