Chernobyl Look Back
Looking back in the past, let us take the time to review and remember the lives of people who died 29 years ago in one of the greatest flaws of humans in history. They call it an accident for who can ever think of killing so many lives and losing billions of dollars-worth of research?
The Chernobyl accident which happened in 1986, one which so many people claim to be an “accident” was the result of flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The mistake resulted to the death of two Chernobyl plant workers the night of the accident and another 28 people within few weeks because of acute radiation poisoning.
Carlton Church International Movement to Abolish Nuclear Reactors and Nuclear Weapons, a non-profit organization working to seek awareness to the public on the negative effects of anything nuclear has been warning everyone and fighting to ban the use of the substance for research, technology and on other more ludicrous ideas humans have to avoid circumstances as what happened on April, 1986 in Ukraine.
Research says that the devastating event happened because it was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture. Question though, now that Ukraine and the Soviet Union are starting to open their doors to neighbouring nations, is there any assurance that the so-called accident can never happen again? Can the existing governments continue to put the lives of the people at risk for the sake of research and development? If so, then, emerging movies like Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, the Maze Runner and such may be a premonition of the impending doom ordinary citizens have to undergo in the control of few powerful individuals who seem to be good puppet masters.
Let me emphasize: the accident destroyed the Chernobyl 4 reactors, killing 30 operators and firemen within three months and several further deaths later. One person was killed immediately and a second died in hospital soon after as a result of injuries received. Another person is reported to have died at the time from a coronary thrombosisc. Acute radiation syndrome (ARS) was originally diagnosed in 237 people on-site and involved with the clean-up and it was later confirmed in 134 cases. Of these, 28 people died as a result of ARS within a few weeks of the accident. Nineteen more subsequently died between 1987 and 2004 despite claims that their deaths cannot necessarily be attributed to radiation exposure. Indeed, nobody off-site suffered from acute radiation effects. However, a large proportion of childhood thyroid cancers diagnosed since the accident is likely to be due to intake of radioactive iodine fallout. Furthermore, large areas of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and beyond were contaminated in varying degrees. The complaints have been taken as moot as all of these were a result of a “mere accident”.
It will only take time for a few more developing cities such as some states in America, Tokyo, Japan and Singapore in Asia and liberal realms of Europe to consider the effects of nuclear. We just hope that they would see far beyond the cultivation of nuclear itself but to the possible outcome it brings to the greater public. A look back to Chernobyl is one way to determine it.
