It was the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. It is now under the control of the Russian forces amid their invasion of Ukraine.
This is the story of Chernobyl.
This is the story of Chernobyl.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00But I think radiation's biggest effect on me was psychological.
00:10It's like this constant fear that something might go wrong because of it.
00:40It's like this constant fear that something might go wrong because of it.
01:10People were very tight-lipped and it was just the Soviet way of dealing with anything stressful,
01:39traumatic, is just to soldier through it, no emotion, you weren't allowed to slam the table at a government meeting.
02:09Meanwhile, countrywide radiation readings and samples have been flown into Stockholm for analysis.
02:38Human and animal milk was found to be contaminated, along with static water supplies, but there is no danger.
02:51It doesn't really seem likely that only two people have been killed in this, what has been an enormous disaster.
02:55No, that's official report.
03:07There may be hundreds and perhaps thousands of lives lost, certainly there are that many in danger.
03:12The Soviet Union has not only lied to the world, but has also lied to its own people about the extent of the damage.
03:29I don't remember anybody on TV or in the newspaper saying we were wrong to say what we said at first and it was actually an explosion
03:39and you're all in grave danger now and your health is going to be probably affected for years and decades to come.
03:45I don't remember anything like that.
04:09We mainly suffer physically from major burns and diarrhea and infections.
04:19I think it's one of the major lessons from this event is that we are not prepared.
04:29Russia and the others are still saddled with a crumbling nuclear and chemical infrastructure that makes the possibility of another environmental disaster impossible to ignore.