Chernobyl
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Humans: Mission Destroy In 1986, April 26 th , in the quiet of the night (1.23 a.m.) occurred the most serious nuclear disaster recorded in history. While testing the reactor No.4 at Chernobyl, flaws in the reactor design resulted in massive explosion and unleashing of a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. 116,000 people had to be permanently evacuated from the 4,200 square kilometer exclusion zone because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The disaster was categorized as a level seven event on the INES scale (International Nuclear Event Scale). This is the maximum classification given, shared by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that took place in Japan (2011). The Chernobyl disaster is estimated to have caused 1000 cases of thyroid cancer and 4000 cases of others cancers all over Europe. The abandoned town of Pripyat resembles a ghost town, reminiscent of the horror of the events that occurred almost 30 years ago. While this long abandoned area holds memories of the worst kind, it is a home for a thriving wildlife. 30 years later life has found its way back into this nuclear devastated place. Populations of elk, roe deer, red deer and wild boar in the exclusion zone, matches with that of the neighboring uncontaminated reserves. In fact, the wolf population is seven times greater in comparison to nearby reserves. It seems that the animals seem untouched by the dangers of radiation. “It’s very likely that wildlife numbers at Chernobyl are much higher than they were before the accident. This doesn’t mean radiation is good for wildlife, just that the effects of human habitation, including hunting, farming and forestry, are a lot worse”, said Professor Jim Smith who is leading the study in the area. Let us all think of nuclear disaster, radiation, fire, death and cancer. Humans are worse than all the above mentioned events and there is nothing human about that kind of destruction.
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chernobul disaster. the aftermath
Transcript of Chernobyl
Humans: Mission Destroy
In 1986, April 26th, in the quiet of the night (1.23 a.m.) occurred the most serious nuclear disaster recorded in history. While testing the reactor No.4 at Chernobyl, flaws in the reactor design resulted in massive explosion and unleashing of a radioactive cloud over much of Europe. 116,000 people had to be permanently evacuated from the 4,200 square kilometer exclusion zone because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The disaster was categorized as a level seven event on the INES scale (International Nuclear Event Scale). This is the maximum classification given, shared by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that took place in Japan (2011). The Chernobyl disaster is estimated to have caused 1000 cases of thyroid cancer and 4000 cases of others cancers all over Europe. The abandoned town of Pripyat resembles a ghost town, reminiscent of the horror of the events that occurred almost 30 years ago.
While this long abandoned area holds memories of the worst kind, it is a home for a thriving wildlife. 30 years later life has found its way back into this nuclear devastated place. Populations of elk, roe deer, red deer and wild boar in the exclusion zone, matches with that of the neighboring uncontaminated reserves. In fact, the wolf population is seven times greater in comparison to nearby reserves.
It seems that the animals seem untouched by the dangers of radiation. “It’s very likely that wildlife numbers at Chernobyl are much higher than they were before the accident. This doesn’t mean radiation is good for wildlife, just that the effects of human habitation, including hunting, farming and forestry, are a lot worse”, said Professor Jim Smith who is leading the study in the area. Let us all think of nuclear disaster, radiation, fire, death and cancer. Humans are worse than all the above mentioned events and there is nothing human about that kind of destruction.
Let this fact sink in. Imagine the numbers and the complete damage. We are destroying and tearing down - all under the guise of development. We deceive and paint ourselves yellow, convinced that the world is minion happy. But this couldn’t be far from the truth and truth couldn’t be uglier. Geologists are recognizing that humanity has become a geophysical force on par with the earth-shattering asteroids and planet-cloaking volcanoes that defined past eras according to Gaia Vince.
We are feeding ourselves and starving others. We drive and shape nature the way we want and right now we have our hands around its neck slaughtering and strangling. While thinking that this choking isn’t much; it is contributing to ‘development’ after all. The lesson is that the evil is us – all of us. And hell is what earth will become in the future – if it hasn’t already.
We must ask questions. What exactly is this development? Is it building dams? Is it mindless mining? What about the no. of people displaced? What about the ecology of land on which development taking place? Who is being benefitted from development? Who is being ignored?
“In war, the enemy is known immediately. But with a nuclear accident, we have an invisible enemy that can kill you many years later”, said Manzurova, Chernobyl survivor; but the takeaway is that humans will kill you many times over and not even realize it.
