Monday, April 26, 2010

Remembering the Chernobyl Disaster

On this day, the 26th of April, 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident happened in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The amount of radiation released on that day was 100 times more than that of the atomic bombs dropped over Japan in 1945.

I was reminded of the Chernobyl disaster in recent weeks when traveling by train from Warsaw, Poland through northwest Ukraine to Kiev. I asked a fellow traveler about the cooling towers below and we got to talking about the disaster. He said that we were, in fact, traveling through the Chernobyl District en route to the capital.

From a distance looking north, I wondered what on earth that was.

A closer look. Later, I asked Michael Sadler, PhD, physics whiz supreme, what these were. He said that they're cooling towers at an electrical power plant and that from what's visible in the photos, they don't appear to be nuclear power plants. But you already knew all that, right?



Here's the link for the video above, Extreme Tourism at Chernobyl Ghost-Town, produced by Russia Today and Chernobyl Uncensored: A Documentary includes chilling details.

How about you, dear blog reader. Were you affected by the disaster? Do you know anyone who was?

2 comments:

Blair said...

Great post! It is a tragic memory to many people, but those who survived without much harm are extremely grateful for the chance God gave them to continue their lives. I visited Ivankiv a few summers ago and wished terribly to visit the Chernobyl area. Alas, I didn't get a chance, but I did see the large egg.

alan said...

Yes we have a sense of what it was like to be there. We adopted four girls from an orphange in Ivanciv , Ukraine in 05'. While there we got to meet people who were, and still are , affected by what happened. Our girls parents were there when it happened. So far we see no side effects from there living there. It is hard to believe but there are still people who are living in the Cheenobyl zone.