Having visited Chornobyl and it’s ghost city of Pripyat, I truly hope that is not the case as I wouldn’t want to see the city and land around the Fukushima plants cordoned off and left uninhabited for a quarter century due to toxic levels of radiation. But there are several differences between these two disasters in not only underlying circumstances, but also in local government and world response that in the end make the difference between a liveable solution and desolate wasteland.
How it happened
The Fukushima reactors broke down due to natural circumstances – they were hit by a tsunami and, as with most buildings in the area could not withstand the pressure and force of nature. But they have still managed to keep them contained, have put in major efforts to cool the cores to avoid meltdown, and there has been no explosion and spewing of radioactive materials into the air as with Chornobyl.
Chornobyl’s explosion was man-made. Some reports say that a worker at the plant turned off the emergency cooling system to test the electricity in the grid system which created a power surge. The reactor failed dramatically leaving them with no recourse but to go into the higly radioactive mess and try to cover it and contain it while digging under the reactor to install a cooling system in time before a second meltdown and explosion.
Reaction to the event
When the Chornobyl reactor exploded just 7km from the city of Pipyat, built for the workers and their families, it was three days before the government made any effort to evacuate the city. Officially there was no meltdown and no casualties and it was business as usual. With massive amounts of radiation in the air, soaking into the skin, all metal, into the earth and water systems, people just went about their business, some even swam in the river used to cool the reactor. It was 3 days after the explosion that officials told people that they were being evacuated temporarily for three days so they only needed what they could carry with them as they would be back soon. 1100 buses evacuated some 50,000 irradiated residents who never returned. Volunteers and those sent by the government to work on the reactor to get it cooled down and contained were not aware of the levels of radiation and most, if not all, died of radiation poisoning shortly after. The sarcophagus was built to contain the radiation that still spews from Chornobyl today and the land in a 30km radius is considered an Exclusion Zone – toxic and uninhabitable, perhaps forever.
At Fukushima, the reaction to the problem was immediate with scientists rushing to ensure that the reactors were contained and no danger to the land and water. Since Chornobyl, many of the world’s nuclear scientists have traveled to the Exclusion Zone to study the disaster and learn from its mistakes, see how reactors can be improved, and put in place contingency plans. With today’s immediate coverage of everything that happens in the world 24/7, there would be no way that any government could cover something up such as a nuclear plant being damaged or failing. Through 24/7 news channels, social media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube, bloggers, and Flickr, we are a world that is connected to each other across oceans and can immediately react and provide aide. Although the scientists are having a challenge getting the reactors back on track and are reporting radiation levels 400 times the norm near the reactor, we need to keep in mind that when the people were evacuated from Pripyat, the levels were 60,000 times higher than normal. It may seem like a lot when reading the information in an isolated article, but it needs to be used in comparison to get a better idea of the scale.
Outcomes
I continue to watch the news, read the reports, and connect with my friends in Japan through FB to keep abreast of what’s going on with both the cleanup efforts and the Fukushima reactors. I have every hope that because of their experience with earthquakes and preparedness, what they learned from Chornobyl, their great technological advances since the 1986 disaster, and the world’s help at their call that the scientists and engineers at Fukushima will be able to pull an amazing scientific hattrick to contain their reactors and make Japan safe again, averting a second Chornobyl.
As much as I enjoyed the adventure of photographing a true ghost city in Pripyat, I am emotionally disconnected from the original event – it’s a toxic time capsule ready for exploration. I have an emotional attachment to Japan through friends and media, making it a different experience. It would pain me to see a part of Japan turn into an Exclusion Zone and become uninhabitable for 25 years, 50 years, or forever.
Olena Sullivan photographed the irradiated Exclusion Zone of Chornobyl and Pripyat. Photos from this excursion can be seen in 3 upcoming exhibits – “Chornobyl Remembered” at the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada (Ottawa) April 12-end June, “Chornobyl: 25 Years Later” at KUMF Gallery (April 26-May 4) with a reception and presentation May 30 at 6pm, and “Volatile Particles: Chornobyl 25 Years Later” at Bezpala Brown Gallery (Toronto) as part of CONTACT 2011 with a reception May 14. You can view additional photos from Pripyat on her website.
No comments:
Post a Comment