April 26, 2023 marks the 37th anniversary of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP, which became the largest nuclear power plant disaster in history, both in terms of the number of people killed and affected by its consequences, and in terms of economic damage. In Ukraine, on this day, every year, everyone who died or was injured in this disaster is honored, as well as the liquidators of the consequences of the accident are honored.
On April 25, 1986, at the Chornobyl NPP, the fourth power unit had to be stopped experimentally in order to study the possibility of using the inertia of the turbogenerator in case of loss of power supply. Despite the fact that the technical circumstances did not correspond to the test plan, it was not canceled.
The experiment began on April 26 at 01:23. The situation got out of control. At 01:25, two explosions rang out a few seconds apart. The reactor completely collapsed. More than 30 fires broke out. The main ones were extinguished after an hour, and the fire was completely extinguished by 5 am. However, later an intense fire broke out in the central hall of the 4th block, which was fought with the use of helicopter equipment until May 10.
For another 2 days, the leadership of the former USSR hid information about this explosion from the world, but after reports from Sweden, where radioactive particles brought from the western part of the USSR were found at the Forsmark NPP, and an assessment of the extent of contamination, the evacuation of about 130,000 residents of the Kyiv region from polluted areas.
The radioactive cloud formed after the explosion covered not only Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, which are located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but also part of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Ireland, France (together with Corsica), Great Britain and the Isle of Man.
At the time of the accident, 17 workers were in the premises of the 4th power unit. According to official reports, immediately after the disaster, 31 people died, and thousands of liquidators who participated in firefighting and cleanup received high doses of radiation.
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant caused catastrophic environmental pollution. The territory of the city of Pripyat is still considered unsuitable for living.
The exact number of victims of the accident could not be established, since many people died years later. According to approximate calculations, about 4,000 people died from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
By decree of the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR in 1990, April 26 was declared the “Day of the Chernobyl tragedy”.
In December 2016, the UN General Assembly declared April 26 the International Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl Disaster. Commemorative events, exhibitions and informational moments about the Chernobyl tragedy are held every day on this day.
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant went down in history not only as the greatest nuclear disaster of mankind, but also as a symbol of a big lie that kills. Imperfect construction of the station, violations of construction technologies, use of low-quality construction materials and numerous mini-catastrophes - the Soviet authorities kept silent or lied about all this for years, putting ideological interests above the value of the lives and health of millions of people around the world.
On February 24, 2022, the international community once again became convinced that totalitarian regimes such as the Soviet Union and Russia are now a threat to the nuclear security of the world. Ignoring internationally recognized security principles and requirements, as well as the international obligations of the Russian Federation itself as a member of the UN and the IAEA, the Russian armed forces carried out a military invasion with the subsequent seizure of the exclusion zone and the industrial site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In particular, they moved on armored vehicles without radiation protection through the highly toxic zone “Red Forest” and raised clouds of radioactive dust.
The seizure of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the occupation of Europe's largest Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant once again put the world at risk of a nuclear disaster. This danger still remains real due to the indiscriminate rocket fire and bombing that the aggressor country resorts to on the territory of Ukraine.
Daria Yesina