Chornobyl is one of the most recognised synonyms for disaster in the world: a universal reminder of the horrific consequences of nuclear power when things goes wrong. On this day (26 April) in 1986, a routine test procedure produced explosions at the power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, causing a chain reaction that blew a colossal release of radioactive contamination across Europe and eventually the whole Northern Hemisphere.
Over 600,000 firefighters, soldiers, janitors, and miners - known as ‘liquidators’ - were sent to the Chornobyl site in an attempt to respond to the disaster. Many tens of thousands have suffered long term health consequences and death.
The impact of Chornobyl is still felt across generations - and the spectre of a new nuclear catastrophe looms large: the ongoing illegal Russian military occupation of the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the 10 biggest in the world, installed the Russian state nuclear authority Rosatom by force. In doing so, Moscow placed in danger not only Ukraine, but most of Europe - and with chilling echoes of a Soviet era mentality that prioritised domination over life and safety and produced the catastrophe in Chornobyl.
The desperate hope of the Chornobyl liquidators and their families is to avoid a grim repeat of history.
Greenpeace 2024