It’s been 31 years since the Chernobyl Disaster, an event, alongside the 2011 Fukushimi Daiichi disaster, that ranks as the worst nuclear disaster in history.
Last year, for the 30th anniversary, I covered the disaster in some detail. In the year since then, the Chernobyl remains have since, finally, been covered with a permanent shelter object. While I somewhat hate that the hypnotic beauty of the decaying sarcophagus structure is now sealed away forever, I do of course know that the shelter needed to be places – the original structure was eventually going to collapse, and release all kinds of radioactive dust and debris into the atmosphere, which would cause untold problems across Europe, and possibly globally.
That’s the key reason I’m even writing this article, is just the fact that in the year since the 30th anniversary, they actually successfully covered the remains of Reactor 4, something that was originally planned in the first few years after the explosion, but took 3 decades to happen.
Areas of Europe are still uninhabitable due to radiation release from the disaster – not just the city nearest the disaster, Pripyat, but other cities in the Ukraine, Belarus, and elsewhere. Rates of birth defects have increased across Europe as well, coinciding with radiation levels from the disaster.
An aerial view of the core of the reactor.
Cleanup continues, but it seems to be a never ending battle – the sheer scale of the radiation spread over Europe is more vast than many realize. Still, cleanup continues.
Chernobyl was the result of poor design – I, personally, do support nuclear power, but I do acknowledge when things go bad they go very bad, to put it lightly. Still, I feel it is, when plants are constructed and operated properly, and located in geologically sound locations, one of the best sources of electricity we have. I know there is strong debate on this, and I politely ask not to carry on such debate in the comments – I’m just sharing my thoughts.
I don’t know… I have plenty to say about Chernobyl, but also, oddly, nothing to say. I’ve already covered it in my previous articles, maybe, which I guess I will link to down below. As always, if you want more information on the subject, I feel Wikipedia articles on it are good beginnings, so I’ll link to those as well.