UKRAINE: Archive footage of the Chernobyl disaster - a stark reminder of the dangers of nuclear power

Record ID: 215856

  • Title: UKRAINE: Archive footage of the Chernobyl disaster - a stark reminder of the dangers of nuclear power
  • Date: 20th April 2006
  • Summary: WIDE PAN GRAVEYARD OF VEHICLES AND HELICOPTERS USED IN RESCUE WORK FOLLOWING THE EXPLOSION AT THE CHERNOBYL REACTOR NUMBER 4
  • Embargoed: 5th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA1NXS1AUYRGJ8F309S2PG1DACT
  • Story Text: It was the worst nuclear accident the world had ever seen. Almost twenty years ago, on April 26, 1986, a blast at a power plant in the Ukrainian region of Chernobyl sent a cloud of radioactive dust across northern and western Europe and as far away as eastern United States.
    With four reactors, the Soviet-designed Chernobyl plant was one of the largest nuclear power complexes in the Soviet Union.
    The new town of Pripyat (PRE-pit), only 2 km (1.25 miles) from the nuclear power station, was especially built to accommodate the staff of the station, their families and the vast support network for the power plant and its new local community.
    Archive footage recently obtained by Reuters Television, shows Pripyat in 1985. Built for a population of 30,000 people, the footage shows new high rise tower blocks, wide open squares and parks, and a young population. A local town official is featured in the footage, promising to create more open spaces and parks for the people of Pripyat.
    "We plan to clean up this area and put benches down and save it (as a park)," he says.
    But a year later, disaster struck.
    Reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant 130 km (80 miles) north of Ukraine's capital Kiev exploded at 00:24 a.m. on April 26 following a test on capacity when the safety system was temporarily cut off.
    A series of powerful blasts caused by overheated steam created a fireball which blew off the reactor's heavy steel and concrete lid.
    The accident sent a huge cloud of radioactive strontium, caesium and plutonium across Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and much of Europe.
    The archive footage shows the emergency response to the explosion and the nuclear fallout. One of the most striking factors is the lack of any protective clothing for the rescuers as they battle to mix concrete at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power station and use it to seal the station's destroyed number 4 reactor. Rescuers only wear surgical masks and hats.
    The film itself is affected by the extremely high levels of radiation. There is crackling on the audio, very similar to the sound from a Geiger counter in a high radiation zone, and there are flashes on the film itself, caused by the high radiation in the vicinity of the power plant.
    Soviet military helicopters are deployed to spray anti-radiation dust around the nuclear power plant. Other helicopters are called in to pour concrete over the blown reactor, as the authorities scramble to contain the radiation leaking out from the blown reactor number 4. One helicopter crashes to the ground, after its rotors hit cabling on a fixed crane, while it hovered over the number 4 reactor, pouring concrete onto the site of the explosion.
    Soon after the explosion, the Soviet authorities threw a 40 km (25 miles) exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, setting up roadblocks and sealing off homes in evacuated villages.
    But despite the disaster, the annual May Day parade was allowed to go ahead in Kiev on May 1, 1986, less than a week after the explosion.
    The footage also shows evacuation of children to the south towards Kiev. We also see authorities trying to decontaminate roads and buildings in the Chernobyl region.
    A sign placed at a nearby wooded area in the region calls on people not to enter the woods to pick mushrooms or berries - a traditional spring/ summer activity.
    "Citizens! To enter the forest and to pick anything there is forbidden at the present time!"
    Today the town of Pripyat is a ghost town, permanently stuck in the shadow of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that once was its bright new hope, but ended up shattering the lives of tens of thousands of people.
    Estimates of human deaths from the explosion vary from tens to thousands. The accident made Chernobyl a global byword for all the perceived ills of nuclear power.
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