For many of today's youth, Chernobyl might simply be a TV show that HBO released in order to try to maintain some of their audience after Game of Thrones fizzled out. But for those of us older than say, 35 or so, it was a very real and very terrible event that really frightened the world.
The year was 1986
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As strange as it sounds, the explosion and radiation contamination was actually started by a safety test that went horribly wrong. The test was meant to simulate fail-safes that could be activated should the reactor lose power and while conducting the test, there actually was a power loss. I'm not going to get into the specifics because it doesn't really matter and the entire project is shrouded in secrecy and most likely lies to the public, but basically the experiment was meant to have the reactor be capable of providing its own energy in the event of an emergency but it's own safety protocols and equipment interfered with this and resulted in certain core functions having no power.
Basically, as I understand it, if they had simply left the damn thing alone this wouldn't have happened. Just one more reason why I stick to the mantra of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it!"
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While the initial explosion had a very low loss of life involved with just 2 fatalities, the aftermath is what was the true disaster as residual radiation resulted in an "exclusion zone" around the facility being evacuated and this extended 30 kilometres from the actual reactor.
Over 100 first responders ended up getting hospitalized with radiation poisoning and 28 of them died. But this was just the beginning. Although the true death toll can not be accurately stated it is estimated that the loss of life in then USSR and nearby European nations to be upwards of 16,000 people.
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Chernobyl and the city adjacent called Pripyat remain abandoned to this day and the photographs that have been taken of this uninhabited-for-30-years-plus are are eerie as can be. It has become a bit of a tourist attraction - one that I would very much like to visit. It has been said that it is quite safe to visit now and most of the area other than the reactors themselves are able to be visited.
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Pripyat was meant to be a model city for the world - one that was a showcase of Soviet ingenuity and technological advancement to brag about to the rest of the world. Well that didn't exactly work out so great now did it?
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the maternity ward isn't spooky at all
I was alive when this happened, and I recall hearing very little about it in America - presumably because the Cold War was still in full swing at that time and the Soviet Union was definitely not reaching out to the United States with hugely truthful information of any sort in the late 80's, least of all about a terrible failure such as this one.
Chernobyl was a disaster the likes of which the world had never seen before and hopefully will never see again. We came close during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, but fortunately that story has a far happier ending.... and it all happened today, 34 years ago.
Holy shit those images are awesome! It was a huge event for sure and now even that world seems synonymous with destruction and disaster.
I bet @slobberchops would LOVE to roam through there, take awesome pics and tell a story.
Amazing reminder of a time not too long ago.
Went to my own mini Chernoybl recently..., not as good but more grafitti
Haha awesome. My patterns are all screwed up along with my blockchain time.
Headed to your blog to catch up!
My Urbex buddy @grindle has been on a tourist expedition here and posted about it quite recently. I would probably prefer to sneak in, as you would get to see more but then you have the fear of arrest.
I visited my own little Chernobyl mini-town a few weeks ago, or that's how it felt. Never seen so much graffiti on my life! I will be posting it soon.
Looking forward to seeing this post ! Love graffiti
Never seen so much graffiti in my life as that place.
Nice
i thought about tagging you in the post because I know how much you love this sort of stuff. I really wish i could go and see it. bit far away from here though
I'll take you on a virtual graffiti-filled wild west mini one on a few days.. hehe, loved the place I went too, though it seemed like a tourist trap in itself!
HBO got us on this one. We binge watched the whole series. I know the show took some liberties, but yea, what a crazy event. I was just old enough to remember.
Still have to get round to watching the Bulls series. We need a good chunk of time. We might be stuck at home but we're working and had to buy a new car and kids....you know. 😀👍👍👍
you had to buy new kids? j/k, i know what you mean, they probably monopolize the television. I tried watching the HBO series but actually couldn't get into it, probably because it was a pain for me to watch it and Netflix was "new" to me at the time
Didn't have to pay for the kids. They threw em in there with the car for free!
well that's a nice deal :)
I was born in 1992, so I wasn't even born when this happened but I have heard stories and done some minor reading on the topic. Even till this day, the whole thing is shrouded in secrecy; the death toll, actual event, and all that isn't out yet.
I've heard some conspiracy theories about how it was nuclear weapons facility that went tits up and because of the shady shit that the Russians were doing there, they couldn't tell anyone. Some other theory says there was a mole/spy from the US that possibly fucked it up, and considering the time of this event, it isn't farfetched.
Either way, it was a huge disaster with a scar that will last through the ages and another reason why humans need to take a step back from prodding and probing to just enjoy some of the things we've been able to create for a few years. Corona has brought that imposed holiday lol.
I haven't even seen the series, but I'll check it out now
this is probably one of those things that is "need to know" and well, i guess it doesn't really matter anymore.
True. Even the facts are speculation.
How's life at Vietnam?
I remember this too. It was totally crazy. Mostly like you said because we just didn't hear much about it. In contrast to the Fukishimia event that happened not too long ago. It was like "oh yeah, there was a reactor melt down in Russia". I don't even remember hearing much about the sarcophagus that they put over it until many years later. I actually learned more about it reading a adventure novel a couple of years ago.
A huge hug from @amico! 🤗
TNX for writing this
I am yet to watch the series but this looks inviting enough. I am on Netflix so bet torrents will do the trick. You know something will end up in the films because of the current predicament at some point, right? I can see the script already!
This was horrible! I cannot even imagine how painful the situation may have been.
I never knew about this incident, as I am always more intrested in cooking I always reasearch about cooking and techniques. But as I read all your posts, your posts are surely increasing my knowledge. Situation was so horrible that time.
I was 11 and like you said, remember it but not very well. I just remember hearing that there was a problem over there and that info came quite a while after the disaster. Those photos of the abandoned park look so cool. I don't know why abandoned parks, buildings and cities are so intriguing. I suppose it's like time stopped and the untold stories are being told through my own interpretation. It's a scary thought to think I live within this very radius to several nuclear facilities. I don't want to be a statistic.. but that's sort of inevitable is some way. hehe. I think the red neck version I hear around here is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." which sort of reminded me of another saying I heard in the islands a few times.. "Smile, it no broke your face." haha. Say Hi to Nadi!!
The best part of Chernobyl happening was when all those Instagram mongoloids and youtubers started going there to make dumb ass videos and pictures without any protective gear or guides, and making such a historic place a backdrop for spreading their asshole to their 700k followers basically. Some truly 500 IQ shit.
yeah that's next level intelligence for sure. You and I can only stand back in awe.