Chernobyl: I’m surprised I’m still alive

On the occasion of International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Dayheld this week, the employees of the plant have shared two of the most difficult periods since its opening in 1977.

Zero zone

Evgeny Yashin was a 40-year-old chemist at the Chernobyl plant when the nuclear reactor accident occurred in April 1986, which led to mass evacuations, the deaths of 31 people and long-term illnesses for thousands more.

“Everyone was talking about the explosion of the reactor’s emergency cooling system,” he told UN News, recalling a fateful bus ride to work on the day of the accident. “But as we passed the fourth power unit, it became clear to us that it was much more serious than expected; the wall of the reactor had completely detached, revealing a glow resembling that of a steel smelting furnace. We acted. immediately”.

At the time, the scale of the accident was neither expected nor assessed, he said, adding that no protocols had been put in place, because it was inconceivable that this could happen in the reactors. As shift supervisor of 300 employees at the Chernobyl chemical workshop, his team’s main task was to prepare demineralized water, receive liquid radioactive waste, store and process it.

Yevgeny Yashin, a physical chemist by profession, started working at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1977.

mass evacuations

“We would prepare the water to extinguish the reactor, we would walk up to our knees in water and we would organize the pumping,” he says. “The water seemed to flow endlessly, the system was running at full capacity, and more and more water was needed.”

On April 27, the inhabitants of Pripyat were evacuated along with some of the plant’s staff, he said, recalling the buses that crisscrossed the city, stopping in front of houses to pick up the evacuees. Family members could not call them, notify them or tell them about the evacuation routehe said, recalling that he found out that his family had moved out of the area.

‘Very few of my colleagues are still alive’

In early May, the remaining staff were suffering severe side effects as doctors monitored their health with frequent blood tests, he said, adding that some were taken “out of the area” to rest.

“I feel the consequences on my health even now,” said Yashin, who has cancer. “Very few of my colleagues are still alive. I’m surprised I’m still alive myself.”

Meanwhile, disputes continue over who is to blame, he said.

“I’m 100% sure the designers couldn’t have foreseen something like this,” he said. “Station staff took all measures to locate the consequences of the accident, but could not prevent it.”

Since then, every year on April 26, residents of the city of Slavutych gather at a monument to the victims of Chernobyl, light candles and remember the tragic event, Yashin explains. Although he no longer works at the plant, her granddaughter, Tatiana, is an engineer who handles spent nuclear fuel at the facilitywhere it is stored together with thousands of tons of radioactive waste.

SSP “Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant”

Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

new threat

Like all nuclear facilities, Chernobyl enjoys special protection under international humanitarian law. But the 2022 Russian occupation posed serious security concerns. In addition, it returned employees to the working conditions of 1986, requiring mandatory rotating shifts.

“Now we work like in 1986“said Alexander Novikov, deputy chief engineer for technical safety at the plant. “I just started work and I’ll be here until next Monday. We have turned our offices into rest stations, installing showers and washing machines. Radiation control has been considerably tightened; we do it every day because people live close to the plant.”

One year after the Russian occupation, employees can no longer take a simple bus trip. Most live in Slavutych, but the railway lines were bombed on the first day of the Russian invasion, February 24, 2022. Now the workers travel by bus from 350 kilometers away, work for a whole week, staying in the area of exclusion for the entire period, and then they return home, he explains.

Abandoned buildings in Pripyat, two kilometers from Chernobyl, Ukraine.

new companions

Until 2022, nuclear facilities had never been seized in the context of a conflict, Novikov said. This unique situation has called for tailored measures.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency made the unconventional decision to organize ‘permanent missions,'” he said, adding that both plant employees and UN agency inspectors are constantly present at the facility.

“Before, inspectors would come, carry out an inspection for several days or weeks, and then leave. Now, they live with our staff and carry out inspection activities without leaving the plant“.

When a country loses control over such facilities and is unable to carry out inspections, it must turn to the international community for support, he said.

The moment has come

“The time has come to respond to crises,” declared the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi.

Although the body’s main task, since its creation in the midst of the Cold War in 1957, is to guarantee the safety of nuclear facilities, it had never seen the need to operate in the epicenter of intense armed combat.

After the start of the war in Ukraine, the agency invited interested parties to discuss it at its headquarters in Vienna. Representing the Chernobyl plant as part of a Ukrainian delegation, Novikov said that not a single one of the many reports he had read mentioned Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine, Zelensky, meets with the IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, after his visit to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Demilitarize nuclear facilities

“The question arose of how to guarantee security in these situations that are taking place now in our country,” he recalled, noting that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant also operates in the middle of a war zone. “After allany incident can have consequences that will be felt throughout Europe“.

In fact, Zaporizhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

“Nuclear facilities cannot be captured“, he stressed. “The area around the nuclear power plants must be demilitarized.”

Protect the cleanest energy source

Despite the problems posed by accidents and wars, nuclear power represents the future as the world’s electricity consumption is growing, he said. For example, 80% of electricity in France comes from nuclear sources.

“As paradoxical as these words sound after Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power plants are one of the safest electricity producers,” he said. “Under normal operating conditions, without accidents or incidents, it is also the cleanest source“.

The new types of reactors are reliable and controllable, he explained, adding that the development of nuclear power is “the most promising path” forward.

“All we need now is a new approach to security,” he said.