Chernobyl: The Nuclear Disaster, 25 Years Later (VIDEO)

The catastrophic ramifications of Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster are still felt twenty-five years later. In light of the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan, science correspondent Miles O’Brien of PBS NewsHour returns to the site of Chernobyl’s meltdown to explore what life is like now.

Upon entry, O’Brien finds the “infamous ghost town” to be surprisingly busy. In the exclusion zone office, phone calls flood in; a newfound curiosity has been sparked by the Fukushima crisis.

Physicist Gennadi Milinevsky offers O’Brien a tour of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. They stop at a monument for the firefighters who worked for 10 days to end the nuclear inferno. Milinevsky attests that these firefighters were heroes, remarking, “Many of them received a dose not connected with -- with life.” The men were sent to a Moscow clinic for treatment, but died within one month.

Vasyl Kavatsiuk, a Chernobyl liquidator, spent 37 days working at the destroyed reactor. He says, “If you think about that, you are getting more sick, more than you're supposed to be. You are just thinking, ‘I have to do this. This is my job. I have to finish this. I have to do this.' Anybody -- anyhow, somebody must do that.”

Kavatsiuk later collapsed and had to be medevaced to Moscow. Both of his daughters contracted leukemia, which he has “no doubt” is connected to Chernobyl.

The effects of Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster continue to linger.

WATCH:

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

View other PBS NewsHour reports here.

Comments

[Roadrun]

10:26 AM on 03/31/2011

It is obvious that all life forms are affected, yet the remains argument.

While I can agree to study and come up with the exact changes happening and go deeper into even smaller forms of life I will not understand someone arguing on whether or not there is an effect.

[ravencalling]

08:12 AM on 03/31/2011

I thought the reduction in brain size was interesting, or reduction in intelligence. No wonder Republicans think radiation is good for you!

[Roadrun]

10:21 AM on 03/31/2011

So Ann gets smarter in comparison when more people are exposed to radiation.

Good point

[00BTB]

08:11 AM on 03/31/2011

“In 2009 the New York Academy of Sciences published Chernobyl: Consequenc­es of the Catastroph­e for People and the Environmen­t, a 327-page volume by three scientists­, Alexey Yablokov and Vassily and Alexey Nesterenko­, the definitive study to date, a lot of of it citations from scientific papers with detailed health statistics­. In the summary of his chapter “Mortality After the Chernobyl Catastroph­e,” Yablokov says flatly, “A detailed study reveals that 3.8–4.0% of all deaths in the contaminat­ed territorie­s of Ukraine and Russia from 1990 to 2004 were caused by the Chernobyl catastroph­e.… Since 1990, mortality among the clean-up teams has exceeded the mortality rate in correspond­ing population groups. From 112,000 to 125,000 liquidator­s [ ie members of clean up crews] died before 2005—that is, some 15% of the 830,000 members of the Chernobyl cleanup teams. The calculatio­ns suggest that the Chernobyl catastroph­e has already killed several hundred thousand human beings in a population of several hundred million that was unfortunat­e enough to live in territorie­s affected by the fallout.”"

[Robert Masters]

09:09 AM on 03/31/2011

I understand the limited space available however you fail to qualify your mortality claims. The mortality rate among humans is 100%. What were the ages of those who died? 2005 was 20 years after the disaster. If those workers were in their 50's then this wouldn't be strange all.

[00BTB]

10:37 AM on 03/31/2011

You are right there is a lot there in limited space. I'll highlight.

"you fail to qualify your mortality claims. The mortality rate among humans is 100%."

“Mortality After the Chernobyl Catastroph­­e,” Yablokov says flatly, “A detailed study reveals that 3.8–4.0% of ALL DEATHS in the contaminat­­ed territorie­­s of Ukraine and Russia from 1990 to 2004 were CAUSED BY the Chernobyl catastroph­­e.…"

"What were the ages of those who died? 2005 was 20 years after the disaster. If those workers were in their 50's then this wouldn't be strange all."

"Since 1990, mortality among the clean-up teams has EXCEEDED the mortality rate in CORRESPONDING POPULATION groups. From 112,000 to 125,000 liquidator­­s [ ie members of clean up crews] died before 2005—that is, some 15% of the 830,000 members of the Chernobyl cleanup teams."

Better?

[HamburgerTime]

07:32 AM on 03/31/2011

Madventures did an excellent segment at Chernobyl and Pripyat a couple years ago in their Ex-CCCP episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYMZFSDmvDI

[jackbond]

02:59 AM on 03/31/2011

According to Ann Coulter, Chernobyl is the healthiest place on earth to live.

[RBN]

03:25 AM on 03/31/2011

Her species can survive in any environment.

[verylargehat]

04:53 AM on 03/31/2011

Like cockroaches.

[desertman]

03:55 AM on 03/31/2011

here is the actual statement, "Amazingly, even the Soviet-engineered disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 can be directly blamed for the deaths of no more than the 31 people inside the plant who died in the explosion. Although news reports generally claimed a few thousand people died as a result of Chernobyl -- far fewer than the tens of thousands initially predicted -- that hasn't been confirmed by studies."

Please do not spread false information.

[ThinkCreeps]

05:11 AM on 03/31/2011

Back at ya.

Indeed no-one died of acute radiation sickness away from the plant. However, the total number of excess fatal cancers over europe is eventually going to be in the thousands.

[mamacat]

05:38 AM on 03/31/2011

Over 300,000 people were evacuated and relocated because of the radioactive fallout. The World Health Organisation puts the number of deaths due to radiation at a minimum of 4,000, and the maximum may be in the hundreds of thousands. Cancer rates within a few hundred miles of the meltdown have been higher than normal, especially among young people. All of this has been reported innumerable times, in innumerable publications.
Who is it that is spreading false information?

[RationalityPlease]

02:45 AM on 03/31/2011

Orwellspeak Understatement Award for the Day:

“Many of them received a dose not connected with -- with life.”

[desertman]

03:57 AM on 03/31/2011

A Russian who's first language is not English.. Next.

[RationalityPlease]

04:26 AM on 03/31/2011

Totally missing the point.

[ThinkCreeps]

05:05 AM on 03/31/2011

Rather eloquent I thought.

[rich misty]

02:38 AM on 03/31/2011

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/22/chernobyl-cleanup-survivors-message-for-japan-run-away-as-qui/
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbCcutzXzYg
 
http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/chernobyl
 
http://www.lensculture.com/mittica.html
 
Chernobyl

[termgirl]

02:08 AM on 03/31/2011

This is a really great video of a young Russian girl, Elena, who travels through Chernobyl on her motorcycle. It takes some time to watch, but it s well worth it in my opinion.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-aftermath_n_842763.html#comments

[rich misty]

02:32 AM on 03/31/2011

Here's her site: http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html
 
Well worth exploring

[KIVPossum]

09:01 AM on 03/31/2011

I thought Elena's story had been discredited

[Mister Grumpy]

01:12 AM on 03/31/2011

Between Chernobyl and Three Mile Island the US nuclear industry suffered a major defeat........ but now because of whats happened in Japan........ there will be no more nuclear plants built in the US in the future.......... so unless you want to sit in the dark the US is going to have to build more coal power plants....... because solar and wind are not reliable nor can it produce what we currently need and especially not our future needs once the nuclear plants are retired.........

[termgirl]

02:04 AM on 03/31/2011

We've heard this argument a thousand times and I say we follow Germany's lead.
Now I know you are going to come back at me with a bunch of statistics that you've pulled from who knows where, but the fact is they are committed to being off fossiles and nuclear by 2050 and they have made great strides since they first made the committment.

[desertman]

03:59 AM on 03/31/2011

fossiles? But I digress. What is Germany's plan?

[mike dougles]

02:19 PM on 04/02/2011

Germany has coal to last them for 100's of years.

[rich misty]

02:34 AM on 03/31/2011

You just want America to be last, because you say we have to.
 
We want to be first, but you say we can't... We have to be losers, because you say so.
 
That's why nobody should listen to you if they want to be winners.

[desertman]

03:59 AM on 03/31/2011

that's awesome. fanned.

[katatonic]

01:03 AM on 03/31/2011

Great video.

[budanatr]

12:44 AM on 03/31/2011

From my experience Americans do not learn very much until a terrible event happens on American soil and thousands of Americans are killed instantly as a result. When it is in another country it somehow is not as significant because it was not Americans killed. It is a very strange ethnocentric outlook and does not serve America well nor the world well.

[Mister Grumpy]

01:14 AM on 03/31/2011

Yet the US seems to have learned nothing from Hurricane Katrina......... rebuilding a city sitting in a bowl below sea level............ it will happen again......... and again..........

[infodoc1]

01:24 AM on 03/31/2011

Unfortunately, we usually do not learn much even after terrible events, the media is not very good at keeping people informed

[rich misty]

02:35 AM on 03/31/2011

The job of the media is to uneducate Americans.

[Kenz300]

12:28 AM on 03/31/2011

There needs to be more information about Chernobyl in the current news.

Many young people do not know anything about what happened.

If we forget the history we will repeat it. Oh - we just did in Japan.

Thank you PBS -- PBS deserves our support for what they do.

[TheBear]

02:11 AM on 03/31/2011

you can defintely learn a thing or two from watching PBS...I'm surprised the gov't hasn't tried to shut it down

[aligatorhardt]

09:22 AM on 03/31/2011

Republicans are trying to defund it and public radio right now.

[desertman]

04:00 AM on 03/31/2011

If they are that good they don't need taxpayer funding.

[Hugh-Gee]

09:32 AM on 03/31/2011

...And if they weren't that good, you'd say that they don't deserve taxpayer funding.
Heads you win, tails they lose. I'm sure you're very proud of your logic.

[TheBear]

11:03 AM on 03/31/2011

they are a voice in the wilderness friend, increasingly the only place you can turn to to get a rational discussion of the issues, unlike the screaming freak show "cable news" has become or the whimpy network news who soft peddle every issue, seemingly afraid to report the facts, in favor of a politically correct, sanitized version of what they call the truth..

[ltyr2002]

12:28 AM on 03/31/2011

Perhaps there is a grim positive to the nuclear accident in Japan in that we are once again reminded of the incredible responsibility to hundreds of future generations we bare when we use nuclear power.

Who could have imagined an earthquake of that magnitude, and then a tsunami to follow which would hit right where that nuke plant was? Yet it DID happen.

Are we going to assume that the plants, or the waste from them, will stay safe for fifty thousand years? Are WE really that smart????
Look around the world today. Look at how people act towards each other, and themselves!

I used to be for safe nuclear power. But I now feel that nuclear power and the human race are incompatible!
We need to try to clean up our act in another way.

[rich misty]

02:43 AM on 03/31/2011

Fanned
 
The problem with nuclear power is not really one of technology, it a humanities problem wrapped in technology.  And if you look at every release iof radioactive contamination nto the environment, you will find at the bottom line, some human made a mistake.  Even the deliberate releases were a mistake.
 
Sometimes men get smart, and while not able to correct their mistakes, learn not to repeat them...  The Test Ban Treaty for example.

[tombomb66]

12:26 AM on 03/31/2011

Where did all my beer go?

[Jtt]

12:04 AM on 03/31/2011

Risk of hematological malignancies among Chernobyl liquidators
2010 July 16.

The current paper presents the results of a multinational case-control study of risk of hematological malignancies among Chernobyl liquidators in which considerable efforts were made to reconstruct and validate individual dose estimates. A significantly elevated OR was seen for all hematological malignancies combined at doses of 200 mGy and above. Although most risk estimates are not statistically significantly elevated, they are based on small numbers of cases and they are statistically compatible with those obtained for atomic bomb survivors and recent low dose-rate studies. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904977/ )

[rich misty]

02:48 AM on 03/31/2011

You do know that the Soviets were the worst possible record keepers in regards to exposures and numbers of people involved in Chernobyl don't you?

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/22/chernobyl-cleanup-survivors-message-for-japan-run-away-as-qui/
 
I know, because I have relatives in Belarus.