What really happened in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster?
What really happened in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster?
Learn about the Chernobyl disaster and its wide-ranging repercussions in this video.
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Yurii Zushchyk/stock.adobe.com
Transcript
NARRATOR: April 1986 - in the Soviet Nuclear Power Station of Chernobyl deep within the Ukraine, an emergency is simulated, a routine test.
OLEG GENRICH: "The output of the reactor decreased, just like in any other night. I didn’t know anything about a safety test. I did my work just like always. Everything seemed normal."
NARRATOR: But the output of Reactor 4 falls too quickly. It’s out of control. When the test is eventually stopped, it is already too late. There’s a core meltdown.
GENRICH: "I didn't understand what had happened. I was in such a state, I thought I was in a different world. 'This is not happening to me.' I pulled myself together and told myself I’m alive, everything is okay. Then I heard my colleagues screams."
NARRATOR: The shattered reactor after the catastrophe - high radiation levels escape unchecked. No one had expected such a disaster. Thousands of helpers, so-called liquidators, shovel debris into the ruin. That’s how they’re trying to reduce the radioactive emissions. And they’re exposed to it virtually unshielded. Internal bleeding, hair loss and burnt skin. Thirty-six helpers die within a short span of time due to radiation sickness. Cancer later kills another 10,000 people. It’s a futile battle. Radioactive clouds carry contaminated dust all over Europe. Initially, no one in the West knows anything about the accident. But then the radiation dosimeters begin to register abnormalities in Sweden. The measurements are thought to be caused by an incident at the Forsmark power station. But it quickly becomes clear that there’s been an accident of monumental proportions in the Soviet Union. But Moscow keeps its cards close to its chest.
NEWS CAST: "Today, the Soviet Union has again refused western demands to provide detailed information about the reactor accident."
NARRATOR: Fear of radiation spreads rapidly. There is radioactive dust on food. What is still safe from the cloud coming from Chernobyl? Even though the real exposure levels in Germany are very low, some fields including their harvest are ploughed into the ground.
FRIEDHELM OST: "Nobody knew what Becquerel are, but everyone talked about it. The sand in sandpits on playgrounds was changed. Vegetables weren’t eaten under any circumstances. Not in Germany."
NARRATOR: The anti-nuclear lobby considers their cause validated and gets fresh support, especially in Germany. Today, Chernobyl is still a death zone. New pictures emerge from the inside of the sarcophagus. The reactor core has melted into a radiating lump. The radiation levels are still fatal. And the sarcophagus is falling apart. Radiation is escaping at many places. It was the worst nuclear accident of the 20th century.
OLEG GENRICH: "The output of the reactor decreased, just like in any other night. I didn’t know anything about a safety test. I did my work just like always. Everything seemed normal."
NARRATOR: But the output of Reactor 4 falls too quickly. It’s out of control. When the test is eventually stopped, it is already too late. There’s a core meltdown.
GENRICH: "I didn't understand what had happened. I was in such a state, I thought I was in a different world. 'This is not happening to me.' I pulled myself together and told myself I’m alive, everything is okay. Then I heard my colleagues screams."
NARRATOR: The shattered reactor after the catastrophe - high radiation levels escape unchecked. No one had expected such a disaster. Thousands of helpers, so-called liquidators, shovel debris into the ruin. That’s how they’re trying to reduce the radioactive emissions. And they’re exposed to it virtually unshielded. Internal bleeding, hair loss and burnt skin. Thirty-six helpers die within a short span of time due to radiation sickness. Cancer later kills another 10,000 people. It’s a futile battle. Radioactive clouds carry contaminated dust all over Europe. Initially, no one in the West knows anything about the accident. But then the radiation dosimeters begin to register abnormalities in Sweden. The measurements are thought to be caused by an incident at the Forsmark power station. But it quickly becomes clear that there’s been an accident of monumental proportions in the Soviet Union. But Moscow keeps its cards close to its chest.
NEWS CAST: "Today, the Soviet Union has again refused western demands to provide detailed information about the reactor accident."
NARRATOR: Fear of radiation spreads rapidly. There is radioactive dust on food. What is still safe from the cloud coming from Chernobyl? Even though the real exposure levels in Germany are very low, some fields including their harvest are ploughed into the ground.
FRIEDHELM OST: "Nobody knew what Becquerel are, but everyone talked about it. The sand in sandpits on playgrounds was changed. Vegetables weren’t eaten under any circumstances. Not in Germany."
NARRATOR: The anti-nuclear lobby considers their cause validated and gets fresh support, especially in Germany. Today, Chernobyl is still a death zone. New pictures emerge from the inside of the sarcophagus. The reactor core has melted into a radiating lump. The radiation levels are still fatal. And the sarcophagus is falling apart. Radiation is escaping at many places. It was the worst nuclear accident of the 20th century.