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avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Library

Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

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Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

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Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

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Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Library

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

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avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Library


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

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Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Library

Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Library

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Library

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Library


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
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Discours de Taro Yamamoto « Retournez, habitez, vivez, reconstruisez, c’est quoi cette histoire ! »

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avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Bibliothèque


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

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Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

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Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Bibliothèque

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Bibliothèque

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Library


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

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Media Statement NIRS/IEER: Radiation and Gender: One Basis for New Nuclear Weapons Treaty

Library

Media Statement NIRS/IEER: Radiation and Gender: One Basis for New Nuclear Weapons Treaty

May 25, 2017, Takoma Park, Maryland: This week, an historic nuclear weapons ban proposal was unveiled at the United Nations. The proposed agreement recognizes, for the first time, that nuclear weapons and radiation put women and girls at greater risk than men and boys.

No Nuke

Library

Industry Meltdown: Is the Era of Nuclear Power Coming to an End?

Is the nuclear power industry in its death throes? Even some nuclear enthusiasts believe so. With the exception of China, most nations are moving away from nuclear — existing power plants across the United States are being shut early; new reactor designs are falling foul of regulators, and public support remains in free fall. Now come the bankruptcies.

Library

Discours de Taro Yamamoto « Retournez, habitez, vivez, reconstruisez, c’est quoi cette histoire ! »

Taro YAMAMOTO, du parti libéral, est membre de la Chambre des conseillers. Il est un des rares membres parlementaires qui défendent les droits des victimes de l’accident de la centrale nucléaire de TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi. L’association Nos Voisins Lointains 3-11 a traduit les questions de Taro YAMAMOTO à la Commission spéciale de reconstruction de la Chambre des députés au 18 novembre 2016*. Le contenu de ses questions révèle la situation inhumaine à laquelle sont confrontées les victimes dans le cadre de la politique de retour du gouvernement japonais.

avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Library


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

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Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Library

Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Library

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Library

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Library


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

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Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

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Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Library

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Library

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Biblioteca


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

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Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Biblioteca

Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Biblioteca

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Biblioteca

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Library


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

Related Posts

Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Library

Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Library

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Library

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

avril 25, 2017

5 Powerful Films About Chernobyl

Biblioteca


Inverse Entertainment
Megan Logan
Movies
26/04/2016

30 years after Chernobyl, here are five films that recall the disaster, the coverups, and those affected.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, we remember an event that shook the world, changed and derailed thousands of lives, leaving deep, lasting scars on Ukraine and its people.

A number of films have endeavored to explain and examine what happened on April 26, 1986 — and what continues to happen in the aftermath. From first-person accounts of the containment efforts in the days following the meltdown of Reactor 4 to theories that suggest that Chernobyl was a crime, not an accident, documentary films have reviewed the tragic event that spurred coverups and deadly preventative measures.

Here are five powerful films that venture into Chernobyl, and give us a better, deeper and more contextualized understanding of the meltdown that effectively changed the course of history.

1. The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The Russian Woodpecker approaches Chernobyl from a slightly different vantage point: through the eyes of artist Fedor Alexandrovich. Personally affected by the radiation, Alexandrovich believes that the Chernobyl disaster wasn’t simply an accident.

The Russian Woodpecker has been lauded for its wildly inventive narrative and the way in which it frames what might be an easily dismissed conspiracy theory as a very real, plausible and troubling possibility. It poses a vital, uncomfortable question: “What if Chernobyl was a crime?”

2. Chernobyl Heart (2003)

An Academy Award-winning short film from Maryann DeLeo, Chernobyl Heart takes a hard look at the aftermath of Chernobyl and, more specifically, a heart condition affecting children near the disaster zone. The stories of children and families grappling with life-threatening and fatal health problems is a reminder that Chernobyl isn’t a thing of the past.

3. White Horse (2008)

From the filmmaker behind the Academy Award-winning Chernobyl Heart, White Horse follows Maxim Surkov as he returns to his childhood home in Pripyat for the first time since he evacuated in 1986 as a 10 year old. It’s both a personal account and an eerie, disquieting look at the abandoned city Surkov once called home.

In an interview with HBO, filmmaker Maryann DeLeo recalls the trip back to Surkov’s home, which proved to be deeply affecting and emotional, for which Surkov wasn’t entirely prepared. “He didn’t seem nervous about going back until we got into his courtyard. And then he just kind of sat there and couldn’t move.”

4. The Battle of Chernobyl (2006)

The Battle of Chernobyl follows the Soviet Union’s attempt to cover up and downplay the disaster and the containment efforts preventing another explosion that threatened to devastate much of Europe. Through footage and documents that became available in the ‘90s, the film examines the conditions that led to the reactor meltdown and the subsequent handling of the disaster by a government that kept its people in the dark.

5. Chernobyl 3828 (2011)

This short Ukrainian documentary film consists largely of on-site footage and tells the story of the months-long containment effort following the meltdown. Told by Valeriy Starodumov, who was a part of the effort, the story reflects on the 3,828 people who risked and sacrificed their lives to clear dangerous and highly contaminated areas to avoid another, even more devastating disaster after the original meltdown of the fourth reactor.

“It was not me who had made a decision to send these men in the zone of mortal danger,” says Starodumov, “but each night, some inexplicable feeling of guilt brings me back to the past, in that first two-minute shift, which stretched out for me for a quarter of a century.”

Photos via HBO / Downtown TV Productions, Icarus Films / Play Film, Stefan Krasowski Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rapidtravelchai/ Creative Commons 2.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

 

Megan is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on WIRED, Slate, Travel + Leisure and GigaOm. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, brewing beer, and extolling the virtues of The Cranberries.
Nucléaire : une maladie d’État MOX Fuel Disposal

Related Posts

Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Biblioteca

Hinkley Point: the ‘dreadful deal’ behind the world’s most expensive power plant

Building Britain’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 will cost twice as much as the 2012 Olympics – and by the time it is finished, nuclear power could be a thing of the past. How could the government strike such a bad deal? By Holly Watt

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Biblioteca

Background on the LNT (linear no-threshold) radiation model

Because of the importance of the debate that continues to rage over the harmful effects of low-level radioactivity, I am sending out a copy of my recent exchanges on this topic in the context of the Canadian Pugwash Group. As you know, nuclear proponents have been for many years eagerly pushing the idea that there is a safe threshold of exposure and that exposures below this threshold are either completely harmless or actually beneficial. The latter claim is called “hormesis”.

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Biblioteca

Canada Port Hope Radioactive Repository

Before the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939, Port Hope was the home of a radium refinery. Radium is a radioactive heavy metal, a natural byproduct of uranium, that sold for $70,000 per gram in 1931 when the refinery was built. The radioactive ore came from Port Radium, a mine site located on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, in the traditional territory of the nomadic Sahtu-Dene people. Large volumes of radioactive waste were left over from the radium refining operation, and much of this waste was dumped into the Port Hope Harbor and into several deep ravines within the town’s boundaries, freely accessible to children and animals.

© Nuclear Free World 2017
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