33 years after the tragedy of Chernobyl: a civilized man does not mean a better man

When we refer to the atomic bomb, we have in mind the names of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, launched in Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945 during the Second World War. But there was another powerful atomic explosion on April 26, 1986, known as the Chernobyl tragedy.

This happened in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. It was a detonation at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin nuclear power station, three kilometers from Pripyat, near the city of Chernobyl. Of course, in this particular case, it was not the product of anyone's will, but only the consequence of an accident. But not for this reason, there have been few fatal casualties, fewer injuries or fewer destructions. No, it was terrible too.

The accident occurred near the triple border between present-day Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Today, 33 years after the disaster, it is still almost impossible to clearly establish the concrete consequences on the health of the population and even the total number of victims that this has caused.

Tragedy, product of conjunction of technical, human and construction errorsOn April 26, 1986, a chain of explosions set off a huge fire in one of the Chernobyl reactors. Millions of people, not only in Ukraine, have been exposed to the effects of the radioactive cloud that has spread to much of Europe over time – albeit somewhat attenuated.

High levels of radiation have also been detected in Poland, Germany and Austria. And to a lesser extent in Switzerland, Italy and France. Currently, on the reactor that caused the accident, there is a concrete and steel construction prevent radiation from poisoning a small part of the planet.

In addition to the victims who are deadly or very affected, the fifty thousand inhabitants of Pripyat had to leave their homes, the city closest to the reactor and the three hundred thousand inhabitants of the city of Chernobyl, a little further. Shortly after, a forbidden housing area was created, about 200 km away, although hundreds of people, mainly elderly people, ignored this order and continue to live in Chernobyl.

At 240 km – that is to say outside the exclusion zone – lies the city of Ivankov, also in Ukraine. In this document, an international organization asked permission to do various medical tests to a thousand students from a local high school. A total of 745 students, or 75% of the total, were detected problems of varying degrees, related to the nuclear accident. 240 kilometers away!

They found themselves in them thyroid cancer, leukemia, heart disease and lung problems. And they were boys between 12 and 17 years old! Today, Ukraine, which – I repeat – is an independent country, has 15 reactors in operation, which provide 50% of the electricity consumed by the country. Some additional information, I would say positive, or even better, rebaduring, although painful.

With the explosion, the temperature reached 2,500 degrees (remember that the water boils at 100 degrees). 28 firefighters – now the national heroes of Ukraine – have risked their lives to avoid the spread of the disaster and the death of thousands of people. Undoubtedly mitigated the disaster. But six of them died instantly and the other 22 died a few days later.

As modest workers, they have gone down in history as a true heroes, because they died to avoid many other deaths. I believe that it is time for man to reason and that the progress of progress does not simultaneously entail destruction. Because science is never deadly, but scientists, sometimes involuntarily, can become so.

And I finish with a last aphorism:

"With the best intention, the greatest damage can be done."