Surviving Chernobyl: Psychological Fallout of the Nuclear Meltdown

Last time on Things That Keep Me Up at Night, we discussed the incidents leading up to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. As a reminder, the construction of the plant was replete with labor law violations, shoddy craftsmanship, and “engineering by feel.” Once the nuclear Jenga plant was constructed, it was staffed by under-trained operators. On the night of August 26th, 1986, operators unsuccessfully ran a safety test that led to the explosion of the reactor core. Firefighters were tasked with extinguishing the fire and were soon hospitalized with acute radiation poisoning. While the fire was extinguished, 31 firefighters and operators were killed due to the explosion of the core.

We discussed briefly the displacement experienced by citizens near the plant but hardly went into detail about the larger scale repercussions of the disaster. While we know that people were evacuated and were exposed to radiation, we don’t know about the cleanup and fallout. That’s what we’ll discuss in today’s episode. As a warning, this episode is more graphic than the last, so if you’re squeamish and/or sensitive to depictions of injury, you should probably sit this one out.

So what’s different about today’s episode? We already talked about people evacuating.

Correct. But we didn’t talk about those who didn’t evacuate. Needless to say, a lot of nuclear waste needed to be disposed of after the disaster. Winds carried radioactive particles across the surrounding land and soon deposited in topsoil, water, and cropland. Liquidators were called in to deal with this waste processing. Liquidators were citizens that either volunteered or were forced to participate in the cleanup of the surrounding area. Many tasks were performed by these liquidators, including measuring radioactivity, exterminating livestock and family pets, and digging up and burying topsoil. 

We discussed in the last episode how radioactivity was kept as a government secret, so these liquidators weren’t able to communicate to citizens the danger they were in. They would take radiation measurements of the area that grossly exceeded the numbers published in the papers, even considering food in the region so bad that it was no longer food but “radioactive byproduct.” That’s where the negative opinion of liquidators amongst citizens originated. Without warning or explanation, soldiers arrived to enforce that farmers destroy their crops, dump any milk from cows, and exterminate livestock. Since information on radioactive contamination was not available to the public, people just saw strangers from the government come into their homes and destroy their food – which, understandably so, is traumatizing.

But it was for the greater good, right?

So you would think. While obviously some of these measures reduced contamination, products from this exclusion zone were still sent out and sold to consumers. This included fur hats, meat products, wool, etc. Ultimately, people couldn’t afford to throw out perfectly good commodities. It’s worth mentioning, however, that people were not made aware of the dangers involving the consumption of these items, and had little to no say in the matter.

What about the liquidators?

Liquidators suffered greatly from their time in the exclusion zone. Like I implied, many were sent there against their will by being picked up on the street or during work to travel to the exclusion zone. They were given little to no information regarding their safety or what they were up against. Many didn’t even know what radiation was! Beyond the psychological turmoil they must have experienced, they were also subject to high levels of radioactivity leading to long term health effects. This led to them being treated as pariahs in their day to day, but regarded as heroes in the media. Their time as liquidators affected their life expectancy, their ability to have a family, and their general quality of living. Some even shortened the lifespan of their loved ones due to proximity.

Was the reactor itself contained?

Eventually. The first attempt to manage the nuclear explosion was to extinguish the fire itself and then drop tons and tons of sand/neutron absorber on the core. The problem was that the explosion caused a 4m fissure to form at the bottom of the core encasing, letting nuclear magma flow through a series of pipes and 2m (6.6ft) of reinforced concrete. This is what we eventually called the “Elephant’s Foot,” because of the appearance of the lava. Unfortunately, the lava soon began approaching an emergency water tank, which, upon contact, would lead to a nuclear meltdown that could leave Europe uninhabitable for 500,000 years. Due to the valiant efforts of senior engineer Valeri Bespalov, the mechanical engineer Alexei Ananenko and shift supervisor Boris Baranov, the tank was successfully drained and the three men were awarded medals for their bravery.

So everything was fine?

You’re very cute, but no. The extent of the damage goes beyond the carcinogenic effects of the radiation, but also includes psychological damage sustained by the victims. However, dear reader, this is where I part, as we discuss this further in the podcast. Tune in to hear more about how people were impacted by this event, but also why people are still actively moving to the exclusion zone. In today’s tale of negligence: Chernobyl.

Svetlana Alexievich. “Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster.” Picador. 1997. ISBN-13: 978-0312425845.

R.F. Mould “Chernobyl Record: The Definitive History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe.” CRC Press, 1st edition. 2000. ISBN-13: 978-0750306706.

28 Newly Translated Documents on Chernobyl, 1973-1991 ​​https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/28-newly-translated-documents-chernobyl-1973-1991