Talking to Aleksandr V. Strannik

I don't want to finish this. Getting to know about Aleksandr Vladimirovich has meant something of depth to me and added another spectra to my views on Chernobyl, the disaster, and the web of facts and stories that surround it all. Getting to know him, means much to me.

Our correspondence will proceed, and I will go on asking questions, but this is likely the last post I'll make for a long while, about his memories and the time he spent at the ChNPP. But I prefer to keep this topic open.

All photos are by A. V Strannik.

"I went there voluntarily, wrote a request to make the journey. From our management, there was a department of 50 people who went to the ChNPP.

There was a sad mood amongst the working liquidators. Not because of the dangers to personal health, but because of that we knew that this country would not be suitable for life for many years to come. The guys working in the "hot zone" received 5 times the salary, but when scoring 25 R [2,5 Sv] or more, which could happen in a day or in an hour, they were put on "clean work"My daily life there, my work, was about decontaminating vehicles and to keep track of the levels of radiation, and sometimes to decide the work of other units.

The atmosphere was friendly, when people met, but the communication between different groups [Note: groups of work and profession] was poor. We who were in this group, were engineers and scientists from St. Petersburg (Leningrad). We understood the situation and the circumstances concerning the 4th block and the stories we were told.

There was a careless hurry in removing the shrapnel whilst cleaning the roof [of the 4th block] and with the building of the Sarcophagus. The evacuation of Pripyat went well. No riot police, no victims... But there was the general stupidity of the work organization; the lack of a solid strategy to eliminate the risk of accidents and adapt actions to new circumstances. After what I saw myself, and what I heard from witnesses, I got an appreciation of what was affected - now I know how we fought the second World War.

There was a careless hurry in removing the shrapnel whilst cleaning the roof [of the 4th block] and with the building of the Sarcophagus. The evacuation of Pripyat went well. No riot police, no victims... But there was the general stupidity of the work organization; the lack of a solid strategy to eliminate the risk of accidents and adapt actions to new circumstances. After what I saw myself, and what I heard from witnesses, I got an appreciation of what was affected - now I know how we fought the second World War.When arriving at Chernobyl, I needed to learn the extent of the accident. "What are you going to do here?" asked the boss. "I can shovel debris, like a bulldozer". In August we wished to go on a mission. Request denied. I remember those who wanted to follow; I gathered 5 more people. Curiously enough, the authorities had become lazy as we left, too lazy to alarm. 

Physically as well as mentally, most people I met were normal. But I never met those working in the most dangerous areas. I believe that the most dangerous work was constructing the Sarcophagus and removing the Red Forest in order to clear the area near the site."

After this month of work in the ChNPP, Vladimirovich never returned to Chernobyl.