When Chernobyl Came to Sweden

I believe that I may refer to many of you, my readers, as friends that I have not yet met, because according to the Blogger statistics, I can see that many of you are returning to this place and that some of you have even used the information here as a source of reference (this honors me), so I hope that the reason why you keep on coming here is that you find my blog interesting and resourceful, or more important - that you find the topic of Chernobyl interesting. 

Should you have any questions on any of the subjects brought up in this blog or anything related to the Chernobyl disaster, please feel free to drop me a line at projekttjernobyl@gmail.com.

Anyway, enough ranting. Let's get down to business. 

As I have brought up in previous blog posts, such as in 86.04.26 - 01.23.49,  Breaking the News in Sweden, and

Breaking the news in Sweden - page 6, the Chernobyl disaster was initially exposed in Sweden. As the fallout was discovered and charted, it didn't take long for the public to get anxious and frightened of this matter and thus it didn't take very long for those in charge to come out with information about it all. At least it was due to November 1986. In my home, my parents probably took care of the information pamphlet and I don't remember even having a look at it, so I never knew it even existed.  About two years ago, a friend actually gave me a copy of that very pamphlet, so after having dedicated my two latest posts to recent events, it's now time for another walk down the memory lane.

Click on the headlines for full sized pictures. If you have a slow connection, please be patient, as the images are pretty large.

Page 1

Page 2

"The reactor accident in Chernobyl was a disaster that shook our entire world. We now know that the consequences for the people located nearby the site. The Soviet government doesn't seem to  be planning to return the evacuees of Pripyat back to their town. Even aside of this, the consequences for the people of the Soviet Union are very large. 

Of course, we were all alarmed, when it appeared as clear, that Sweden was one of the most exposed countries outside the Soviet Union. 

As we received the readings [of radiation], the image cleared. But still, we don't have all the information. We will receive further details through the research that will be performed many years ahead. Comprehensive actions have been taken in order to prevent unnecessarily high ingestion of radioactive caesium from food and drink.

No one in Sweden is expected to receive other than just a little addition, from Chernobyl, to that dose of radiation that we all receive from natural sources. Equal or larger doses come from other sources, such as x-ray examinations and the radiation of houses. 

The worries of big risks can be still. Most people do not have to make any big changes in their ways of life. Big changes may sometimes even increase the unwelcome risk. For example, children need a well composed food intake and of course they should be allowed to drink milk.

In this pamphlet we above all recommend the following:

*Large consumers of reindeer meat shall plan their consumption carefully. 

*Pregnant women in the most exposed areas shall most carefully follow the advice of the NFA, in case of consuming a lot of products from forests and lakes.

In this pamphlet, You get the facts directly from the government. It summarizes the information that has previously reached you through newspapers, radio and TV. 

I ask you to read this pamphlet. It may help You and Your family to look at the Chernobyl disaster with rightful respect, but without unnecessary fear."

These were the printed words of Gunnar Bengtsson, the director-general of the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute. I will not translate all of this 12 pages long pamphlet, but only summarize the content of the pages. Further down on page one, "Differ between activity and dose" you learn how to differ between radioactive activity and received doses: Activity is measured in bequerel (Bq) and received doses in sievert (Sv) [previously the equivalent unit was Roentgen]. The more activity you're exposed to, the higher dose you receive, naturally. Further, the text explain that the coherence between activity and dose is complicated. "Calculating it all, you need to take various physiological and biological factors into consideration."

Page 3 - The radioactive fallout in Sweden

A summary of the fallout in Sweden; information about the weather conditions of the time of the disaster; the levels of radiation and the attributes of the radioactive elements iodine-131, caesium-137, ctrontium-90 and plutonium-239.  Over Sweden, were spread a few grams of iodine-131, about 1,5 kilograms of caesium (5% of the total caesium fallout) and just a little plutonium. No strontium at all, it seems. Also it's pointed out that. "The five tons of plutonium that were spread throughout our atmosphere during the 50's and 60's, due to nuclear warhead detonations, is completely dominating our share of the Chernobyl fallout". All true, still admitted that radioactive atoms were everywhere. Please note that they were only atoms. 

Page 4 - You may eat everything provided in the shops...

The question is about whether people may still eat vegetables and drink milk provided in the food stores. A few days after the Chernobyl disaster, the Swedish government recommended farmers to keep their cows indoors in order to protect the cows' milk from getting contaminated by iodine-131.  The government decided on a maximum level regarding how high an amount of caesium-137 is acceptable in food and drink distributed to the public. The bags on the picture make a comparison between the amount of Bq of 2 kilograms of food purchased in Gävle and Malmö and the text inform that in both cases, the radioactivity of the groceries are far below the allowed maximum level. Only if you'd eat a lot of products coming from  of contaminated areas, you should have to restrict your intake of unchecked meat of reindeer, lamb, cheep and moose; a lot of freshwater fish and a lot of mushroom and berries from the forests.

Guidelines for activity in foodstuff

This piece of text explains that the goal of the NFA is to keep the levels of food contamination to an equivalent of a maximum of 1 mSv received per year. 1 mSv gives 75 000 Bq of caesium-137 or 50 000 of the less frequented caesium-134. However, the total received dose is not supposed to exceed 5 mSv per year, so you can see there is quite a margin there. 

Completing information, "Examination of foodstuff" tells about how the process of checking foodstuff was carried out.

Page 5 ...even where the fallout was heavy (continued from page 4)

Here it's stated that different kinds of foodstuff has absorbed different amounts of radiation. The amounts vary with foods and area and again it is assured that the levels are below the recommended, and repeated that you should not eat a lot of freshwater fish, meat from reindeer, lamb and cheep or mushroom or berries growing in the wild. 

Does it seem like the Swedish government was trying too hard in order to calm the citizens of the country? Actually they didn't try hard enough, because still to this day there are Swedes who fear the Chernobyl fallout. 

This you can do by yourself 

If you're hunter, fisher or someone who likes to collect mushroom and berries from the forest, here's information of where to turn if you're insecure whether your area is safe. 

Page 6-7 - How radioactive substances are spread to our food

Shows a chart of how local foodstuff has been affected by radiation. 

Water: nothing significant. Left to right: 

Milk: some of the caesium is transferred to the milk as cows cover large areas when eating grass.

Wild berries and mushroom:  grow on grounds poor of nutrition, are thus more prone to pick up caesium than their fertilized equivalencies.

Plants: meaning crop, potato and vegetables that are growing on fertilized, calcium enriched, grounds only take up a small part of the caesium.

Meat: in some cases levels over the recommended have been discovered. Pigs eat fodder containing a small amount of caesium, thus pigs' meat has low radioactivity. Meat from lamb and cheep from contaminated areas may contain very high amounts of caesium as they feed on growth close to ground surface. 

Reindeer and game: Move around contaminated areas and find their food on similar places as the above. 

"The amount of caesium an animal ingests, will in time be secreted from the body. Half of the amount is gone in 1-2 months. The amount of caesium in an animal is thus determined how much caesium it ingests and how much that is secreted" - And the metabolism plays a role as well, just as for us humans. 

Fish: Sea fish have been affected to a barely notable extent. In lakes and rivers suffering the heaviest fallout, there are locally levels exceeding the recommended. Algae and plankton have taken up radioactive substances. As fish eat these things, and as fish have a very low metabolism, the local problems may thus remain for years.

Page 8 - How our work environment is affected

"In some cases significant amounts of radioactive stuff were collected from the [Chernobyl] fallout, in filters of large airflows, for example in industrial facilities, and large office complexes and housings.

Changing those filters, the normal protection used against dust and small particles is enough in order of protection"

Concerning sludge from sewage treatment facilities, there has been raised levels detected, but you can still work in the sludge for a few hours a day, without any increased threat to your health.

How our health is affected

About how large amounts of radiation may cause cancer damage on fetus and infants, including matter of mutation, but that no one in Sweden has to worry about that. 

Page 9 - Our radioactive environment

Every number that you read is measured in mSv/year.

Shows how much radiation we receive from cosmos and our sun; the natural decay of the ground; our bodies; from radon in houses (!); in hospitals; other artificial sources and... After Chernobyl: The summary is that we in Sweden got an extra 0,3 mSv per year, including the food, which was people's main fear at the time. It also repeats that you may control your intake of foodstuff and thus regulated the amount of the caesium intake. 

Page 10 - What happened in Chernobyl 

Remember that this pamphlet was written and published when there was still not much information concerning the full picture. Please search the tags for more detailed references. 

"According to reports from the Soviet Union, technicians performed an experiment the night between the 25th and 26th of April 1986, at the 4th reactor of Chernobyl. This was due to the yearly inspection of the reactor. As the reactor was on low effect, they performed a test with an electric generator.

Those performing the test violated the safety precautions. Systems normally supposed to stop the reactor is case of error had been disconnected. The result was that they lost control of the reactor.

The reactor went wild and a few moments later, too hot steam had accumulated. The pressure caused the reactor hearth to explode. Explosions destroyed the reactor building. Parts of the destroyed hearth were [by the explosion] launched 1200 meters into the sky. The most of the parts landed close to the reactor. 

Reactors of this type contain graphite. The graphite caught fire. The graphite-fire spread even more radioactive substances to the envornments. Only after ten days the fire and emissions were under control. It's been calculated that a few percents of the total contents of the reactor were committed into the air. The wrecked reactor is currently being covered in concrete. 

According to the Russian investigation of the accident the disaster was caused by several violations of security. The fast and violent was connected to the construction of the reactor. Nuclear Power Plants with reactors of this construction only exist in the Soviet Union. I most other countries, the reactors are confines in buildings of concrete and steel.

The consequences concerning Soviet has been immense. About 30 people have died. Over 200 have been severely damaged by radiation. Circa 135 000 people have been forced to leave their homes. Unknown, whether they'll be able to move back.

The accident will also have long term effects. They're counting on an extra of ten thousands of deaths the coming 50 years."

Map

Shows how the radioactive wind blew through Europe between the 26th oh April and 1st of May 1986.

Page 11 - We measure radioactivity and dose like this

The RPI and the Swedish Defence Research Agency put up a number of radiation measuring instruments in order to receive  an early image of the damage done. 

More about half life 

Iodine-131: 8 days

Caesium.134: 2 years

Caesium-137: 30 years

The list based on potential threats to Sweden, due to the Chernobyl disaster, which is why they left out information concerning strontium-90 and plutonium-239.
If the summary of this pamphlet has left you with unanswered questions concerning radiation, I recommend that you to read those of my posts posts regarding effects of radiation:   About Radiation Pt1 ARS - Acute Radiation Syndrome1, About Radiation pt 2 - How it may affect the human body and About Radiation; part 3 - Closing up 






Page 12 - Our readiness for nuclear accidents

"The Rescue Services Agency  is leading and developing its services in the entire country, especially in areas where there are nuclear power plants. That is in the counties of Malmö, Kalmar, Halland and Uppsala. Around every Swedish nuclear power plant there is a 12-15 kilometers inner readiness zone. If something happens that causes large emissions of radioactive substances, the population within this zone will be alerted through sirens and telephones.
The sirens give the signal "Important message - listen to the radio". Information concerning what happened and what you're supposed to do should be given by the County Administration in radio P3.
The County Administration is controlling the Rescue Services Agency where the fire brigade, the police, the municipality, health care services and coastguards are included.
The Radiation Protection Institute and the nuclear inspection, that are state regulators, are a part of this orgnisation. They have an educated and trained organization that was the base of activity after Chernobyl.
The signal "Important message-listen to P3!" can be distributed in most cities and towns all over the country.
The signal is tested at 15:00 hrs the first Monday of March, June, September and December.
The accident in Chernobyl has showed that we need to increase our readiness for nuclear accidents in Sweden. Therefore the current readiness organization will be looked over, and a certain amount of readiness for nuclear accidents will be established in all counties. The nationwide radiation measuring system that already exist, will be expanded. There will be international agreements concerning a quick distribution of information, in cases of nuclear accidents."

The grey box on the top right of this last page, tells that the pamphlet is also available in English, German, French, Spanish, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Greek, Arabic, Italian, Finnish, Turkish, Icelandic, Kurdish, Persian, Romanian, Tigrinya, Hungarian, Vietnamese  and in simplified Swedish.  No Russian? Well, those were the days of the cold war, weren't they. Lastly, on this 12th page, you are informed about where to turn if you have any ideas or questions. 

As you can see, the Swedes had no real reason to worry about the Chernobyl fallout, and thus the initial fear was quickly dealt with. Does it seem like the Swedish government was trying too hard in order to calm the citizens of the country? Actually they didn't try hard enough, because still to this day there are (a luckily enough very small amount of) Swedes who fear the Chernobyl fallout and who obviously feel "violated" by the fact that they had to be scared for a few days in May 1986, something which is shared with a number of Americans, as a small number of radioactive particles were detected in the atmosphere over Northern America. People who have nothing to fear often try to find something to be afraid of, whilst those who indeed have something to fear, tend to endure. 

The Means of Mutation

Chernobyl forest winter time. On courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Is the exclusion zone a radioactive death trap or a haven for wildlife?

Performing a simple internet search on Chernobyl wildlife, you will undoubtedly find many article praising the Zone for its richness of species, but taking a closer look at it all, it is not at all what it seems. 

The popular idea of that the Chernobyl area has turned into a large natural zoo of eastern Europe may derive from repeated sightings of wolves, boars and wild Prewalski's horses because it is indeed true that these creatures roam freely in the zone but if spending just a brief thought on it all, it only means one thing; that wild animals tend to seek places uninhabited by humans. It doesn't mean that they're not affected by radiation. 

After the Chernobyl disaster, different kinds of research have been performed, in order to determined exactly how the fallout has affected flora and fauna but even to this day, 28 years later, it is not fully known how. As I have written in previous posts, we don't even know enough about how concentrated amounts of radiation affect living organisms to be able to understand the full extent. 

A relatively common belief is that the shorter the life span of a species, the faster it adapts to changed environment but if so would indeed be the case, all the insects, rodents and smaller birds of Chernobyl would be fully adapted by now, but obviously they are not. We find an example in a study made by made by a team of researchers from Norway, France and the US (led by Professor Timothy Mousseau from the University of South Carolina, US, and Dr Anders Möller from the University of Paris-Sud, France.), concerning small birds of Chernobyl. The study was performed on 550 individuals from 48 different species of birds and the result showed that the average size of the brains of those birds was about 5% smaller than those of birds not residing in the exclusion zone. The conclusion was that this was a direct effect of radiation, and this divergence was especially significant concerning younger individuals. Stressed birds have the ability to change the size of some of their organs in order to become less sensitive to difficult environmental conditions and especially migrating birds that travel long distances often shrink certain organs as they use up energy. The brain is however the last organ to be sacrificed, according to Möller and Mosseau, which pretty much leaves increased background radiation as the only plausible reason. 

However, the research of Anders Möller and Timothy Mosseau doesn't stand uncontradicted. The Ukrainian biologist Sergey Gaschak who was a former colleague of Möller and Mosseau, implies that their research is all wrong. "You can measure an animal 10 times and 10 times you can get a different result" Gaschak said in an interview for the magazine "Wired" in 2011. Further on, Gaschak claimed that his data was distorted and misinterpreted by Möller and Mosseau, but there was no description of how, other than that Möller stated that Gaschak didn't want his name published on the paper. We face something implying a personal drama between the researchers, so I'll leave the part of Sergey Gaschak with the words that his dream concerning the Zone turning into a permanent healthy wildlife reserve may, due to radiation, be quite impossible in the near future. I will get back to Gaschack once I've investigated him further. 

Let's get personal for a brief moment. During my stay in the zone, I noticed that the mosquitos seemed to be significantly larger than average mosquitos, but also that their bites barely itched at all. Mind you, these are subjective observations so I cannot grant the accuracy of this, but still - may it be that radiation has affected the substances of the female mosquitoes' saliva that normally cause an itch? Personally, I cannot tell whether it's like that or not, but one thing I know for sure is that getting bitten by a Chernobyl mosquito won't hurt you more than getting bitten by a "normal" mosquito. The exposure to radiation has hurt the species rather than turning them into mutated threats to other species. So no - Spiderman could not happen in real life. 

Other studies, performed by Timothy Mosseau has shown that the forests around Chernobyl aren't decaying the way they should. We're talking about the same forests that suffered heavy fallout; that were cut down, but still grew back, heavily radiated. The reason why the process of decay has become inefficient is, according to Mosseau, that even the decomposers, insects, microbes and fungi, are affected by the increased levels of  radiation.

The Red Forest is now composed largely by dead trees, but they are not decaying:  

“Apart from a few ants, the dead tree trunks were largely unscathed when we first encountered them. It was striking, given that in the forests where I live, a fallen tree is mostly sawdust after a decade of lying on the ground.” 

Timothy Mosseau with his samples. From this article. 

says Timothy Mosseau in an interview with the Smithsonian. You may read the full article here.
Mosseau takes up a direct problem regarding the Zone, as well as he takes us back to an old question: Exactly how has the high levels of radiation affected the flora of Chernobyl, in other matters than killing and deforming them? Cases of gigantism of trees, mushrooms and berries have been reported, but how does that correspond to the truth? We do know that flora reacts differently to radiation than fauna. We know that for example soybean plants in the zone do not only produce fertile seeds, but has evolved to protect themselves against radiation and by now we also know that  at least some kinds of fungi are highly capable of feeding on radiation. Plants and fungi may have an innate defense or ability to cope with radiation, but of that we still know too little about these things to get to proper overall conclusion. Effects are probably varying from species to species concerning flora, and only further research will make us wiser.

The Children of Chernobyl - Part II

Let's continue this subject with something quite funny; funny in a very sarcastic way that is, but first some facts.

There are  theories that fetuses in the wombs of women exposed to highered levels of radiation are at the risk of being damaged in a way that causes mental retardation (amongst other defects). Even though I've previously listed is as more or less a known fact in this article, there are still no concrete evidence for such a statement. Being exposed to extreme levels of radiation may cause damage and disturbance to the central nervous system of an adult human but generally receiving highered levels of radiation will not affect the brain of a physically grown up individual as the brain cells eventually cease to divide. However, as it's known that young not fully evolved brains take greater damage from substances such as drugs and alcohol (due to still being vulnerable in the process of development), we can also assume that the brain of a fetus that through its mother is exposed to radiation will take more damage than  its mother. This far it's all correct.

In 2007, an American published report was made concerning 560 000 children born in Sweden between the years of 1983 and 1988,  apparently based on the research of Swedish scientists at the Stockholm University. They assumed that because the academic performance of the children still in uterus during the time of the fallout, "was generally weaker", it must be directly connected to the radioactivity. 

This may all seem logical at a first glance, but studies made on children born after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs show that quite high doses of radiation received are required to cause actually retardation: Of 100 children, as fetuses exposed to 1 Sv (100 R), 40 would turn out mentally retarded, but with lower exposure the risk  decreased. It's assumed that there's even a threshold between 100 and 200 mSv where the risks are eliminated. This is however not yet completely proven, but even if we assume that this is a fact the pregnant women living in the parts of Sweden that received the most downfall, did not receive even close to that much. According to studies made by the Swedish radiation safety authorities, the highest increased doses (received by less than 1000 individuals) were no more than 2 mSv. The major part of the Swedish population (approximately 70%) recieved less than an increased 0,04 mSv in the year of  1986. Adding all this together it's a riddle where the previously mentioned scientists got their results from. It seems to be the same kind of media appealing fraud as the claims of increased rates of cancer cases in Sweden due to the Chernobyl disaster, which has no solid grounds to rest on whatsoever.

This is an example of how angles can be twisted depending on who is taking the picture. In other parts of Europe, the direct oppsite is claimed: There are absolutely no effects on the children.

Next up I'll refute that as well. 

Breaking the news in Sweden

The last few days have been critical. Still there are 3 weeks remaining till my exhibition opens, but still a lot of work remains. This far I've also reached some dead ends. For example, I found it a good idea to dig out some old micro films of Swedish newspapers from late april 1986 and put them on display as a part of the exhibition, but as I yesterday went to the University Library of Gothenburg to perform this task, I found that due to the extremely badprint quality, this will not be possible. However, it was an interesting reminder for myself as well, to actually read the texts I haven't been reading in over 25 years again, and spending time in the archives was definitely worth it. Here, I'll share some of the results with you. 

Swedish Newspaper "Dagens Nyheter", Tuesday, April 29th 1986:

Reactor accident in Soviet

A serious accident, most likely a meltdown has happened at the Soviet nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, north of Kiev. The accident has caused a radiactive cloud that during the Sunday night and the Monday, spread over Scandinavia. 

Radioactive clouds all over Scandinavia

- The core is extremely damaged. The particles we have found shows that they have been exposed to very high temperatures, that can only be reached at nuclear meltdowns.

An initiated source tells DN this. 

By midnight, the radiation Protection Institute noted a slowly continued raise of the radioactivity in the air and on the ground. 

- At the present, we don't see that the radiation will decrease, says Torkel Bennerstedt, a spokesman for the RPI. This also means that the radiation keeps on leaking from the damaged nuclear power plant. 

The Soviet news agency TASS confirmed on Monday evening, that an accident has occurred. It's the first time that the Soviet government have admitted a nuclear breakdown. Differently from the breakdown in Harrisburg, U.S, large amounts of radioactivity has leaked out from Chernobyl. The reason is that the Soviet reactors are lacking of the solid "shell" that for example Swedish reactors have.

In many parts of Sweden, largely raised levels of radioactivity were measured during the Monday, but people's health is not at risk. 

The raised levels were first discovered in Studevik and the nuclear power plant of Forsmark, where 600 workers were evacuated. Many of the employees were very critical towards the evacuation process.

Energy minister Birgitta Dahl is however relatively pleased with how the Swedish security organization worked. Birgitta Dalh also turned to the Swedish embassy in Moscow to try to find out details about the accident. 

-It's important fo find out about the extent of the accident, and how large the risk may be for continued emissions. 

-page 6

[Note: Page 6 is coming right up]

Every day radiology

Comrades, I have updated this blog with tags, and a search box, so that you now may search for articles by using terms and tags instead of going through every post seeking for a specific subject.

This post was going to be only about the above, as I'm currently writing articles for my exhibition, but then something else came up. It's not so much about Chernobyl as it is about radiation.

415 bq by the window.

Recently, I met professor Janne Wallenius, who lent me his Gamma Scout. A Gamma Scout is nowadays probably the most commonly used popular device for measuring radiation, which was also used by my group during our Chernobyl expedition in May. I borrowed it to get a chance to learn more about how it works, and also check the readings on various places. Starting out in Gothenburg city, the average background radiation showed to be approximately 0,22 µSv/h. Returning to my home outside the city, the readings showed an average of 0,16 µSv/h, and then I went inside my house, where the readings immediately increased. I quickly realized that this must be a so called Radon house After having checked the numbers displayed over a few hours, making a note of the wide fluctuations displayed (between 0,15 and 0,32 µSv/h), I decided to switch the GS into reading bequerel instead and I'm glad I did...  

Here in Sweden, the MRL in resident buildings is 200 bq/m³ and the readings were a solid 447 bq in the middle of the room. No fluctuations. Today I measured another apartment, where the readings were even higher: 547 bq. On Monday I will contact the housing company and demand them to investigate this further, because I cant be 100% sure that these readings are  exactly what I think they are, but if they are and I was to make a point here, I'd say it's healthier to live in a house in Pripyat. 

The real impact of the disaster at ChNPP is yet to be seen.

Anatoliy and Maria Rudenko at their farm in Rudakov, close to the 30 km exclusion zone.

According to professors Valeriy and Tatyana Glazko at the Agricultural University in Kiev, the biological effects on human beings will be available for analysis in 2025-2026. By then, the generation that was born under direct influence of fallout radiation, will have begun to form families and have children of their own. We will then be able to see what genetic consequences the Chernobyl disaster has had.

The scientists have noted, after tests on gophers and cows, that not only simpler life forms are affected, but also more advanced equivalents and this is confirmed by the results of experiments concerning the effect of radiation on different species of animals, including large mammals.

The testing on cows showed that on animals born before the disaster, each would have an average of 0,9 calves a year, whilst of their female offspring, exposed to alpha, beta and gamma radiation, 7 of 15 would not give birth. The fertility of cows of this second generation decreased with almost 50%.

Even worse results were shown when cows from the second generation were put in a testing farm in Polesie (area including northern Ukraine, southern Belarus and parts of Russia): Only 7 of 27 gave offspring and the rest either did not, or the calves dies shortly after being born. 

Observations of several generations of species, lead to the following conclusion: The effect of chronic exposire to low doses of ionizing radiation has a negative effect on the reproductive capacity. According to scientists, at least 30-35 generations are needed for a species to adapt to increased background radiation.

[Note: Photo is taken from http://www.firstnews.co.uk]

Vladimir Shevchenko's last film

Vladimir Shevchenko was a Ukrainian filmmaker who visited the ChNPP only a few days after the accident in 1986. Currently working for Ukrainian TV, he was obviously not aware of the dangers of radiation as he did his work without wearing a protection suit or other protective gear. 

Shevchenko, and two of his camera men, received hospital treatment, but  in March 1987, he died as a consequence of having received an excessive dose of radiation. Shevchenko's death was not added to the official Soviet casualty toll, which by that time showed only 30 deaths. In April 1987, on the one year anniversary of the disaster, the same number whas repeated. 

This nearly seven minutes long movie clip is the last film Shevchenko ever made, and even though his name is not to be found on any lists, we will remember him by this. It's called Severe Days.

[Note: Vladimir Shevchenko also made the movie Chernobyl - Chronicle of Difficult Weeks. This film, being a part of the 12-video collection of Soviet documentaries called Glasnost Film Festival is not available online, but if interested, you may purchase it here]

The Story of a Photographer and Chernobyl Engineer, part III - Mushrooms

My contact and correspondence with Aleksandr Vladimirovich has increased, and he's come to encourage my work. "It's very good that young people from other countries are interested in the disaster" he told me, wishing me good luck and also offering to try to answer any questions I may have, and yes - as you can probably guess I have a lot of questions, and I have only just begun phrasing and typing down the first of all these questions...

In a hopefully near future you will be able to read the results of this communication. 

Still to this day, people are warned not to pick or consume any mushrooms from Chernobyl or the fallout areas, but Vladimirovich has a different story to tell:

Picking mushrooms in Chernobyl, by A.V Strannik.

"So what about fearing your environments? People are drawn to the exotic, to apples and mushrooms. By now we have good, foreign instruments to measure radiation; the levels of contamination and not just alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

Having measured the levels of radiation from the mushrooms we found, we weren't afraid - it was almost equal to the normal background radiation, only a little higher."

Still, there was a general fear and scepticism agains teating anything growing near the area. But...

"When the mushroom were cleaned, and frying, the scent spread through the room, even the most doubtful came around to taste it; two large portions each and it was all finished."

[Note: The conditions have changed since August 1986. To be on the safe side you should not ingest mushrooms, berries, or any other crop rich on potassium, as potassium is a natural radioactive element in the human body, and also potassium resembles caesium, why mushrooms tend to absorb the latter as well.]

The Story of a Photographer and Chernobyl Engineer, part II - Alexandr Vladimirovich and Alla Pugachyova.

Alla Pugachyova and Vladimir Kuzmin performing in Zeleniy Mys, 1986.

By the age of 30, Aleksandr Vladimirovich had already participated in photo exhibitions as well as received prizes for his aestethic work, and when going to work at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, he brought his camera. Here's another fragment of the story of the air purification engineer, whose true passion is depicturing the world around him. 

The Russian mega star Alla Pugachyova was the first artist to perform in Ukraine after the Chernobyl disaster, and Vladimirovich recalls the day of her concert:

"We arrived in our UAP [abbrevation for Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant; УАЗ, Ульяновский автомобильный завод - this is a vehicle] and parked at the fith row. The concert was sold out. The arriving people filled up all space available, and the roofs of their cars - and the roof of our car was all crowded as well. Alla was with Kuzmin [Vladimir Kuzmin, Russian musician], and it was all wonderful. As a curious note, she sang her song "Ask a lady for a dance" [Пригласите даму танцевать] and asked everyone to dance. But nobody danced. Shame on them! Then she pulled up a brave young man, and they danced, but I cannot find any of those photos."

Thousands of Chernobyl victims were listening to Alla Pugachyova that night, on September 8th, 1986, in the small town called Zeleniy Mys [Зеленый Мыс], in the Crimea region. She performed for three hours without seeming to get tired, and there was  a three time encore of her song "Harlequin".
However, this wasn't Pugachyova's first concert in Ukraine that year. In the very summer of 1986, she held a concert n Chernobyl for the liquidators there. But of the food and flowers the star usually received, there was none to give, de to the Chernobyl fallout and contamination. Only alcohol was available; vodka, whiskey and red wine. Witnesses say, that backstage, Pugachyova drank red wine straight from the bottle, to clean her body from Strontium. Most of her audience from that day, are no longer with us.

"Medication for radiation" by A.V Strannik.

Remembering Alla Pugachyova's concert, Vladimirovich also recalls when the first unit left the  Chernobyl central storage in April 1986. "The boys were told 'Who wants to go to the south for a few weeks?' And that's all the got to know - they thought they were going to Crimea. They brought their best clothes; suits, shirts and ties - for going out dancing! Later, I discovered these clothes in the back of the garage. They didn't get them back. My opinion is that this was due to the lack of knowledge of radiation and the general fear of contamination. The next team to make the same journey, left wearing their most poor clothes."


Bottles like the one on the photo on the right, along with a thermos, were sent out to the Chernobyl veterans on the 25th anniversary of the disaster. That, and a framed diploma.

[Note: The unquoted short text about  Pugachyova's Pugachyova's performance is based on my own research and not quoting Aleksandr Vladimirovich. Below: Alla Pugachyova performing in Zeleniy Mys1986]