The bells of Chernobyl

Description

This fast paced and chilling story of the Chernobyl disaster, pieced together from eyewitness accounts and historic film footage, shows a cover up of epic proportions. April 26, 1986 marked the day of no return for the residents of Pripyat, just north of Kiev. It was here that Units 3 and 4 of the nuclear reactor of Chernobyl exploded, spewing radiation as far as Scandinavia and Japan. It was here that the dangers were kept from the residents, who witnessed "outsiders in strange suits" with geiger counters come to "clean up" the plant. It was days before the government decided to evacuate the population, telling the residents they would return shortly. Pripyat is still uninhabitable. This was the biggest disaster of the industrial age. More radiation was unleashed than at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Vegetation, cattle, milk, and even firewood was, and continues to be, contaminated all over Belorus and Russia. A whole generation is growing up surrounded by sickness and death. As the spectre of failing nuclear reactors looms large, especially in the former Soviet Union, this film will forever be a chilling reminder of the potential for disaster.

Runtime

55 min

Subjects

Genre

Date of Publication

2000

Database

Alexander Street

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