2011 Books – The Legacy of Chernobyl

Continuing on my theme of nuclear disasters (I don’t know why I find these things fascinating)… I read the book The Legacy of Chernobyl by Zhores Medvedev (not to be confused with Grigori Medvedev who has probably written the most authoritative and extensive information on the topic).

This book was written just four years after the disaster of Chernobyl, so much of the after-effects could not yet be ascertained. However, in other papers and books that I’ve read on the topic, his projections have remained true even 25 years after the accident. Also, unlike the book I blogged about yesterday, this one gives a lot of scientific data which makes it a little tougher to get through, but not entirely horrible for the layperson to read.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, it is believed, by many scientists today, that Chernobyl was an explosion, not a meltdown. However, on page one Medvedev throws forth the supposition that Chernobyl did indeed suffer not just one meltdown but two, on top of the horrific explosion.

He wastes no time in explaining how he came to the conclusion that there was at least one meltdown. He says, right on page one, “…analysis of the Chernobyl fallout radionuclides also indicated that the ultimate nightmare of the nuclear industry – a meltdown of the core – had occurred. Monoelemental particles of pure ruthenium (Ru-103 and Ru-106) were identified in the Chernobyl plume when it passed over Sweden. Ruthenium has a melting point of 2,250˚C. This proved that the reactor core must have reached this temperature. Meltdown must, therefore, have occurred, because zirconium which is used for nuclear fuel cladding melts at 1,852˚C (uranium melts at 1,132˚C).

Chapter one then continues by describing the RBMK-1000 reactor and its major design problem. He also goes into the inadequacy of the initial safety tests (most of which should have been performed before the reactor went online, weren’t), and how all of the little flaws here and there set the scene for the accident.

Medvedev also explains how much pressure the construction crew and the managers of the facility were under. If they didn’t complete their tasks on time, they were punished (remember, this was under Soviet rule); however, if they came in on time, they were rewarded and advanced. So person A covers for person B. This incident isn’t recorded. Person C covers for B and on up the ladder into the highest levels of bureaucracy and government. Thus a known defect in the design, which had caused previous, smaller, incidents, were never told to the workers at Chernobyl. It was all covered up.

From there, Medvedev describes the catastrophe, literally second by second. Just one of the dramatic details is that the reactor power rose 100 times normal full-power in 4 seconds. Wow. He describes where the various operators were and what they were doing when the safety test went wrong. Then he ends the chapter with viewpoints of a couple of the workers.

Chapter two takes us into the “radioactive volcano” – where Medvedev gets into the details of fighting the fire (which no one was prepared to fight), various attempts to stop the burning reactor, and how the second meltdown occurred. He also starts listing the number of people involved in the firefight, set up of road blocks, etc., which becomes important later.

One scary fact he reveals is that “All nuclear power stations periodically discharge some gaseous radionuclides into the air… when meteorological conditions ensure they will move in a safe direction…) (page 46). Note, he says “all” not “RMBK” – so yeah, the fact that Illinois has the most nuclear reactors of any state in the union makes me feel really safe.

Anyway, back to Chernobyl. Medvedev spends a lot of time discussing how early on the cover up began (16 hours after the catastrophe, Moscow didn’t even know that reactor 4 had been destroyed), and how no one really knew what to do, how much radiation was being emitted, or how much danger the nearby towns were in. Oddly enough, medical officials wanted to delay evacuations. And when evacuations started, it wasn’t through television or radio (still trying to cover up the situation) it was through word of mouth.

The next four chapters take us through the environmental, agricultural, health and global impact of the accident. This includes how not just the land, but the crops grown on the land will cause health problems for decades; lakes and rivers in the area will be contaminated for perhaps centuries, and that the real death toll from Chernobyl won’t be realized for generations.

Though various “health” organizations and the UN have put the figure of deaths from Chernobyl between 4,000 and 5,000 the actual number may end up being closer to 500,000, if not a million. For example, Medvedev says, in 1990, there was in increase of leukaemia in children, 250,000 new cases which have not been reported as being due to the fallout from Chernobyl. There is also a list of 600,000 people (which he says is probably larger) who took part in the emergency operation. And then there are the thousands of peasants who returned to their farms who are living off of contaminated soil and food from plants and animals that graze on the contaminated fields.

The number of thyroid, lung, and other cancer patients in Belarus had risen sharply (tripled) in just four years after the accident. Yet these are not being recorded as being caused by Chernobyl.

And since the most recognized “report” concerning the death toll from Chernobyl was put out by the IAEA, WHO and the UN says 4,000 – it makes one wonder how far the cover-up really goes.

In any case, after reading this book and doing some online research, in light of what is happening at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, it makes a person think that though Japan is not in any way the same as Soviet Russia, the fact that a meltdown has occurred in Japan, but not much else is reported – well, it almost seems like Chernobyl all over again.

I would love to get my hands on Grigori Medvedev’s books, but the price has skyrocketed ($4000 for one book) to learn more. But Zhores Medvedev’s book was very enlightening. Not only does it give a person the science (in fairly understandable terms for non-scientists) but he does a thorough job of stating his opinion and describing how he came to his conclusions. It is well worth the read, especially when trying to understand how much of an impact the fallout really had on the world at large.