Accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant through the eyes of a child

[Eugen]

28 years ago, on April 26, 1986, an accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The accident consisted in the destruction of the fourth power unit of the station and the release of a large amount of radioactive substances from it that were in the reactor core. Recalls the events of those days

blogger who turned 9 years old a week before the accident: I was born in Pripyat in 1977 and lived there until April 27, 1986. At the time of the accident, I was 9 years old, so I remember how much, of course, you can remember the events of twenty-five years ago ... About the fact that something happened I found out on the morning of April 26 (it was Saturday). Mom woke me to school and it turned out that Dina, my older sister, had not left for the competition. Although it should have been at six in the morning. To the question “why?” Mum somehow indistinctly answered that they were not allowed. Who did not let? How not to let?

In general, mom and Dina honestly stomped at six at the bus station and there, people in uniform told them to turn around and quickly go home. Why? Because. Go home fast. It's six in the morning. Let me remind you, it exploded at half past one in the night. There was no one to ask and consult with mom: there was no telephone, father went on a business trip, and it was too early to knock on neighbors. As a result, in the morning, Mom sent me and Dina to school.

At school, things that were never seen before were done. A wet rag lay in front of each door. Near each washstand there was a bar of soap, which had never been before in life. The technicals were rushing around the school, wiping everything that was possible with rags. And of course, rumors. True, in the performance of the second-graders, the rumors about the explosion at the station seemed unreal to everyone, and the teachers did not say anything. So I didn’t worry much.

And already at the beginning of the second lesson two aunts entered the class and quickly gave us two small tablets ..
I still think - no matter how subsequently the actions of a wide variety of responsible comrades that night, but. School and kindergarten directors had to be lifted out of bed so that eight schools were torn out, the soap was laid out, and the teachers were instructed on the subject of a window-not-open-in no way. And iodine tablets were distributed to children at 9 in the morning. Who knows, maybe I'm not disabled today because I was given those pills in the morning, and not in the evening. (So, for reference.
In our places, people always have a little lack of iodine. And the thyroid gland, which needs this iodine, actively pulls it. And a good amount of radioactive iodine was thrown into the air from the reactor. And then the bad race began - if you manage to put normal iodine into the body - everything is fine. But if the thyroid gland snaps radioactive - everything is bad. It can no longer be output, the function is irreversibly violated ...)

We sat through all the lessons, but after all we were told to go straight home and not to walk on the street. Last school day in Pripyat schools. Everything is cleaned, the windows are closed ...
Mom didn’t let us into the pool anymore. The neighbors rushed to each other and broadcast the news. I must say the news was moderate scary: yes a strong explosion, but a fire. But the fire is naturally extinguished and must be understood to be extinguished in the end. Of course, everyone guessed about radiation, but what exactly is the level in Pripyat? And what is normal? How scary is all this? And what if you can’t leave the city and the intercity connection does not work?
They say that part of the people still rushed in their cars through the forest. And they say they raked off the biggest doses, as they drove through the dirtiest places. I don’t know, but I believe. The forest really turned red around the station.
In the evening, the tablets were distributed in apartments. But by that time, the people realized to swallow ordinary iodine with milk.
And early in the morning of April 27, evacuation was announced. Of course, temporary. But for a complete stupor, “temporary” was enough. Evacuation is something from a war movie. Where are we going? How much Where will we live? And what about the work? And how to carry babies? Pets to take or not? Which of the things to take? How much money? Documents? What kind of food? ... A catastrophe in fact.
In the yard we were kicked out by 12. I don’t know why so early. Then, for another two hours, everyone was wrinkling in the yard. They asked the uncle of the policeman where we were going and how much. Where he did not know, but promised that we would return in three days. So I know that he could not say anything else, but it’s a shame anyway ...
Finally, the bus turned to us. That is, two or three do not even remember. Submerged and drove off. When we joined the common motorcade, the people were so sad ... Infinite, monstrous sausage ... Pripyat is almost 50 thousand people - more than a thousand buses. Somehow, it suddenly felt that if I had DONE MORE THAN THOUSAND buses in 36 hours, then everything was serious.
By the way, now I only understand that the evacuation of Pripyat was a logistical feat. I don’t know when the decision was made to export people, but 48 thousand were a little more than a day to organize the export and resettlement (!) This is incomprehensible to the mind, if you think about it.
We also drove dreary and long. Stayed somewhere in the fields, drove again. Gradually, the convoy resolved through the villages. Our several buses stopped in the village of Yablonka. (By the way, she looked at the map. Already the Rivne region!) The evening is getting dark. The rumpled Pripyat came out, the bruised local came out. The chairman came out. The resettlement looked like this: the chairman poked into the local family and announced who they were taking to him. Poked / announced went home.
Honestly, probably in our time this is not possible. No, you imagine, you are called into the courtyard, even with the police and the city executive committee in full force, and they are announcing that you must accommodate some people who were taken out of the infected zone, and it’s not known for how long. Now the people would twist the legitimate constitutional fig in such a situation. And the villagers accepted us and did not say a word against. They asked and sympathized.
A good family took us to their place, but tired and tormented by some of their problems. Fed dinner, put to bed. Thanks to them.
And in the morning, my mother decided to get to her grandparents in Cherkasy region. We still believed that in three days we could return, but we did not want to sit on the neck of a tortured family for three days. We had breakfast, said goodbye and stomped to the track. Actually, a whole column stomped the Pripyat, everyone who was going was leaving.
At the intersection of the country road with the traffic cops stood and braked a ride for us. He asked to be taken to the bus station. It is unlikely that our driver needed a bus station, but he drove us.
The bus station naturally was a complete mess with buses and tickets - most of the flights were canceled, there was a dump at the station. But they put us. And they probably would have taken it for free if my mother had no money. Pripyatians have already become All-Union fire victims ...
By evening, we reached our native village. Grandmother cried and grandfather's eyes were red. It seems that they no longer hoped to see us alive. It was by the way why. There are no official communications. There is no connection with Pripyat. The city is closed. And rumors circulate like this: the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, a layer of ash of 20 cm, there were no survivors. What did they think for three days? ..
And a day later dad flew in. He suffered too much fear, but less. The head office of Gidroelektromontazh was in St. Petersburg - they explained what was happening to him there, released it on an urgent vacation, and he figured out where to go. Dad immediately put us in a car and drove us to the Cherkasy regional hospital.
The hospital was packed with Pripyat - everyone was taken to a hospital, although they had no idea what to do with us. To begin with, they took me to the basement. To the dosimetric. Apparently he was sent from somewhere urgently. They measured us with a dosimeter. And even reluctantly reported the results. In different places from 50 to 600 micro-roentgen. But to the question "how much is the norm?" honestly answered that they had no idea.
As for the dose, I’ll say right away - even now I can’t determine a lot or a little. Firstly, it was then measured with X-rays, well, by BERs. And now she looked - gray, some sievert ... But from Vicki I found out that on average the evacuees received 0.33 sivets each, and from this I learned that 0.33 is the average dose. And here is another quote.
“An outstanding Swedish radiobiologist R.M. Sievert in 1950 came to the conclusion that there is no threshold level for the effect of radiation on living organisms. The threshold level is one below which no lesion is detected in each irradiated organism. When irradiated in lower doses, the effect will be stochastic (random), i.e., certain changes among the group of irradiated people will certainly occur, but it is not known who exactly. "That is, how much we got is not known, and how it will come to us - too.
We were held in the hospital for two weeks. Entertained by daily washing for an hour and a half, daily analyzes and handfuls of vitamins. A week later, the people howled and demanded their clothes and immediate discharge. (The clothes were taken away on the very first day - hospital pajamas and bathrobes were given out.) What the people announced was that we would be glad, but there is no clothes. She was sent for decontamination and when it is returned is not known. The people were depressed, but in a dressing gown and slippers from the hospital you can’t get a drink.
And a week later, money came for new clothes. I don’t know how it was done technically and bookkeeping, but they took our measurements and brought new clothes in a day. I don’t remember what my mother got, and Dina and I got two dresses. Both are three sizes larger than needed.
As a result, my dress was put on Dina, and I was wrapped up dino and we went to the store, without even stopping by home. They bought me a decent decent dress. And then we stopped at the hairdresser and cut off my wonderful long hair - they continued to lighten even after two weeks of daily furious washing ...
The evacuation for me ended there, the time began “after the accident”.

Source [DLMURL] https://www.dezinfo.net/chtivo/28796-kogda-rvanula-chernobylskaya-ayes-mne-bylo-9-let.html [/ DLMURL]

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

Thank.

 

[JR Security Consulting Group]

Yes, I remember the message on TV ...