Kat Gale’s Reviews > Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster > Status Update

Why did I make the copies? That’s the sort of country we live in. I always locked up my office myself, but I came back from a trip, the folders were gone. But I grew up in Ukraine, my grandfathers were Cossacks, I have a Cossack character. I kept writing. I kept speaking out. You need to save people! They need to be evacuated immediately! Our institute was the first to put together a map of the contaminated areas.

The city had 700 kilograms of iodine concentrate for that very purpose [in case of a nuclear accident] but it just stayed where it was. People feared their superiors more than they feared the atom. Everyone was waiting for the order, for a call, but no one did anything himself.

In the civil defense instructions, you were supposed to carry out an iodine prophylaxis for the entire population if there was the threat of a nuclear accident or nuclear attack. Here we had 3,000 micro-roentgen/hr. But they’re worried about their authority, not about the people. It was a country of authority, not people. The State always came first, and the value of a human life was zero.

On covering up Chernobyl:
It was more like a conspiracy of ignorance and obedience. The principle of their lives, the one thing the Party machine had taught them, was never to stick their necks out. Better to keep everyone happy...I’d bet there’d been a call from the Kremlin, right from Gorbachev, saying, you know, I hope you Belarussians can keep from starting a panic, the West is already making all kinds of noises.

No one listened to the scientists and the doctors. They pulled science and medicine into politics. Of course they did!

Fifty rubles back then could get you a nice suit. And people talked more about the rubles than the radiation. They got these tiny bonuses. Or tiny anyway compared with the value of a human life.
It was funny and tragic at the same time.

The commander says: “Only volunteers go up on the roof. The rest can step aside, you’ll have a talk with the military prosecutor.” Well, those guys stood around, talked about it a little, and then agreed. If you took the oath, then you should do what you have to. I don’t think any of us doubted that they’d put us in jail for insubordination. They’d put out a rumor that it would be two to three years.

These were people who worked at the reactor—engineers, workers, physics instructors. They stood in the black dust, talking, breathing, wondering at it. People came from all around on their cars and their bikes to have a look. We didn’t know that death could be so beautiful.

The world has been split in two: there’s us, the Chernobylites, and then there’s you, the others. Have you noticed? No one here points out that they’re Russian or Belarussian or Ukrainian. We all call ourselves Chernobylites. “We’re from Chernobyl.” “I’m a Chernobylite.” As if this is a separate people. A new nation.

I used to lie in the forest and stare up at the sky, I’d feel so good I’d forget my own name.