Chernobyl: a model for recovery

摘要

Images of reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have provided a potent focus for the international community. This has been the case for images from the days immediately after the explosion there on 26 April 1986, as the Soviet Union fought to contain the accident and so avert an even greater catastrophe. This has also been the case for images since, as the sarcophagus built to contain the reactor deteriorated and threatened yet further devastation. These images have provided a graphic representation of the dangers of nuclear power but, at the same time, they will have helped attract support for the project to secure the reactor site. Behind these images there is a story that is more difficult to grasp - that of the six million or so people in an area spread across what is now Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian Federation who are still having to live with the consequences of the disaster. But this is a story that, like the images from the reactor site, has a wider relevance to the international community.