The photo above was taken in May 1986. It shows the damaged Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
As we discussed in class, this had devastating effects on its' victims, residents, and liquidators. Those effects are still seen today. My media article discussing Chernobyl today, with a flashback to the events of the past.
Even now, the effort to contain the Chernobyl accident is far from over: workers in white suits and respirator masks show up for work every day, constructing a new concrete shield to replace a massive sarcophagus built in 1986 that contains the still-radioactive core. The sarcophagus is starting to crumble and could collapse, which could release another radioactive cloud into the air. It's easy for those unaffected to leave the shambles of Chernobyl in a pile at the site of the former nuclear plant...but it's not that simple for 'victims' of Chernobyl. For, the live with that memory EVERY DAY.
"Neither Ukraine nor the world community has the right to turn its back" on Chernobyl, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said at the end of the conference. "The accident left a deep wound that we will have to cope with for many years."
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