The last episode of the Sky/HBO dramatisation of the Chernobyl disaster aired last Tuesday.
When I was a kid,
Chernobyl was the reason people couldn't sell their livestock.
I live over 1000 miles away from the site of the Chernobyl disaster. I was born years after the explosion.
But when I was a kid, Chernobyl was the reason people couldn't sell their livestock.
The restrictions on sheep farmers were only lifted in 2012.
Beyond that, I knew very little.
I think, in my mind, I imagined some sort of cross between
Aberfan and 9/11. A chilling thought in itself, really.
Over the years, I understood a little more, but the impact was still hard to imagine - until it was on-screen.
The
Sky/HBO series 'Chernobyl' was incredible. Simply incredible.
(Though obviously, extremely heavy stuff!)
And this eye-opening series taught me a few things about life, the universe, and everything:
1. Nuclear power is not safe.
Like, I kind of knew this anyway. But this series confirmed it.
Don't give me statistics about 'only X number of incidents' or 'there are Z safety measures in place.'
This happened.
This killed thousands of people, and came disturbingly close to turning the entirety of Europe into a nuclear wasteland.
This could happen again.
It only takes one incident.
2. Saving face < saving lives
People cared more about saving their reputations, not appearing politically weak, and generally covering their own a**es, than actually FIXING THE PROBLEM AND SAVING LIVES.
Unfortunately, this is still true in too many circumstances.
3. When people in power lie, people without power die
Lies from those in government can never lead to safety and happiness for the general populace.
They just lead to pain and death. History teaches us this again and again, but still governments refrain from telling the truth.
Tells you something about their priorities, I suppose.
4. The Soviet regime was never truly Communist
The problem with Communism is that it's easily abused, and all too fallible.
In principle, there is nothing wrong with notions of equality, fairness, and Socialism. (I'm Welsh, can you tell?)
A regime that would let its people - its workers - suffer for its mistakes is not a Communist regime. It's just another faux-Communist dictatorship.
The world is round - you go left for long enough, you end up on the far-right.
5. It's always the people with nothing who are called on to give the most
Regular working people were the ones who risked everything to control the disaster.
Regular working people were the ones who risked, and often lost, their lives to save millions.
6. A miner's a miner, no matter where you go
Maybe it's just that the actors etc. were British, but I've known a lot of ex-miners - they're a unique breed all their own, and these Russian/Ukrainian miners very much fit that expectation!
7. Taking responsibility for your actions is important
...otherwise you end up with clusterf**ks which nearly kill a continent.
Of course, Russia still hasn't learnt that lesson, if their
plans to make their own series blaming the CIA for the disaster are anything to go by.
8. Incompetence and cost-cutting kills
Again, I live in Wales. I kind of knew this. But it bears repeating.
When it comes to safety, people have to know what they're doing. And they can't scrimp on costs.
Safety has to come first, or people die.
9. Listen to the goddamn scientists!
Strangely, they tend to know more about things like nuclear power (and, I dunno, CLIMATE CHANGE) than your average bureaucrat.
It's almost like they studied this stuff or something. Weird.
Have you seen the series?
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Last updated: 8th July 2019
