Chernobyl drama survivors testify, ten years after nuclear power plant closed
In total, nearly 600,000 “liquidators” were mobilized at Chernobyl over several years after the 1987 disaster, of which only a third survived.
Oleg Veklenko
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
On December 15, 2000, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant closed, 14 years after humanity's most serious disaster.
On April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Lenin Power Plant in Ukraine exploded.
A fire rages on and huge amounts of radioactive elements are thrown into the atmosphere, contaminating much of Europe.
More than 250,000 people were evacuated as thousands of "liquidators" tried to contain the fallout.
Those who are still alive suffer significant physical and psychological damage.
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Natalia Manzurova paid a heavy price for the four years she spent as Chernobyl liquidator.
From 1986 to 1991, she was at the head of a brigade of 10 people who had to bury radioactive waste.
Today, she is the only survivor of her team.
All of them died of cancer caused by radiation.
And the memories of the disaster still haunt her: "
It's more and more difficult because with age I developed a lot of diseases, I had my thyroid removed, I have epileptic seizures, I lost my teeth.
I forgot what it was like to live without suffering.
Yesterday I didn't sleep all night thinking about the disaster.
"
► To read also: Chronology of the Chernobyl nuclear accident
Janina Scarlet was 3 years old at the time of the explosion.
She and her family still suffer from chronic migraines, seizures and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It took
me 29 years to be able to pronounce the word 'Chernobyl',” she
says.
When I was young I wondered if I would survive to adulthood.
To this day, every time I fall ill I wonder if my body will give up.
"
20 years after the plant closed, the human toll is still debated.
Only 56 victims have been officially recognized by the World Health Organization, while according to the NGO Greenpeace, the number of deaths has climbed to nearly 100,000.
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Ukraine
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