Chernobyl: 20 Years On

On the 26th April 1986, Chernobyl had a fault in its safety test. Yes, as simple as that, but we all have heard of how bad the disaster was. And bad isn't even a good word to use. Catastrophic, maybe, and not even an exaggeration.

I had not known the 20th anniversary (I'm not even sure this is an appropriate word to use here) of Chernobyl is on next week until someone sent me the link to some graphics showing just how tragic the nuclear accident was. You can look that up here. The graphics can be quite disturbing though. Sometimes I wonder how much of it all could have been prevented if the public had been educated about what to do. It's so sad to see people jumping into the heavily contaminated River Techa. I mean, radiation isn't something you can see or feel, so everything looks nice and normal, until several years down the road. Nature gave Chernobyl the cover for this week too.

I had been reading a New Scientist (AGAIN! I hear you cry. Yes, I should try to read other things too, but I'm a subscriber, so I better make full use of my subscription...) article on radiation yesterday, so when I saw those pictures on the web, I just thought of what I read. Sigh, things about immune system failing and all that, cells dying, nausea... In the case of excessive exposure, death is definite. Yet it's so insidious, so you never really know. So scary.

Which is why people are so sceptical of nuclear research. But it holds so much potential, because of the energy that can be produced. I think researchers are looking more towards fission (I read it in an older issue of Physics World, I think) since it's easier to control. I guess such disasters ring in people's heads, even so many years on. No one wants to be a part of a nuclear disaster.

Then again, maybe not. Humans aren't always predictable. The New Scientist article was talking about methods to treat radiation-exposed patients, on the notion that nuclear attacks might not necessarily be something of the far distant and sci-fi future.

Sadly, this all means that anything with the word "nuclear" in it sends shivers down people's spines, when in actual fact, some research in these fields are safe too. As safe as any other sort, I guess. But I'm writing this from a lack-of-research point of view, so don't take my word for it.

But as scientists, we must constantly be considering social issues of our times and of future generations. Social sciences and hard core science and engineering aren't all that poles apart as some say, after all.