Community Talk

Thirty four years ago there was an accident on nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. Many people suffered. The aftermath for habitants of nearby cities, towns and villages, for power plant workers and for nature of that area was terrible. Many people, including my grandfather, took part in overcoming consequences of the disaster.

My grandfather worked at an institution which specialized on monitoring of radioactive contamination in areas that were close to Chernobyl. He and his colleagues went to towns and villages of this area by a special car, which contained all the necessary equipment. They contacted personnel of local hospitals or other similar structures, and when they arrived all the local people knew that they were there. Citizens went to the car, which was usually parked near the hospital, and checked the level of radioactive nuclides in their bodies. If something was wrong, people would get recommendations on what to do to avoid harmful effect of radioactive nuclides.

Also my grandfather and his colleagues monitored the contamination level of forests, especially that of berries and mushrooms in order to prevent local people from poisoning. It turns out that the most safe to eat mushrooms were champignons. Citizens were informed what kinds of mushrooms and berries they should not pick in the forests. One more thing that my grandfather was doing was catching fish in contaminated areas for research. Also he told me that they once went to Chernobyl alienation zone to collect some specimens of water, ground and alluvium.

Even though many years have passed, the large area around Chernobyl is still contaminated with relatively stable radioactive nuclides. Some places in Belarus are still uninhabited. So those activities were and are important, because thanks to people like my grandfather many other people could avoid putting themselves at risk by eating contaminated berries or visiting dangerous places. Now my grandfather is retired, but that institution still works, because the consequences of the catastrophe are still present.

And they will influence our lives for decades.