KI OVS H U L IR G M I D LA OF V S E Y HE E IN T
G N I N A L E Y CL RNOB E H C
Alisa Popova
Context: Page 2
Dedication
Page 3
Foreword
Pages 4-12
The Story
Pages 13-17 Planning Page 18
About the Author
Page 19
Bibliography
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To my grandfather.
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Foreword:
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The Chernobyl power plant explosion occurred on April 25–26, 1986, when technical staff at power plant reactor number 4 tried a poorly designed experiment. The reactor exploded and sent massive amounts of radioactivity into the environment. Today, in 2016, there is a plan to soon start a £600 million replacement shelter that is designed to last 100 years. The concrete structure of the shelter will be able to be dismantled and keep the radioactivity in.
The Story:
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It was our first day of going to clean up in Chernobyl. My teammates and I were here because we wanted to help. After we found out that this disaster in Chernobyl occurred, my team sent out a formal letter informing the government that we wanted to help and that we had the equipment to do so. I worked in the State Aviation Research Institute and, as a part of our aviation research, we had invented some costumes that collected less dust than normal clothes. They were specially designed for this kind of work. The issue with dust is that it could become radioactive and stay in people's clothes even after they left Chernobyl. This means that the radioactivity would infect them and their families with terrible illnesses.
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Our costumes wouldn't stock up dust whilst they were in Chernobyl, so the radioactivity would not stay in them and infect people with illnesses. We had come to use them and help out cleaning up the radioactivity. After we got off a plane at the Chernobyl airport, a private bus drove us to a closed-off security area not too far away. From there, a car was supposed to drive us to the area of the power plant. We waited for half an hour. Nothing. We waited for an hour. Nothing. Where was the car? I asked the security men if I could use their telephone to call the company. My two teammates listened along as I talked to the car company. I explained who I was and that we were waiting for the car.
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"Your car left to get you around an hour ago." The car company spokesperson told me. I was confused."Well it hasn't arrived yet." I told him. "We'll send another car." The spokesperson told me before hanging up the phone. My teammates and I sat down We waited for half an hour. Still no car. "There's no place to sleep here." One of the security men told us. "You should go soon." Then, we got a call from the car company. "We found out that your car had a malfunction halfway through its trip." The spokesperson explained. "You'll have to drive to it." "Drive what?" I asked. "We don't have a car." "Then you'll have to walk." The spokesperson said again. We talked for a while longer and he told me which way we had to go.
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My teammates and I grabbed our equipment and began the journey. I wondered how long we would have to walk before the car caught up with us. I looked around at the area. 'Chernobyl still looks like a city,' I thought to myself. But it was empty. All the houses, all the parks, empty. Everything had been abandoned. We began walking past a forest. We weren't allowed to go inside of it because of the radiation, but even from outside the forest was quite eerie. Huge pine trees were scattered all over, with pine auburn-coloured needles up to 40-50 cm long sticking out of them. I walked past the forest, talking to my teammates and suddenly a thought came into my mind. Something is missing out here.
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There were no sounds of wildlife. There were no birds chirping. Because there were no birds. There wasn't any wildlife in the forest. As beautiful as it may be, the forest was empty, just like the rest of Chernobyl. Not long after we passed the forest, our car came for us. We got in and drove over to the area of the power plant. There, we got registered and given our uniforms. We met with the other workers and got shown the equipment we were going to use. After that, we went to check in at the small hotel we were going to be staying in. By the time we got organised, it was already night time. As I fell asleep I was worried about the next day and what would happen.
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At first, I was terrified. Terrified of a weapon that could destroy everything in it's sight and still be invisible to the human eye. The scariest thing was that you would never know when the radioactivity would get you. I think everyone working there felt that way. But as we started working, the fear started slowly fading away. It stopped being so sharp. Instead of fear came understanding. An understanding that we can try to fight this enemy as best as we could. Then, the trips became more like ordinary work. Everyone would do what they could, and together the progress would be huge.
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My regular work consisted of all kinds of different things. Sometimes I would fly with some colleagues and we would measure the radioactivity in the air. Other times I would be on the ground, measuring radioactivity and cleaning it up in areas around the power plant. Of course, one of the main goals being there was to also test the suits that were protecting people from the radioactive dust. After I came home, the idea of being in Chernobyl was still stuck in my head. In Chernobyl, we weren't allowed to walk off the roads on grass. Back at home, I was walking with one of my colleagues and we were specifically walking in circles around on the concrete so that we wouldn't touch the grass. 11
Then, we realised that the grass wasn't radioactive and we started laughing. We laughed for a long time. I made so many memories in Chernobyl even though I was not there for a very long time. I figured that after Chernobyl, my life probably wouldn't be the same. Such events change the perspective of a person and they make one value life and the beauty of it much more.
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Planning The
Story
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About the author: Alisa Popova was born on the 15th of February 2004 in Moscow, Russia. She is currently living in Istanbul, Turkey. Alisa has lived in three different countries, Australia, Russia and Turkey. She has two younger step-brothers and one younger step-sister. Alisa enjoys reading, photography and listening to music. She wrote this story for her grandfather, who willingly risked his life to help Chernobyl.
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Bibliography:
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“Map of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.” A Brief History of Chernobyl, vegcrew.com/chernobyl-history/.
Soldiers erecting exclusion zone sign at Chernobyl. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 25 May 2016. http://quest.eb.com/search/132_1308449/1/132_1308449/c ite. Accessed 20 Nov 2016.
Abandoned house in Belarussian village in Chernobyl nuclear radiation zone. Photo. Britannica ImageQuest. http://quest.eb.com/search/167_4052375/1/167_4052375/c ite. Aerial view of Chernobyl power station. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 25 May 2016. http://quest.eb.com/search/132_1307291/1/132_1307291/ci te. Accessed 20 Nov 2016. Chernobyl disaster. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest. http://quest.eb.com/search/132_1303322/1/132_1303322/ci te. Popova, Alisa Vladislavovna, and Vladimir Glukhovskiy. “Interview for Historical Narrative.”
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