Safety and humanity are interrelated phenomena within the context of the Chornobyl disaster. These conditions are necessary for the life and coexistence of people and therefore understood by everyone but not always fully realized. During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, due to the loss of the basic need and value of security, the public consciousness is undergoing an accelerated transformation of the memory of Chornobyl, which motivates the current generation to take responsibility not only for the past but also for the present and future.
On April 26, 2024, on the International Chornobyl Remembrance Day, a thematic event “Safety and Humanity. Memorial Day on the 38th Anniversary of the Chornobyl Disaster”.
For the event, the library staff prepared video presentations and a book exhibition “Chernobyl... Tragedy... Memory”.
The event was attended by students of different years, the most numerous and active were the students of the Faculty of Management and Business Design with their teachers – lecturers of the Department of Smart Economics Yevheniia Khoustova, Doctor of Economics, Professor, and Polina Puzyriova, Doctor of Economics, Professor.
The event began with a video presentation of Lina Kostenko’s poem “Chornobyl-2” performed by the author. The employees of the Scientific and Technical Library – Head of the Collection Storage Department Liudmyla Krekhova, Heads of the Information and Bibliographic Department and the Information Technology Department Oleksandra Chepilko and Olena Kotvitska – introduced the students to official documents and materials from the period of Chornobyl design, construction, and operation, as well as the official response of the authorities after the accident. Almost all of the documents presented to the students were classified as “secret” by the KGB of the USSR and serve as evidence of the criminal actions of the authorities of the communist regime of the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR.
The accident at Chornobyl Nuclear Power Unit 4 occurred on April 26, 1986, during design tests of one of the safety systems, and was the largest disaster in the history of nuclear energy. It claimed the lives of thousands of people and caused irreparable damage to the environment.
Back in 1986, science did not give a complete picture of the real scale and power of the nuclear accident. The main thing was to save as many people as possible. The first hours of the accident were spent by firefighters and ChNPP personnel. They did their job in unrealistic radiation fields. On April 27, the city of Prypiat, located 3 km from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, was completely evacuated. On May 2, a decision was made to evacuate the population from the 30-km zone of the Chornobyl NPP and other settlements that were exposed to radioactive contamination. Subsequently, by the end of 1986, about 116,000 people were resettled from 188 settlements (including Prypiat). Volunteers were engaged in rescuing people and eliminating the consequences of the accident. They saved people at the cost of their lives, teaching future generations humanity, courage and bravery. Our gratitude to the liquidators is to remember the heroes of Chornobyl and their great feat, not only for Ukraine but for all of humanity.
The extensive historical information of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory about the moment of the disaster and its liquidation, the scale of the accident and the reaction of the Soviet authorities will be useful for those who want to learn more about the Chornobyl tragedy.
The Chornobyl disaster had an impact on the artistic movement in Ukraine and the world. When there are not enough words to describe a tragedy, art conveys the scale of grief with its own means. Artistic works began to appear immediately after the accident, as early as 1986: plays, poetry, books, documentaries and feature films, music, paintings ...
The students were impressed by the works of the People’s Artist of Ukraine Maria Prymachenko dedicated to Chornobyl. The artist herself has lived all her life in a village not far from the station. She let this grief pass through her heart and her work, creating unforgettable fantastic images of the nuclear threat. The titles of her paintings speak for themselves: "The Chornobyl disaster did a lot of harm", "The fourth reactor is forever in the memory of the people. And for mothers – great sadness", "Who knows no fire, has no pity", "This bird flies, looking for her son. But he is nowhere to be found. His body is scattered all over Ukraine", "I dedicate flowers to the victims of the Chernobyl reactor", "This is how I dreamed about the fourth power unit".
At the meeting, the names of films, books, and original songs about Chornobyl, as well as the names of artists, poets, and film directors, were mentioned. A significant number of publishing and visual products of the scientific, educational and artistic genre are devoted to understanding the Chornobyl accident. We mentioned “Chornobyl. A Chronicle of Hard Weeks” (1986), the first film about the disaster, which began shooting two weeks after the accident. The Ukrainian documentary filmmaker, Volodymyr Shevchenko, managed to win permission to shoot. He and his team spent a hundred days at the station alongside the liquidators. Tens of thousands of meters of footage were later heavily filtered by Soviet censors, but the film was released and showed the truth about Chornobyl. The film itself has become not only an important chronicle of events but also one of the symbols of the tragedy, as Volodymyr Shevchenko died of radiation sickness a month after the premiere.
Among those present at the event were witnesses of the events of April 1986, which were "ordinary" for ordinary citizens - some of them were studying at school or university. Memories and life stories filled the meeting and only emphasized the tragic nature of this event. The "exclusion zone" – the experience and knowledge of something dangerous, deadly, and harmful – has appeared in the minds of every generation of Ukrainians.
38 years have passed since the largest man-made disaster of the last century - the Chornobyl tragedy. However, the issue of safety and humanity of nuclear energy use in the 21st century remains as relevant as ever.
To prevent similar accidents in the future, on December 15, 2000, ChNPP's activities as an electricity producer were terminated. Nowadays, the Chornobyl NPP is preparing for complete decommissioning.
The accident severely undermined public confidence in nuclear power. From 1986 to 2002, not a single nuclear power plant was built in the world.
In December 2016, the UN General Assembly proclaimed April 26 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Chornobyl Disaster. Every year, commemorative events and exhibitions about the Chornobyl tragedy are held on this day.
Today, Chornobyl is a place that has experienced the second disaster in a row. The second was the invasion of Russian troops in 2022. The Russian invaders seized the Chornobyl nuclear power plant on February 24 and liberated it on March 31.
The struggle for life, independence, and security continues.
Ukraine's nuclear facilities are constantly defending themselves against Russian attacks. Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, has been under temporary occupation for 785 days. Unfortunately, the threat of nuclear terrorism has become relevant to the world again.
At the end of the meeting, the students' attention was focused on ethical issues of science and technology. In particular, they talked about the impossibility of getting rid of the human factor, the use of nuclear energy to meet people's domestic needs, environmental benefits compared to other energy sources, and the inherent risks that may manifest themselves in the form of a nuclear disaster with global socio-ecological consequences, as it was in Chornobyl.
In connection with a number of pressing issues related to the current state of nuclear energy and nuclear safety research in the context of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine, problems related to the use of nuclear energy encourage modern states to think about creating technologies for the production of elements of nuclear reactor control and protection systems. At the same time, they need to manage the development of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.
The Chornobyl tragedy gave impetus to a serious review of the safety culture. But are the conclusions after this tragedy convincing and effective enough!
The purpose of the event "Safety and Humanity" on the occasion of the International Chernobyl Remembrance Day was to inform students about the scale of the Chernobyl disaster, to educate them in environmental awareness, critical attitude to historical events, to instill love for nature, native land, and to awaken empathy.
From the heart of our university family, we honor the memory, express our gratitude and respect to the heroes-liquidators of the Chornobyl accident.
02.05.2024
