This morning, as my daughter and I sat in our aging Volvo stopped in traffic, I saw that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had moved its headquarters to Rockville, Md. The facility is on a section of Rockville Pike (MD 355) that I don’t normally drive. But I do recall construction going on in that area for years. Now I know who is the tenant.
Anyway, the NRC headquarters prompted a discussion with my daughter about nuclear power plants and radiation and the role the regulatory agency plays in trying to ensure nuclear facilities are safe. I gave her the example of Chernobyl and what bad things can happen because of radiation contamination.
What I failed to realize then: The 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is this week, April 25-26. Chernobyl.info has some interesting material specific to the 20th anniversary. Medact recaps an April 2006 report assessing health consequences of the Chernobyl disaster; a UN Radio item puts perspective on the report. Additional information: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Voice of America and United Nations and Chernobyl, among many other places.
Unfortunately, many informational Chernobyl 20th anniversary Websites are quite political, using the disaster as a platform either for nuclear power (e.g., consequences aren’t as bad as predicted) or against it (e.g., harm is worse than forecast). I’m taking no political position on this one. But I will stake out a humanitarian position, particularly as I live in the world’s most materialistic societies and, among the so-called free nations, perhaps the most isolationistic. We can and should do more, and we should have assisted more in the past. The Chernobyl 20th anniversary is opportunity for America and its citizens to do the right thing.
Late this afternoon, BoingBoing linked to heartbreaking photo essay, “Nuclear Nightmares: Twenty Years Since Chernobyl“.
Photo Credit: Henrik Ismarker
Update March 19, 2017: Most links removed because they’re dead; photo changed.