Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
abandoned, wildlife has begun to use as habitats. Life goes on. Nature, it seems, is healing itself. Chomobyl was not just another natural disaster. It happened only because of human error. Not only was the design of the power plant flawed, but the operators made several critical mistakes. This combination produced a new kind of global environmental event that killed hundreds of people quickly. Thousands later died of various cancers, and thousands more will likely be killed by the lingering effects of widespread radioactive contami nation of air, land, and water. This manmade dis aster has produced thousands of refugees and taken vast areas of land out of productive use. Life goes on in the Zone, but it is not human life. And while nature attempts to heal itself, the future remains tainted by a terrible past. A Landsat image taken on July 26, 1992 (available from USGS), provides an interesting analysis of cesium contamination, showing zones of land contaminated with cesium-137, a radioactive isotope with a half- life of 30 years. The image shows that even though the immediate effects of radiation have dissipated as the short-lived isotopes have decayed into safer compounds, the long-lived isotopes have settled deep into the soil. They will continue to poison the plants, which are rooted in contaminated soil, for decades. Animals that eat these plants will also be exposed. Any rainwater that soaks through the soil will carry radioactivity to springs and rivers many miles away. Fish will absorb radioactive particles and any animals or people who then eat these fish will also be exposed. Another danger is posed by the vegetation that has died because of radiation. As trees and shrubs dry out, they present a fire hazard. If they bum, they emit radioactive smoke into the atmosphere. Remote sensing tools that reveal environ mental changes also reveal what some governments attempted to conceal. Perhaps, these tools and what they reveal can also provide a valuable lesson. As healing occurs in the affected areas, many gene rations from now, people will learn how to manage nuclear energy safely. Until then, every precaution must be taken to prevent another, similar disaster whose consequences may be even more severe. W orks Consulted Chernobyl, Ukraine: 1986, 1992. http://www.edcwww.cr. usgs. go v/earthshots/slow/Chemobyl. Chomobyl, Ukraine. http://www. Cochems.com/chomobyl/. ERDAS. Imagine tour guides. Global Land Use Facility, University of Maryland. http.Vglcf.uniacs.umd.edu/index.shtml. Greenwald, John. “Deadly Meltdown.” Time, May 12, 1986. Olshaniwsky, Bozhena. “Chomobyl’s realities are forgot ten.” The Ukrainian Weekly , March 17, 1996. RBMK Reactor, http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ world/russia /images/rbmk-design.gif. Shcherbak, Yuri M. “Ten Years of the Chernobyl Era.” Scientific American, April 1996. Wines, Michael. “Workers bid ill-fated Chernobyl a bitter farewell.” The New York Times, December 15, 2000 . Editor’s Note. The article was forwarded to Our Life by Iwanna Szkarupa, who is president of the Ohio Regional Council. For additional information about the author of the article, Ulyana Horodyskyj, see “Sailing to Success,” which was published in the February 2004 issue of Our Life (written in Ukrainian by Ms. Szkarupa and translated into English by Ulana Hlynsky, UNWLA Liaison for Branches at Large). We would like to thank our authors for the wonderful articles that they contribute to Our Life. W e also appreciate comments from our readers and hope that you write and share your opinions about the materials that we publish. Please forward your articles or letters to English language editor Tamara Stadnychenko c /o U N W L A headquarters. We ask that all contributors include a telephone number to allow us to acknowledge submissions and verify information. Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36-37 
38-39 
40 
