I was 16 when it happened. I did not know much about the world, but I knew about the Soviet Union and I knew about nuclear weapons. The meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Energy Plant was one of the earliest global events I understood. But, in many ways I did not, and still do not understand or even comprehend it all.
It has become popular in some areas to video and photograph the city of Pripyat that was abandoned after the Chernobyl accident. I remember the accusations hurled toward the Soviets and how they covered up the story, so that the outside world would not know what was happening. Meanwhile, nearby residents are still trying to understand what the radiation did to their bodies and their families. I heard about the news on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. In my home, the local news came on at six, when we ate supper, CBS News came on at 6:30, and NBC News came on at 7:00. We never watched ABC, that station was not quite local enough. This is how we received our news. Cable did not come to my area of the county until a couple of years later. The fact that I remember this event tells me that this was a significant event in my life. There were not very many events that I remember, but I remember this. It was important. The story involved our enemy and their use of nuclear energy. Honestly, it was a scary time, and this was a sad event during that time.
It all happened 30 years ago, on 26 April 1986.
Photo: Wikipedia.com Ferris wheel in Pripyat, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine.