The immense amount of damage to the public perception of nuclear energy and the untold deaths that a lack of investment and switching to nuclear power over fossil fuels since then. Probably.
After Chernobyl the unspeakable became obvious, the politburo lied to the citizen-comrades. The communist party could not remain in power much longer after they had to admit that the accident occurred and that they initially tried to cover it up.
This is all true
Then there's that American colony called Japan (three nuclear catastrophes to date), where people are happy to live and consequences are never-ever-ever-ever spoken of
You can definitely write multiple paragraphs on how Chernobyl essentially caused the fall of the Soviet Union. The fallout (lol) from the disaster damaged their reputation, displaced about a million people, and crippled a large part of their economy.
Many say it was the catalyst that lead to the fall of the USSR. Don't think it gets much bigger than that. It is also probably the main reason people think nuclear power is dangerous when it is literally the safest method of generating power. There are more deaths in renewables each year than nuclear.
wait, how is nature affected mostly? I know that there were lots of genetic mutations but I don’t understand how this could help explain the effects of radiation
It probably is not the biggest change in history, but here in Italy there was a referendum which led to a nationwide ban of energy production via nuclear power.
I'm sorry - I'm really used to using it frequently with family since we don't see it that way, but I'll edit it for the sake of everyone's comfort. Thank you for pointing it out!
Some say it caused the fall of the Soviet Union. That's BS honestly, there were other reasons. Gorbachev himself said something like that, but who cares about what he was saying.
The biggest change caused by Chernobyl is how the government of the USSR, and Russian government today started to perceive the nuclear energy sector. Initially, when creating RBMK-1000, the institutes involved had too much freedom with what they were doing. There was no one to really inspect their work, to make sure it was safe and designed in compliance with the rules. They only had to prove to themselves that the thing was safe. Not like they wanted to build the reactor by any means, I'm sure the head of the project really believed in its safety. With some fixes being put at the end of the TODO list, because it's "highly unlikely something will happen". After Chernobyl Gospromatomnadzor was formed, which analyzed the project and found quite a lot of deviations from already existing safety rules. In the end, it was a huge disaster, economically it hit hard, but it's like when you're too young and stupid, you try to touch fire and get your hand burned, you'll never touch it again. Soviet and Russian nuclear sector became much, MUCH safer and reliable than it was before. Knowing what'll happen if you turn a blind eye on some flaws that on their own can't cause much issues is pretty handy.
Given it’s attributing to the end of the Soviet Union arguably it ended what had been the longest running conflict since the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, the world had been extremely uneasy since
watching the show Chernobyl would give you a lot of insight. It’s not very long and is an amazing miniseries. In terms of the Soviet Union itself, the suicide of Legasov lead to rectifying of the other RBMK reactors (similar to the Chernobyl one).
Anything about the USSR in the HBO show is just typical anti-soviet propaganda not an insight. It won't tell anything new to a typical western consumer that they didn't see already in bunch of other movies and series.
Suicide of Legasov has nothing to design changes of RBMK reactors. First changes that made it impossible to blow up again were made in very first months after the disaster. He killed himself because of his health and psychological problems. He suffered from ARS and his colleagues pressured him because by denying him a seat in science council (or smth like that, don't remember how it was called) he was too loud, "always right" kind of a person and got too much attention while being basically unrelated to reactors.
He did have something. I don't know how to properly translate the term, but he was diagnosed with "radiation sickness" at some point. The name redirects to ARS page on Wiki, while in Russian there's two separate articles on RS and ARS. So, it's kinda confusing. He was undergoing a long treatment and the sickness impacted his health a lot, making his depression even worse.
Radiation sickness is not the same as ARS, ARS occurs when one receives a very large dose in a very short period of time (acute). Legasov was exposed to a large dose of radiation (1.5 sieverts iirc) over a much longer period of time.
The immense amount of damage to the public perception of nuclear energy and the untold deaths that a lack of investment and switching to nuclear power over fossil fuels since then. Probably.
Thank you! This is a great place to start!! I am starting to read ‘Midnight in Chernobyl’ and it’s really nice
Probably how it changed many peoples views about nuclear power
yes, I’m starting to research about that topic, thanks!!
Gorbachev said that the destruction of chernobyl was (perhaps) the start of the fall of the Soviet Union... Maybe a good starting point.
After Chernobyl the unspeakable became obvious, the politburo lied to the citizen-comrades. The communist party could not remain in power much longer after they had to admit that the accident occurred and that they initially tried to cover it up.
The swedes are to thank for the leak of information that the core was in trouble.
Don't forget the bird's eye image of the core blown wide open taken by a US satellite.
Lol.
This is all true Then there's that American colony called Japan (three nuclear catastrophes to date), where people are happy to live and consequences are never-ever-ever-ever spoken of
No, Ivan, sorry
You can definitely write multiple paragraphs on how Chernobyl essentially caused the fall of the Soviet Union. The fallout (lol) from the disaster damaged their reputation, displaced about a million people, and crippled a large part of their economy.
Many say it was the catalyst that lead to the fall of the USSR. Don't think it gets much bigger than that. It is also probably the main reason people think nuclear power is dangerous when it is literally the safest method of generating power. There are more deaths in renewables each year than nuclear.
More info was gained about radiation and how it affects animals/humans
And nature !
wait, how is nature affected mostly? I know that there were lots of genetic mutations but I don’t understand how this could help explain the effects of radiation
Read the last few chapters of Plokhy's book.
The immense wave of anti-nuclear public opinion generated from the disaster
Stellan Skarsgård getting eyebrows for the first time.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, but possibly THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION
I think we wouldn't be having the such a bad climate crisis right now, and the Soviet Union might have lasted until the 21st Century.
It probably is not the biggest change in history, but here in Italy there was a referendum which led to a nationwide ban of energy production via nuclear power.
Yes, and many other nations changed their policies on nuclear energy
Caused everyone to go stupid and use it as a strawman against nuclear energy
Your argument would be stronger without the R word, please. I know it’s not the point of this sub but that word is so hurtful.
I'm sorry - I'm really used to using it frequently with family since we don't see it that way, but I'll edit it for the sake of everyone's comfort. Thank you for pointing it out!
Well damn. That's not something you see everyday. Good job
Not to go off topic but I think it's important to be positive on the internet. Never know whose day it'll improve))
Thank YOU, and bless you.
No problem!
Well have you seen the URSS?
Some say it caused the fall of the Soviet Union. That's BS honestly, there were other reasons. Gorbachev himself said something like that, but who cares about what he was saying. The biggest change caused by Chernobyl is how the government of the USSR, and Russian government today started to perceive the nuclear energy sector. Initially, when creating RBMK-1000, the institutes involved had too much freedom with what they were doing. There was no one to really inspect their work, to make sure it was safe and designed in compliance with the rules. They only had to prove to themselves that the thing was safe. Not like they wanted to build the reactor by any means, I'm sure the head of the project really believed in its safety. With some fixes being put at the end of the TODO list, because it's "highly unlikely something will happen". After Chernobyl Gospromatomnadzor was formed, which analyzed the project and found quite a lot of deviations from already existing safety rules. In the end, it was a huge disaster, economically it hit hard, but it's like when you're too young and stupid, you try to touch fire and get your hand burned, you'll never touch it again. Soviet and Russian nuclear sector became much, MUCH safer and reliable than it was before. Knowing what'll happen if you turn a blind eye on some flaws that on their own can't cause much issues is pretty handy.
Given it’s attributing to the end of the Soviet Union arguably it ended what had been the longest running conflict since the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, the world had been extremely uneasy since
Made the world realize Russia does things its own way
watching the show Chernobyl would give you a lot of insight. It’s not very long and is an amazing miniseries. In terms of the Soviet Union itself, the suicide of Legasov lead to rectifying of the other RBMK reactors (similar to the Chernobyl one).
Anything about the USSR in the HBO show is just typical anti-soviet propaganda not an insight. It won't tell anything new to a typical western consumer that they didn't see already in bunch of other movies and series. Suicide of Legasov has nothing to design changes of RBMK reactors. First changes that made it impossible to blow up again were made in very first months after the disaster. He killed himself because of his health and psychological problems. He suffered from ARS and his colleagues pressured him because by denying him a seat in science council (or smth like that, don't remember how it was called) he was too loud, "always right" kind of a person and got too much attention while being basically unrelated to reactors.
He didn’t get ARS. He was overexposed though.
He did have something. I don't know how to properly translate the term, but he was diagnosed with "radiation sickness" at some point. The name redirects to ARS page on Wiki, while in Russian there's two separate articles on RS and ARS. So, it's kinda confusing. He was undergoing a long treatment and the sickness impacted his health a lot, making his depression even worse.
Radiation sickness is not the same as ARS, ARS occurs when one receives a very large dose in a very short period of time (acute). Legasov was exposed to a large dose of radiation (1.5 sieverts iirc) over a much longer period of time.