Did you know that the Chernobyl nuclear reactor was in Ukraine and not Russia?
As if things aren’t bad enough for the brave Ukrainians under attack from Putin’s forces, the horrific threat of nuclear strikes has been raised in the last few dreadful weeks. Catastrophic damage to the mothballed Chernobyl site and fifteen other nuclear plants in Ukraine is a real possibility (1).
Here in Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, and the Borders, many people have first-hand experience of the fall-out from the 1986 Chernobyl explosion.
In the wake of the disaster, radioactive particles became locked in upland peat and accumulated in grazing sheep. I was told by a retired policeman friend from Lockerbie with farmer friends in Thornhill that everyone was advised not to eat produce from any o local farms – or even their own gardens.
The consumption of lamb from the Southern Uplands was banned for decades afterwards. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) placed controls on 9,800 UK farms and it wasn’t until 2010 that controls were finally lifted in Scotland. It was even later in Cumbria, just across the border (2).
I have a friend who remembers being 5 months pregnant and living on a farm. Heavy rain was falling and her then husband went outside to bring the beasts into the byre as advised. Later that day, both he and his boss had burns on the tops of their ears.
A farmer she knew died and others have since been diagnosed with cancers many believe were related to the radiation. She told me of a local creamery going on double time to make UHT milk but knew of folk who’d already drunk the contaminated milk or given it to their children.
Someone else who worked at a local power station remembers the heavy rain setting off the particle alarms. A man who was a fire officer at the time remembers Geiger counters being recalibrated because the radiation levels were ‘off the scale’.
I lived in Lancaster before moving to Galloway and I remember bundling my toddler in from the rain in a panic as I listened to Radio 4 news.
Of course, our thoughts today are first and foremost with the people of Ukraine. We join with others to call for an end to hostilities and a diplomatic solution as quickly as possible.
But the risks to life and health from any kind of nuclear accident cannot be ignored and an escalation of the current conflict leading to destruction on an unimaginable scale should nuclear warheads be launched, is a terrifying prospect. Especially here in Scotland with nuclear weapons being kept at Trident in Faslane.
Nuclear weapons don’t keep the peace, they are illegal under international law (3) and no country should have them.
Neither, I believe, is nuclear power the answer to our energy needs.
It’s time to invest in resources that offer hope towards a more peaceful and sustainable future.
Clare Phillips, Dalbeattie
Beyond Nuclear International, 2022. Ukraine’s reactors at risk. [online] Beyond Nuclear International. Available at: <https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2022/02/27/ukraines-reactors-at-risk/> [Accessed 22 April 2022].
BBC, 2012. Post-Chernobyl disaster sheep controls lifted on last UK farms. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-18299228> [Accessed 22 April 2022].
ICAN. 2022. ICAN. [online] Available at: <https://www.icanw.org/> [Accessed 22 April 2022].