Forty years on from the world’s worst nuclear explosion at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, #BBCWorldService examines what led to one of the most catastrophic man-made environmental disasters in history. Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM The events of April 26th, 1986 had far reaching effects - leading to the contamination of large parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and ultimately hastening the collapse of the USSR. Jordan Dunbar travels to Chernobyl forty years later, speaking with people who were there on that fateful day and have never spoken to international media before - including two ‘liquidators’ tasked with the perilous job of cleaning up the aftermath of the nuclear disaster, as they meet and relive the extraordinary events they experienced. In this documentary, Jordan asks what we can learn from the events of that day, and examines why so much of what happened was hidden from the world. 00:00 The world’s worst nuclear accident 01:50 Entering Chernobyl’s toxic landscape 02:25 “An optimistic place”: Life before the disaster 04:27 The last couple to marry in Pripyat 05:48 Safety test on the night of the accident 07:20 “It was like an earthquake” 08:44 “The soldiers had gas masks”: The morning after 10:34 Newlyweds' first dance as Chernobyl becomes radioactive 12:00 "Attention, attention!" Pripyat is evacuated 13:22 Soviet authorities reveal there has been an accident 14:07 First responders are underprepared for scale of the accident 15:46 Hundreds of thousands of ‘liquidators’ brought in to clear radioactive material 20:27 The human cost 21:20 An attempted Soviet cover-up? 22:50 Inside 'haunting' unit four control room as it is today 24:15 Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine: Chernobyl is a battleground again 26:55 “We care about freedom”: An existential battle for Chernobyl workers 🎥 Watch this film in SPANISH here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ewTlFpU0bo&t=5s In RUSSIAN here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J27i9JsRB3o In PORTUGUESE here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxR1pJycyCM 📽️ Watch more investigative documentaries from our award-winning BBC Eye investigations team at this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz_B0PFGIn4fa8LK1lptsvoA_spfJhzda 🎞 You may also be interested in watching these documentaries: https://youtu.be/Pxozxj03l18 https://youtu.be/y7ruSvJfn_g https://youtu.be/z4-koO916Gk https://youtu.be/Y5wajKa4iz8 https://youtu.be/pf8arQ03-lc ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽 https://www.instagram.com/bbcworldservice Twitter 👉🏽 https://twitter.com/bbcworldservice Facebook 👉🏽 https://facebook.com/bbcworldservice BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio Thanks for watching and subscribing! #Documentary #Chernobyl #ChernobylDisaster #Ukraine #Russia #BBCWorldService #WorldService
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The people working to contain the radiation are heroes.
I already watched the TV series and endless docos about Chernobyl. Will I watch this one? Absolutely.
In Sweden, 1200 km northwest of Chornobyl, all daycare centers and schools were warned long before the Soviet citizens were warned. Swedish children in the densely populated areas north of Stockholm were not allowed to go outdoors after researchers conducted control measurements of sandboxes and soccer fields and found them contaminated. My wife was pregnant, and had to stay indoors for a month so as not to risk birth defects. Despite the Swedes, always as critical, complaining that the government did not inform them sufficiently and considering how many millions of Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles faced significantly worse risks but were not told anything due to the arrogance and ignorance of the paranoid Kremlin, the whole thing is a good illustration of how totalitarian states value human life.
Dude that facemask isnt doing alot for you
“You didn’t see graphite. You didn’t! Because it’s not there!”
What struck me the most was the Dr talking about how any literature that might have helped had been removed and how they were kept in the dark completely on what to do to help their patients. WHY WHY WHY
Lots of girls with thyroid problems were born all over Eastern-Europe (Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary) because of the radioactive clouds. I konow it's not the worst that can happen to one, but an entire generation is affected and this health issue follows us throurg our lives. I find it utterly evil from the Russians that they are targeting the power plant and deliberately trying to poison civilians again.
11:39 ”50000 people used to live here. Now it’s a ghost town”
Well done! This conclusion shall be heard far and wide
How ironic that the newly weds started a new chapter of their lives on the same day their entire town ended
The fact that russians hit with a drone the 2,2 billion euro structure that protects the reactor and was funded by the international community, it´s sad and shows the real danger that europe is facing from the east
Over 800 russian soldiers were evacuated for radiation poisoning after digging those defensive positions. The russians didn't even tell their soldiers the ground was still contaminated.
If you read the booChernobyl Prayer: Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, people already told their stories about Chernobyl. this book clearly show how bad it was for the people living there ..... A true voice from the ones nobody hear ....
To see the radiation flashing was truly amazing... i means no disrespect ... i never knew this could be captured
Thank you, to the people protecting it. ❤
That place, if not contained, will end humanity as we all know it if we're not careful. And Putin launched a drone at the containment purely out of spite.
🇫🇷France never officially said “the radioactive cloud stopped at the German border” after Chernobyl, but officials minimized the danger while Germany warned its people. The cloud crossed France. Trust did not. Nuclear disasters are not jokes: they are human decisions, human failures, and human lives lost. Education matters! Life’s matters vote wise✅
Great work from the BBC World Service yet again!
Around just over 300 upland farms had their fields contaminated following the Chernobyl disaster. Restrictions on the sale and movement of livestock was put in place and only lifted in 2012. There are other places in the UK that suffered similar and elsewhere in Europe too. Wales, being so far west in Europe and having such contamination leading to restrictions, illustrates how devastating and massive a disaster this was. I, being a Welshman and growing up on a farm (our farm was not affected) remember the shock and fear. Little did I know that I was to experience similar again here in Japan following the March 11th, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that proved the catalyst for Fukushima Daichi to suffer its disaster. We were living in Tokyo at the time, the winds being still northerly due to the season, would potentially come our way. We were ready to evacuate at any time, but ultimately, it was not necessary. Nuclear power is a fantastic source of energy. It is also statistically very safe. However, when a disaster does occur, it is massive and takes decades to thousands of years for things to return to normal. This is why I believe that until we find a way to deal quickly, safely and properly with a 'nuclear mess' (for want of a better word), we should not be dabbling with it. The dangers are far too great.
Very good documentary !