One year and one month after Gorbachev was appointed General Secretary of the CPSU and two months after the 27th Congress of the Party, the Chernobyl reactor 4 accident occurred due to human error. The events are chronicled in the HBO miniseries which has garnered the best audience reviews in IMDB history, reaching a 9.6/10 (an all-time record for a TV series).
"Chernobyl" is the largest nuclear accident in history, the only one measured in category 7 of the international nuclear accident measurement scale along with the Fukushima accident in Japan (2011).
In the video below, see how radioactivity spread over Europe from April 26 to May 9, 1986:
The government commission investigating the accident, headed by Valery Legasov, arrived in Chernobyl on the afternoon of April 26. By then two people had lost their lives and 52 were in hospital. On the night of April 26-27, more than 24 hours after the explosion, the committee, faced with overwhelming evidence of extremely high levels of radioactivity and a number of cases of radiation exposure, was forced to admit the reactor's destruction and order the evacuation of nearby city of Pripyat.
The admission came officially from the USSR side with a telegram from the state agency TASS.
The evacuation began at 2:00 pm on April 27. To reduce baggage, residents were told that the evacuation was temporary, lasting about three days. As a result, personal belongings still remain in Pripyat, while residents never returned to their homes.
On May 3, 1986, the then secretary of the Moscow party organization Boris Yeltsin described the human error that caused the accident.
In the days following the nuclear accident, 28 firefighters and reactor workers lost their lives due to the effects of radioactivity.
The front page of Rizospastis highlights the fact that the KKE and the Soviet Union were playing down the danger, or if you like, they were responding to the respective "western" front pages.
The relevant news of "Rizospastis" (but also of "Protis") was based exclusively on Soviet sources, as reported by Ios. Of course, we cannot ignore the subsequent self-criticism that the KKE has made regarding its overall attitude during the period of Perestroika.
However, the PASOK government at the time was on the same line of complacency.
The front page of Vima as we caught it from the blog of Nikos Sarandakos below.
In terms of news, the first detailed report from the USSR side was published in Pravda newspaper ten days after the accident, with the newspaper appearing reassuring to avoid panic.
The Americans through the press gradually admitted that the number of dead in the days after the explosion was in the single digits and not in the double digits as originally written, however let us note here that the results and the health effects with the increase in cancers, is something that has not yet be explored in its entirety.
AP photo below. The Dailymail spoke of 2,000 dead. The other British newspapers were on the same line.
The radioactive cloud passed over our country, while based on scientific research it seems that there was also an increase in rare infant leukemia in Greece, while in the same period a steep increase in abortions was observed due to the fear of effects on fetuses.
"From Karpenisi to Karditsa, Katerini, Kilkis, from Thessaloniki to Halkidiki and Florina, the concentrations of -radioactive- cesium still reach 65 kilobecquerel per square meter, when the danger limit, according to the scientists, is not "exceeds 5 kilobecquerel" characteristically wrote the NTUA professor, Simos Simopoulos, in a survey published by Nea on April 1, 2006.
How the explosion was announced in Greece by ERT:
The political confrontation of the time between PASOK and ND is also reflected on the front page of the Postman of Volos (May 10, 1986). Reference is also made to the speeches of scientists in town halls and schools, with the opinions expressed at the time being contradictory.
See also the front page of May 11 from the same newspaper. Here we have the announcement of the Hellenic Energy Commission which reassured the world, while the incidents with the clashes on the march related to nuclear by leftists and anarchists are also recorded.
The Russians are filming their own series
It is noted that the HBO series has caused reactions among Russians, with the Russian state television announcing yesterday that it is starting to shoot its own series about the events.
Of course, the new series that will be shown by NTV will essentially be the answer to the production of the corresponding series on HBO.
The director of the Russian version of "Chernobyl" is said to be directed by Alexei Muradov.
The Russians in addition to the recorded and undisputed facts intend to add a story of their own according to which a CIA agent was inside Chernobyl on the day of the explosion.
"One theory claims that the Americans had infiltrated the nuclear power station, which many historians have not denied. On the day of the explosion at the enemy station, an agent of the enemy was present," Muradov characteristically told the Moscow Times, although he did not there is tangible evidence, only reports of speculation and controversial information which have not been cross-referenced to date.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Russian Ministry of Culture will contribute almost $463,000 to the production of the series.