Victoria Bondar remembers where she was on April 26, 1986. Living in Kiev, Ukraine, she was about 60 miles away from the city of Pripyat, home of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, when one of the reactors exploded. In the days following the explosion, local residents knew very little about what happened at the plant.
In early May 1986, Bondar’s colleagues at the Ukranian state TV channel learned that the government would soon recommend that children stay indoors due to increased radiation in the area, so the longtime journalist took action to ensure the safety of her daughter, then 8. Her daughter left the city and stayed with family for about 8 months, with a few visits from her parents during that time.
Leading up to the 30th anniversary of the explosion, the worst nuclear disaster in the world, Bondar shared her recollections of that day, what the area is like now, and her insights about the future of nuclear energy with U.S. News. (The interview, conducted via email, has been edited for length and clarity.)
You lived about 60 miles from the Chernobyl nuclear plant. What impact did it have on your life before April 26, 1986? Did you worry about the proximity of it to your home and family?
I believe very few people ever gave it another thought. So what, they are building a nuclear power plant — no big deal. The dangers of nuclear energy were known only to scientists, the professionals — not average folks. Neither my family nor my friends have ever discussed this topic.
The Soviet Union did not disclose the accident to the rest of the world for two days after it happened. At what point after the explosion did you know what happened and that the area wasn’t safe?
The disaster took place right before an important state holiday — May 1, the International Workers’ Day. It was a long, usually 4- to 6-day holiday for the citizens. When the accident happened, my family (along with many others) were away on holiday. We were visiting my parents, who lived in western Ukraine, the city of Chernovtsy. The First State TV Channel, broadcast from Moscow (at the time, there were three TV channels — two from Moscow, broadcast throughout the USSR, and one local Ukrainian channel), announced that there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, and that everything was under control. Nothing about the fire, the victims, the evacuations.
Typically, the May Day celebrations in capital cities of the Soviet republics, towns and even villages included huge parades. People would march in huge crowds in front of the podiums filled with Communist Party leaders, with the announcer proclaiming “Long live the Communist Party of the USSR” and “Long live the union of workers and farmers of our great nation!” — to which the crowds would respond with “Urra!” During the May Day Parade of 1986, everything was the same. In Kiev, the parade went on without a hitch, the weather was beautiful, families with children went to the beach and went swimming in the Dnipro River.
We returned to Kiev on May 4. I was working for the Ukrainian State TV channel, and when I went back to work, my colleagues spoke about the catastrophe in Chernobyl. They said the residents were being evacuated, radiation levels were extremely high. Everyone talked about it, but there was no official announcement. In the morning of May 6, my friends who worked for the news department told us that at 7 p.m., during the prime time news program, the Minister of Health was going to announce that people must begin taking preventive measures such as keeping children indoors and closing windows due to the heightened levels of radiation in Kiev because of the accident at Chernobyl. Everyone started getting in touch with their acquaintances who were experts in the field to ask what this meant. I called my friend Gennady Zinoviev, professor of physics, with whom I frequently worked in my job. He said: “Get your daughter out of Kiev as far as possible and as soon as possible.”
Because my father came to Kiev with us after our vacation, I called him immediately and asked him to go to the train station and buy tickets for himself and my 8-year-old daughter to take her back to western Ukraine. He had no trouble getting the tickets, but by the time he was leaving the train station, people came in droves, rushing into the train station to buy tickets because by that time the announcement was made on TV.
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What happened then for you and your family? How was your life altered by the explosion and its aftermath?
We found out about the severity of the disaster over time. Mikhail Gorbachev made a public announcement only after Sweden reported the radioactive cloud spreading from Chernobyl. And we learned about all this from unofficial sources — thanks to Radio Freedom, Voice of America, etc. These stations were not easy to find because they were blocked by the KGB [the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency]; you had to have a high-powered radio receiver to be able to access them.
For me, it was easier to find out more details because our cameramen for the news program would travel to Chernobyl and then tell us what they saw. Of course, their footage would be highly censored before reaching the airwaves. Doctor friends were recommending drinking 200g of red wine daily because it was supposed to help the body get rid of radiation. After some time, we learned that radiation negatively affects bone density, that it is dangerous for our health. We read more about Hiroshima, and the effects of the nuclear explosion on that area.
Both Soviet and Ukrainian government continued to keep this a secret. On May 9, Victory Day (another major state holiday), Kiev hosted the International Cycling Championship. Representatives from many countries canceled their participation, and rumors about what actually happened in Chernobyl were starting to spread throughout the country.
On one of the days — it was either 10th or 11th of May, I can’t remember for sure — our cameramen returned from Chernobyl and said that Dr. [Evgeny] Velikhov (a very well-known Soviet physicist), who arrived from Moscow shortly after the accident, said: “Today, our scientists saved not only Ukraine, but also half of Europe.” I can’t tell you exactly what was done, but it was only on that day, more than two full weeks after the accident, that the threat of explosion of the fourth reactor was eliminated.
I should mention that many friends and relatives from other regions called and invited children to come stay with them for the time being. For example, colleagues from Georgia and St. Petersburg offered to pay for our children’s summer camps there to get them out of Kiev.
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The summer months in Kiev were really eerie — you never saw any children; almost all of them left the city. Families did the best they could to evacuate their children — there was no help from the government whatsoever.
To say that we were scared and shaking in fear would be a lie. It wasn’t so bad. We had a lot of red wine. We even joked about it. For example, “Did you go to the doctor to get your blood tested for radiation?” “Yes, I did.” “And the results?” “The doctor said there is no blood in my cabernet.”
Did you have concerns for your health or overall well-being? Were you concerned about possible long-term illness or other effects from the radiation in the area?
There were lots of conversations about the consequences of radiation poisoning, but no one did any sort of medical testing or went to the doctor to find out how their health was affected. Of course, there were people who used mineral bottled water to make soup or who were afraid to use tap water, but overall those were mostly the very wealthy people who could afford it. I should note that the Soviet Union in general did not place emphasis on being healthy — no one thought about it seriously. I mean, healthy life style was not promoted. People went to the doctor only when seriously sick — not for preventive measures.
The consequences of radiation, of course, became more noticeable — some earlier, some later. In 1987, I became the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Studio of Documentary Films. By that time, the first documentary about Chernobyl was completed: “Chernobyl: The Chronicles of Difficult Weeks.” (This film can be found in the archives of the U.S. Library of Congress.) Its director, Vladimir Shevchenko, soon died from lung cancer. The cameramen who shot footage in the “heart” of the fourth reactor — on the roof — our good friends Yuri Bordakov, Victor Krypchenko, Vladimir Taranchenko — got really sick within the first year: neurological damage to their legs, issues with their lungs, other illnesses.
By the way, the film was sent to Moscow for review (all films went through the censorship review first in Kiev and then in Moscow), and the filmmakers received 94(!) correction requests. Even a year later, the truth could not be told.
Do you still live nearby? What is the region like now?
Yes, we still live in Kiev. We remember Chernobyl only on its anniversary. The statistics on the health effects of the radiation are not collected. Despite Ukraine being independent for a quarter of a century, many things are still very much Soviet. The mentality of that era is still strong, and the leadership of the country are descendants of former Communists and the Communist regime.
It is interesting that the city of Pripyat, the location of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, has become a popular tourist destination, especially for foreigners. Tour groups enter the 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl (which is still protected and requires a permit to enter), visit the so-called “dead city” — cemeteries overgrown with weeds, dilapidated churches — and meet some of the remaining residents who chose not to evacuate. Pictures, selfies — what a vacation!
My husband, a documentary film maker, has been looking for funding for 10 years to make a film about Chernobyl to tell the story of how nature has rebuilt itself when human invention doesn’t exist. But there is very little interest. Typically, on the eve of each anniversary, Western film crews arrive to shoot something sensational or “newsworthy” to the Western viewer.
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What was the biggest or most noticeable change in the area after the explosion?
Outside of the 30-km zone, there are no visible changes. But inside the zone, the nature has witnessed a true rebirth; lots of new (to this area) species of animals and plants are now thriving there, including the Przewalski’s (or Dzungarian) horses, a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse.
What do you think of the New Safe Confinement, the arc that will eventually slide over the top of the nuclear reactor in an effort to seal in the radiation?
This, as I would say, is a never-ending story! For so many years they’ve talked about it (although in the news we see it only during the anniversary), so many leaders have come and gone, so much money has changed hands and disappeared. … And although the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is now overseeing this project and has announced the completion of the construction in November 2017, I doubt that any of us who live in Ukraine would believe it. This has been going on for 10 years!
Do you have any advice or thoughts for anyone suffering in Fukushima or sites of other nuclear disasters?
What advice can I give? Fukushima is located in a civilized country with highly advanced new technologies. We are the country of the third world, caught in the middle of a power struggle between different oligarchs who couldn’t care less about the country whose population declined by 10 million citizens in 20 years.
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Q&A: Recalling Chernobyl, 3 Decades Later originally appeared on usnews.com
