These are two photos taken after the infamous Chernobyl nuclear accident. The photo on the left shows a classroom just outside the Chernobyl contamination circle, during a radiation drill. The photo on the right is of baby cribs at an abandoned hospital that was directly affected by the radiation caused by the incident. The photo of the students incites fear for the children affected by nuclear power. The world, especially their families, know that children represent the future, the children are who continue what came before them. The idea that all human progress up to this point could be for naught is deeply troubling, and the root of why we fear for the safety of our children. The photo on the right takes it a step further. In the film Nuclear Nightmare a non fictional movie about the effects of nuclear energy, Tatyana Lukina explains that immediately following the Chernobyl blast, over 200,000 women received abortions to prevent the likely birthing complications due to exposure to radiation. It is a haunting image that can be used to convey the message that nuclear energy has the potential to end future generations to come. Images like these have been linked to nuclear power and are part of the reason it is so controversial. Images like these cause people to fear nuclear power, but looking at the big picture, should they really?

 

To trace the start of fear of nuclear technology you have to start by looking even earlier than the Atomic Era. Nuclear Nightmare explains that during the 20s and 30s people were literally drinking radioactive water in the attempt to boost their energy. However, pretty soon studies were showing that these practices were detrimental to the users health. This was the first time of many to come that nuclear energy was less safe than previously understood.

A quick fast forward to the Atomic Era and news broadcasts through radio and newspapers are portraying atomic energy as the way of the future, and that you will be completely surrounded by nuclear fission at all times. They did this continually while at the same time explaining in great detail the potential horrors of nuclear war, shown through images of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. All these nightmares of what could happen if nuclear energy went wrong, were multiplied when suddenly the Soviets, Americas greatest enemy at the time, had the bomb. Suddenly the threat of an all out nuclear war was far too real for the American people.

For years the main association with nuclear power was bombs. Bombs three times more powerful than every bomb dropped in WW2 combined. When people thought of nuclear power they no longer thought of something that would give your hair a good shine, or brush your teeth for you, they saw the images of the heat and radiation victims in Hiroshima pushed out by the media. People were now more fearful, therefore sceptical of the products using nuclear power, including power plants, but the government, news corporations, and microwave manufacturers insisted that there was no danger to be found as long as the advised procautions were fo llowed and regulations were being met. With this, nuclear energy continued to be a regular part of daily life for the next few years.

In 1979 a movie released titled: The China Syndrome.  The China Syndrome is a thriller/disaster movie about a conspiracy to hide a potentially disastrous nuclear power plant meltdown from the public in order to save/keep making money. The film was interesting to many but it did not have it’s full impact until two weeks later, when it essentially came true.

March 28th, 1979, a nuclear reactor in Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, proceeded to meltdown resulting in a power plant accident almost identical to that in The China Syndrome. The media coverage of the event in addition to the influx of disaster moviegoers really started a controversy of the true safety of the nuclear power plants in neighbourhoods across the world.

All those opposed to nuclear energy would seemingly be proved right by the most catastrophic nuclear meltdown to date. April 26, 1986’s Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor explosion.

The Chernobyl accident resulted in the evacuation of 600,000 people from their homes in Pripyat, Ukraine. The immediate repercussions of the accident include around 40 deaths caused by either explosion or intense exposure to radiation in the reactor. The more long term, but just as lethal effects, feature cancer, mutations, and radiation sickness for those within 30 km. Similar to the articles years ago publishing images of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, images of disturbing mutations caused by the Chernobyl meltdown showcased the dark side of nuclear power. Chernobyl was the turning point where the public took nuclear power out of the clean energy category and placed it right next to nuclear warfare.