Lecture: Chernobyl exclusion zone - 30 years on
Speaker:
Entry Fee
Members: Free
Visitors: £5.00
Date and Time
19:30 -
Location
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN
Lecture Description
The world’s worst nuclear disaster took place on the 26th April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the town of Pripyat, in the then Ukrainian SSR. The battle to contain the contamination cost in excess of an estimated 18 billion roubles, and involved over 500,000 workers from across the Soviet Union. There is now a 30 km exclusion zone in effect around the plant. The effects of the disaster were felt far wider than just the Ukraine – it was only in November 2012 that the last of the sheep movement restrictions was lifted in the UK.
Early 2014, Dr. Field visited the Ukraine, spending 48 hours within the exclusion zone on a busman’s holiday. This talk illustrates what the exclusion zone now looks and feels like, 30 years on. In this talk, she will present an overview of her visit, discussing how the zone has changed over the past 30 years with little human intervention, and what it feels like to be in this extraordinary place. The overall picture is one of ‘archaeology in action’.
She will also talk about what life is like for the ‘self-settlers’ who decided to illegally return to live within the zone. This is an informal, non-scientific talk which will appeal to anyone who has a general interest in seeing how the zone has evolved since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.