The accident
On 26. April, 1986 an accident occured regarding the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine that became one of the biggest nuclear disasters in history. The explosion inside the nuclear reactor caused the reactor building to collapse sending radioactive material in to the air which formed a radioactive cloud that stretched across Europe.
Communism and communication
After the World war 2 Ukraine became a satellite state of USSR. Every political and any other decisions for Ukraine was formed and orchestrated from the Soviet Communist party and Moscow government. In a communist type state there is no open communication: media, companies and organizations are under control of the goverment, so the biggest nuclear disaster in history became one of the biggest PR disasters which also had consequences on peoples health, opinions and fears almost 32 years later.
„HOW NOT TO PR“
Ukraine and the Russian officials didn’t officially announce the accident until they where forced to by Sweden who measured high radiation readings on April, 28th. The first public announcement about the accident was aired 36 hours later on the local radio in Pripyat (a town near the nuclear power plant) at the start of evacuation. A soviet news agency „TAS“ had released first informations 67 hours since the disaster occured. A security zone was established around the disaster area and journalists were not allowed to visit or report from disaster site. The first few official statements that came days after the accident said that everything is under control. After the acident, the Soviet government said they didn’t want to create panic but they have opened Pandora’s box which had created suspicion, media sensationalism and panic across Europe and the World. The citizens in Europe where left between hammer and the anvil: on one side, Soviet propaganda which was trying to cover up and white wash everything, and on the other side the „West“ world media which created public opinion from second hand sources that were often misleading. All things considered, a nuclear disaster is the worst disaster on that can happen, so the general public has the right to know about the risks of Nuclear power plants and how to behave and protect themselves in case of a nuclear accident.
Written by: Tomislav Tomašković
Sources:
http://www.penelopeironstone.com/Rubin.pdf
Photo:
https://www.cbrneportal.com/living-in-a-radioactive-world/
counterspill.org/disaster/porter-ranch-gas-leak