30 years on, Chernobyl worker remembers the aftermath

AFP, VYSHGOROD, Ukraine: Igor Magala can still remember the metallic taste he got in his mouth as he drove up to the Chernobyl nuclear power station on the morning of April 26, 1986. The night before, Magala—the deputy construction boss at the plant—had received a phone call telling him there had been an accident and summoning him in to help, but he had few other details. Now as he approached the area he found it crawling with soldiers.
“At the beginning there was no information at all—everything back then was classified as secret,” Magala, now 78, told AFP as he stood in the main square of his hometown just outside the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
“I thought that I was coming for a week, but it turned out that I had to stay there a year.”
Magala did not know at the time, but several hours earlier the plant’s reactor number four—which he had helped to build—had exploded during a safety test.
While the Soviet authorities were desperately trying to prevent news of the catastrophe leaking, clouds of poisonous radiation were already spewing out—and the reactor itself was glowing.
“There was a red pillar of light and at night it was especially visible,” Magala said. “It shone red for several days.”
Magala was one of the very first of some 600,000 people who became known as “liquidators”—mostly soldiers, police, firefighters and state employees—dispatched by Moscow over the next few years to try to clean up the fall-out.
“There was no protective gear—that all came later,” Magala said. “There was just a sense of duty.”
For those working at the site in the immediate aftermath of the disaster there were more pressing concerns.
Experts worried that radioactive material could leak into a safety pool under the reactor and cause a second, more powerful explosion that would threaten the millions of people living in Kiev, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the south.
That May, Magala and 10 other volunteers were handed the task of using special equipment to drill through the two-metre thick wall of the safety pool to check.
After working for four days the team were relieved to find that their worst fears were unfounded.
“When we cut the hole through it turned out that it was all quiet, peaceful and calm there,” Magala said.
“We did not need to evacuate Kiev.”

30 years on, Chernobyl worker remembers the aftermath

AFP, VYSHGOROD, Ukraine: Igor Magala can still remember the metallic taste he got in his mouth as he drove up to the Chernobyl nuclear power station on the morning of April 26, 1986. The night before, Magalathe deputy construction boss at the planthad received a phone call telling him there had been an accident and summoning him in to help, but he had few other details. Now as he approached the area he found it crawling with soldiers. At the beginning there was no information at alleverything back then was classified as secret, Magala, now 78, told AFP as he stood in the main square of his hometown just outside the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. I thought that I was coming for a week, but it turned out that I had to stay there a year. Magala did not know at the time, but several hours earlier the plants reactor number fourwhich he had helped to buildhad exploded during a safety test. While the Soviet authorities were desperately trying to prevent news of the catastrophe leaking, clouds of poisonous radiation were already spewing outand the reactor itself was glowing. There was a red pillar of light and at night it was especially visible, Magala said. It shone red for several days. Magala was one of the very first of some 600,000 people who became known as liquidatorsmostly soldiers, police, firefighters and state employeesdispatched by Moscow over the next few years to try to clean up the fall-out. There was no protective gearthat all came later, Magala said. There was just a sense of duty. For those working at the site in the immediate aftermath of the disaster there were more pressing concerns. Experts worried that radioactive material could leak into a safety pool under the reactor and cause a second, more powerful explosion that would threaten the millions of people living in Kiev, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the south. That May, Magala and 10 other volunteers were handed the task of using special equipment to drill through the two-metre thick wall of the safety pool to check. After working for four days the team were relieved to find that their worst fears were unfounded. When we cut the hole through it turned out that it was all quiet, peaceful and calm there, Magala said. We did not need to evacuate Kiev.