With only days before Easter day in 1986, on May 2, Romanians got the
\nnews of a terrible nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union. The accident had
\nhappened a week before, on April 26, 1986, an accident which the USSR cynically
\nacknowledged on April 28, without offering any additional information. It what
\nwas about to go down in history as the worst civilian nuclear catastrophe on
\nrecord: the explosion at Chernobyl disaster.<\/p>\n
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The impact of the news on Romanian society was toned down by the
\nauthorities’ fixation for secrecy, the poor communication with the population
\nand the existing confusion over the upcoming holiday. Apart from the Easter
\ncelebrations, May 7 was a very anticipated day, when Romania’s football champions,
\nSteaua Bucharest, was about to play the Spanish champions FC Barcelona in the
\nEuropean Champion’s Cup final. Technical details about the accident and its
\ntragic outcomes are widely known today. Ioan Stanomir, Professor at the Faculty
\nof Political Sciences at the University of Bucharest, has provided insight into
\nthe communist regime’s secrecy:<\/p>\n
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This secrecy was less acute than the years preceding Mikhail Gorbachev’s
\nascension to power. The Soviet Union at the time was facing a number of difficulties.
\nAs many historians have pointed out, reforming a vulnerable system will only heighten
\nits vulnerabilities. For the Soviet Union, wrapped in its cloak of
\nall-conquering science, acknowledging a catastrophe was tantamount to
\nacknowledging a scientific, economic and political failure. <\/p>\n
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The inconspicuous actions of the Ceau\u0219escu regime followed in the
\nfootsteps of the USSR, its ideological big brother. The authorities in
\nBucharest followed Moscow’s decisions, and made the announcement to the population
\nlater, nearly a week after the Chornobyl incident occurred. We asked Ioan
\nStanomir why Ceau\u0219escu, who was known for his anti-Soviet discourse, decided to
\nmake the decision so late: <\/p>\n
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Let’s assume Ceau\u0219escu was anti-Soviet. Yet he was a Stalinist first and
\nforemost, and as such he understood that disclosing such information could open
\nhis dictatorship to vulnerabilities. And Nicolae Ceau\u0219escu himself, as the head
\nof this communist regime, ad a special propensity for secrecy. Therefore, his
\ndistinguished Soviet colleagues could only confirm his suspicions regarding
\ntransparency. Why was transparency needed? The incident had to be kept secret in
\norder for the Soviets to be able to cover up the catastrophe. Ceau\u0219escu sometimes
\ngot caught in a mythical aura, as if he himself was a Robin Hood of communism.
\nYes, he was a Robin Hood, endorsed by the police. And in key moments he kept
\nquiet and never underlined the boss’s authority. <\/p>\n
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Romania had its own nuclear program in Cernavod\u0103, started in late 1970,
\nwhich provided for the import of French-Canadian technology at high safety
\nstandards. Ioan Stanomir. <\/p>\n
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Romania’s nuclear program was not conceived with the Soviets, due to Ceau\u0219escu’s
\nmegalomania. There were some suspicions over the reliability of the Soviet
\nnuclear system. Fortunately for Romania, Nicolae Ceau\u0219escu wanted his voice to
\nstand out in the Russian gulag, and thus preferred to work with the West. Let’s
\nnot forget that our neighbors in Bulgaria had a piece of Soviet nuclear
\ntechnology at the plant in Kozloduy.<\/p>\n
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Chernobyl also brought about political changes. Ioan Stanomir. <\/p>\n
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As regards Romanians’ perception, there was hardly anything that could deepen
\nthe state of collective depression in Socialist Romania in the 1980s. The
\ncommunist state took minimal measures. Beyond that, the people, famished and
\nimpoverished, was trying to put up some resistance. At the level of Central and
\nEastern Europe, it is clear the Chernobyl catastrophe only heightened the
\nimpression that the Soviet Empire was built on economic backwardness and brute
\nforce, none of which would recommend it as a power to be reckoned with in the absence
\nof coercion. <\/p>\n
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Any historical event also comes with lessons to be learned. Ioan Stanomir. \n<\/p>\n
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It’s clear that the Chernobyl disaster also marked a test of courage for
\nthe people involved. The people who fought to contain the terrible fire ended
\nup sacrificing their lives. It is to them, not Soviet authorities, that we owe whatever
\nlives have been saved. At the same time, today we can see astounding images of
\nwhat the Chernobyl reserve looks like. After the explosion, the site became an
\nexclusion zone. Still, animals have started reinhabiting the area. It resembles
\nTarkovsky’s films, and I particularly refer to ‘Stalker’. The area is now populated
\nby wolves, foxes and wild horses, and is untouched by man. It’s basically a utopic
\nend of the road. Man disappears from the image, leaving behind a nature that
\nhas forgotten about its existence. <\/p>\n
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The Chernobyl disaster 35 years ago is an example of man’s recklessness
\nand nature’s regenerative power. (V.P.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chernobyl was the worst civilian nuclear disaster in world history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":131229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42891,31366,35494],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-chernobyl-nuclear-disaster","tag-nicolae-ceausescu","tag-romanian-authorities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n