The Harsh Reality
Note: This page is an opinion and not necessarily fact. Some of the arguments made in this page may be based on fact, but please be aware that they are the opinion of the author. We have included this page because we felt that it made a strong statement both for and against many of the arguments that are the result of the Chernobyl disaster.
Chernobyl represents many things to many different people. To some, it represents everything that is wrong with a socialist government and its ideals. To others, it is the epic failure of modern technology and the realization that humanity is tinkering with forces that it may not be able to control. There is a harsh reality that we, as humans and as inhabitants of this earth, must learn to face.
There are so many issues that are touched on by Chernobyl that it would be impossible for any single person to qualitatively summarize and present in an accurate and efficient way. Elena Filatova has done an excellent job in producing high-quality photographs and commentary on how Chernobyl looks now, and there are dozens of other sources that have produced a few meaningful words on the subject as well.
But none of that, aside from what Elena touches on lightly in her books, truly shows us (and by us we mean man-kind) what that harsh reality actually is. Some might say it is the realization of our vulnerability as a species, while others may simply leave it at a technology failure and never give it a second thought.
In fact, the harsh reality that has been forcibly presented to us is that human life, accomplishment, and capability is finite. Humans are not godly in an manner, and our successes are eclipsed by our failures. We may never master nuclear power, cold fusion, or any other alternative forms of energy, and perhaps our species was never meant to.
Let us hope that we do not repeat our previous mistakes.
Our Reliance on Technology
The circumstances that led to the meltdown of reactor number four are laughable. The fact that the reactor exploded during a safety experiment is not only ironic, but iconic in its own right. In all of our efforts to make our forays into the unknown safe, we are still completely at the whim of forces far greater than us.
This is shown most clearly by our reliance on technology. Everything from airplanes to our electrical supply is controlled by modern technology, and while there is nothing wrong with that from a progressive point of view, there is always the possibility that the technology in question will fail. If anything, the incident at Chernobyl simply proves that the impossible can happen.
If the Chernobyl power plant was a coal-fired power plant you can bet that no one would be muttering its name over twenty years later. That kind of technology is established and “safe”. Nuclear power, however, is still maturing, and the consequences of failure are much more severe than with a fossil fuel. After all, when gasoline burns it doesn’t release radioactive cesium into the atmosphere and surrounding area.
Nuclear power, as we’ve seen, does.