Definition
The events that took place on 26 April 1986 at the nuclear power station located in the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (now the Ukraine), near Kiev, are acknowledged as one of the worst nuclear accidents to date (Yankovska & Hannam, 2014). Basic facts about the situation that preceded the accident and the subsequent fallout and impacts of the event are widely documented, but still contested. Over the past three decades a significant volume of work has been reported on this anthropogenic hazard and its ramifications for humankind and the environment. More recently, there have been a number of narrative accounts of the disaster, documentaries, and the HBO dramatization “Chernobyl.” The imagery of Chernobyl as a place, as a representative symbol of potential for disaster and damage, is powerful and enduring. Moreover, the nuclear accident itself has succeeded the meaning of Chernobyl as a place (Goatcher & Brunsden, 2011).
Introduction
The events that took place on...
References
Alimov, R. (2008, April 25). Russia gathers for nationwide protest against ‘new Chernobyls’. Bellona, online source. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2019. Available at: https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/nuclear-russia/2008-04-russia-gathers-for-nationwide-protest-against-new-chernobyls
Baverstock, K. (1998). Editorial: Chernobyl and public health. British Medical Journal, 316, 952. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.316.7136.952.
Baverstock, K. (2011). Editorial: Chernobyl 25 years on. British Medical Journal, 342, d2443. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d2443.
Beale, C. (2019, April 30). Has the Chernobyl disaster affected the number of nuclear plants built?. The Guardian, online source. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/30/has-chernobyl-disaster-affected-number-of-nuclear-plants-built
Bentley, M. (2018). Immersive ruin: Chernobyl and virtual decay. In Ruin Porn and the obsession with decay (pp. 181–200). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Chernobyl Children International. (2019). United Nations General Assembly Creates April 26th “Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day” Following Adi Roche’s Historic Address, 9 December 2016, online source. Retrieved on Dec 15, 2016. Available at: https://www.chernobyl-international.com/united-nations-general-assembly-creates-april-26th-chernobyl-disaster-remembrance-day-following-adi-roches-historic-address/
Dawe, A., McKeating, J., Labunska, I., Schulz, N., Stensil, S.-P., & Teule, R. (2016). Nuclear scars: The lasting legacies of Chernobyl and Fukushima. Amsterdam: Greenpeace.
Đorđević, D. (2015). Chernobyl disaster – A view from the decision-making perspective. February, online source. Retrieved on Nov 29, 2019. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/39274565/Chernobyl_Disaster_-_a_View_from_the_Decision-Making_perspective
Gessen, M. (2019, June 4). What HBO’s “Chernobyl” got right, and what it got terribly wrong. The New Yorker, online source. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-hbos-chernobyl-got-right-and-what-it-got-terribly-wrong
Goatcher, J., & Brunsden, V. (2011). Chernobyl and the sublime tourist. Tourism Studies, 11(2), 115–116.
Nuclear Energy International. (2019). Chernobyl accident and its consequences: Factsheet, May 2019, online source. Retrieved on Dec 15, 2019. Available at: https://www.nei.org/resources/fact-sheets/chernobyl-accident-and-its-consequences
Orizaola, G. (2019, May 13). Chernobyl has become a refuge for wildlife 33 years after the nuclear accident. The Conversation, online source. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-05-13/chernobyl-has-become-refuge-wildlife-33-years-after-nuclear-accident
Osborn, A. (2016). Locals eating radioactive food 30 years after Chernobyl: Greenpeace tests. 9 March, Reuters, online source. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2019.
Raphael, B., Meldrum, L., & O’Toole, B. (1991). Lessons of Chernobyl. British Medical Journal, 303, 1347. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.303.6814.1347.
Roth, A. (2019, August 4). Fears of ‘Chernobyl on ice’ as Russia prepares floating nuclear plant. The Guardian, online source. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/04/russia-floating-nuclear-power-station-chernobyl-on-ice
Sample, I. (2011, 26 April). Chernobyl lessons missed because of research gaps, says radiation expert. The Guardian, online source. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/26/chernobyl-lessons-missed-research-gaps
Stone, P. (2013). Dark tourism, heterotopias, and post-apocalyptic places: The case of Chernobyl. In White, L., & Frew, E. (Eds.), Dark tourism and place identity: Managing and interpreting dark places, (pp. 79–93). London: Routledge.
Valaskivi, K., Rantasila, A., Tanaka, M., & Kunelius, R. (2019). Temporal affordances in the networked remembering of Fukushima. In Traces of Fukushima (pp. 39–58). Singapore: Palgrave Pivot.
Wikipedia contributors. (2019). Russian floating nuclear power station. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia. 24 September, online source. Retrieved on Dec 14, 19. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russian_floating_nuclear_power_station&oldid=917666259
World Nuclear Association. (2019). Nuclear power in Russia, online source, updated on December 2019. Retrieved on Dec 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-o-s/russia-nuclear-power.aspx
Yankovska, G., & Hannam, K. (2014). Dark and toxic tourism in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(10), 929–939.
Further Reading
Harper, K. M. (2001). Chernobyl stories and anthropological shock in Hungary. Anthropological Quarterly, 74, 114–123.
Perez, J. R. (2009). Uncomfortable heritage & dark tourism at Chernobyl. In Merill, S., & Schmidt, L. (Eds.), A reader in uncomfortable heritage and dark tourism (pp. 31–47). Cottbus: Brandenburg University of Technology.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Insch, A., Loughran, I. (2020). Chernobyl Disaster, 26 April 1986. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_23-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_23-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-13895-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-13895-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Political Science and International StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences