36th anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. The first explosion at 1.24 am destroyed the reactor core and the anti-radiation shield, the second one, a moment later - the reactor building. Radioactive dust was released into the atmosphere. For several days Moscow tried to hide the catastrophe from the world. On April 28, the research station in Mikołajki (Poland) recorded in the air over half a million times the activity of radioactive isotopes higher than normal. Despite Moscow’s assurances that nothing serious happened, the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland accepted the proposal to administer iodine in Lugol’s fluid in order to prevent the absorption of the radioactive iodine isotope. The administration of iodine to 18.5 million people meant that the authorities acted in the interests of the citizens, regardless of the Soviet Union’s assurances. On the personal note - Lugol was mostly available to children. I, my then-husband and a few friends got it a few days after the disaster, through a friend working in the health care system. By then it was most likely too late to have an effect.
To read : Kate Brown, Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future, W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.
(Il est sorti en français l’année dernière chez Actes Sud)
