We go deep inside the Chernobyl nuclear-power plant and the surrounding exclusion zone, recounting the history of the accident on April 26 1986, and speaking with plant workers who were on shift that day. A pre-eminent Chernobyl historian discusses the lessons learned and yet to be learned from the disaster. And we consider the science still being done at Chernobyl.

In 2024 “The Weekend Intelligence” went to Ukraine to consider the aftermath of the Russian invasion and occupation of Chernobyl, and then of the Zaporizhia nuclear-power plant. What we found was an industry that had no expectation that could even happen, and nothing of a plan when it did. Listen here.

Guests and host:

• Serhii Plokhy, historian, Harvard University
• Olena Pareniuk, radiobiologist, Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants
• Jim Smith, environmental scientist, University of Portsmouth
• Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered: 

• Chernobyl nuclear-power plant, history
• nuclear safety, nuclear-energy policy
• radiation exposure, radiobiology, radioecology 

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