Walls of Ignorance
Protocol of a Disaster
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Immediately after the accident at Chernobyl, scientists recognised the enormous public health hazard confronting them. The politicians acted according to the motto: “Don’t panic!” They covered up the extent of the disaster and blocked protective measures. Only the accumulation of overwhelming evidence and public pressure changed this approach. Nonetheless, scientists with contrary views were dismissed. Several of them set up a public network of local monitoring stations for measuring radiation parallel to the state’s system. Vasilii Nesterenko, one of the protagonists in this story, reports first hand.
(Osteuropa 4/2006, pp. 27–38)