{"id":7164,"date":"2019-05-01T18:07:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T22:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=7164"},"modified":"2019-05-04T08:12:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T12:12:46","slug":"illuminated-through-a-new-hbo-miniseries-chernobyl-remains-a-focus-of-the-dangers-of-nuclear-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=7164","title":{"rendered":"Illuminated Through A New HBO miniseries, Chernobyl Remains A Focus Of The Dangers Of Nuclear Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Adi\u2008Roche and Ali Hewson<\/figcaption><\/figure>More than 33 years ago, the world\u2019s worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant \u2014 near Pripyat, a town situated in northern Ukraine in what was once the Soviet Union. <\/p>\n

Back then, during those two days of April 25th and 26th, 1986, the plant\u2019s collapse caused radiation-laden gases to heave into the atmosphere saturating the area for hundreds of miles around. <\/p>\n

In order for the plant to not explode or deteriorate further, volunteer first-responders, firemen and such, headed into the irreparably damaged region and basically sacrificed their lives recieving life-destroying radiation doses to prevent a further world-threatening nuclear holocaust.<\/p>\n

As a result, tens of thousands of people were exposed to radiation poisoning and\/or cancers later on. <\/p>\n

Now, over three decades later, HBO is broadcasting \u201cChernobyl\u201d \u2014 a dramatization of the unimaginable nuclear disaster which released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine; it illustrates the true story of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe. <\/p>\n

On its anniversary, the United Nations served as the appropriate place to celebrate the miniseries\u2019 release on May 6th and its presence as part of the Television track of the Tribeca Film Festival.<\/p>\n

Co-hosted by Adi Roche\u2019s Chernobyl Children International and the Irish, Belarusian and Ukrainian missions, the UN Chernobyl event offered an Irish response. <\/p>\n

Praised by Roche, who, with actress Jessie Buckley addressed United Nations on April 26th 2019 \u2014 the 33rd anniversary. Ireland\u2019s President Michael D. Higgins, and T\u00e1naiste Simon Coveney expressed support for the victims; the charity\u2019s founder Roche spoke at the UN as well that afternoon.<\/p>\n

At a poignant commemoration, ahead of HBO and Sky\u2019s new \u201cChernobyl\u201d world-premiere, the CEO called for international recognition and a Nobel Prize nomination for the 700,000 plus first-responders to Chernobyl, known as Liquidators. <\/p>\n

As she outlined, \u201cThe Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to men and women, to international groups who have made the world a safer place to live \u2013 and nobody in the world worked harder and paid a higher price to try to make our world a safer place to live in\u2026than the Liquidators who fought to contain the Chernobyl meltdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Permanent Missions of Belarus, Ukraine and Ireland to the United Nations, in collaboration with Chernobyl Children International hosted the event to honor the victims and recognize the cast and crew. To that, Roche gave her approval. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible. It\u2019s going to be a game changer for this story which has been forgotten and airbrushed out of history. The President of HBO was with us there. And there are three Irish actors in it \u2014 Jessie Buckley, who\u2019s amazing. She\u2019s from Killarney, beautiful young woman. Then you have Richard Harris\u2019 son, Jared Harris, he\u2019s in it. And Barry Keoghan, he\u2019s in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckley plays Lyudmilla Ignatenko whose husband, Vasili, was one of first responders to the explosion at the Nuclear Power Plant in 1986.
\nHe subsequently died at the age of 25 as a result of the lethal levels of radiation exposure. <\/p>\n

Jessie recited a testimony of Lyudmila at the poignant, CCI-led event that afternoon. An exclusive 20-minute preview was played before a minute\u2019s silence observed in memory of Chernobyl\u2019s victims. <\/p>\n

HBO became aware of Roche and her organization, so they reached out. Explained the 60+ veteran: \u201cSky and HBO came to me and we started talking because I knew a lot of the people who are represented in the film. I helped on the periphery with an understanding of the people involved and the situation in general. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s based on a book by a dissident journalist from Belarus named Svetlana Alexievich. She won a Nobel Prize for literature and one of her books was \u2018Voices from Chernobyl\u2019 \u2014 the show gets its inspiration from that. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe brought HBO to the UN and I made the proposal to the UN and then negotiations with the Ukrainians and Belarusians.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the activist further emphasized, \u201cI\u2019m making this call to the world at the UN that the world will remember the liquidators and fire fighters because the series is very much based around their heroism \u2014 we\u2019ve been trying to tell their story all these years. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 750,000 of them that were conscripted at the time to do horrendous…. We want them nominated for their intercession which was unparalleled in human history and their self sacrifice kept Europe alive, basically. Tens of thousands of them have died.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1991, this former Irish nurse founded Chernobyl Children\u2019s Project International in response to an appeal from Belarusian doctors for aid. <\/p>\n

Previously a volunteer in a nuclear disarmament group, Roche got this fax which read \u201cSOS appeal. For god\u2019s sake, please help us get the children out.\u201d <\/p>\n

Inspired to take action, Roche set up a small workspace in a spare bedroom of her home, organizing a rest-and-recuperation holiday for a few of Chernobyl\u2019s surviving children. <\/p>\n

Recruiting Irish families to welcome and care for them, CCPI began there in 1991 and expanded into the United States in 2001; in 2010, it changed its name to Chernobyl Children International. <\/p>\n

Along the way she recruited such personalities as Ali Hewson, wife of U2\u2019s Bono to join the effort.<\/p>\n

\"\"For over 30 years, CCI has worked with communities in Belarus and Ukraine to address the ongoing medical, social, economic, genetic and environmental consequences of the disaster. <\/p>\n

CCI provides sustainable medical and humanitarian aid to the affected regions, infusing over \u20ac105 million since 1986. <\/p>\n

Though the power plant accident happened over three decades ago, the charity still has to advocate and give voice to the victims focusing on the need to assist the second and third generations who have inherited a deadly legacy known as Chernobyl Lineage. <\/p>\n

Eminent Belorussian scientist Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky has shown that radioactive elements pass from the mothers to their unborn children, proving that Chernobyl\u2019s fallout is a cross-generational problem. <\/p>\n

Over its lifetime, CCI has grown and is now the single largest contributor to Belarus and the Chernobyl survivors. <\/p>\n

It works closely with the Belarusian government, the UN and thousands of volunteers in Ireland, Belarus and worldwide to support the children and the wider community. <\/p>\n

It also acts as an advocate for the rights of those affected by the explosion, and engages in research and outreach activities to encourage the world to remember the victims and understand its long-term impact.<\/p>\n

Explained Adi, \u201cThere was shock and horror and huge emotion when we premiered the five-part series at the United Nations. This is a raw truth telling. No airbrushing, no convenient answers or messaging. This is just the truth and it\u2019s in the words of the people themselves. It\u2019s extraordinary. I think this will be the most significant TV series of our age. I believe it is that strong. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are giving justice and honor to the survivors that have been forgotten. Disasters fade from the public consciousness, fade from headlines, fade from the TV screens, but the reality doesn\u2019t fade away. And with Chernobyl because it\u2019s an unfolding everlasting tragedy that\u2019s not going anywhere because it\u2019s in the air and the water, and the DNA. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what this message is about. It\u2019s a cautionary tale, not of the past, but of the future. This is uncovering of the lies and deception.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the start theSoviet Union and now its successor state, Russia, acts like they\u2019re not responsible now. \u201cOf course, that happened very quickly. It was a culture of denial and saying it\u2019s over even though it\u2019s locked into nature and human nature. I spoke to the General Assembly 2016, which is rare since I\u2019m not a diplomat or a politician, just a concerned citizen of the world, and they changed the regulations of who can speak to the general assembly for me so I could speak on behalf of the victims and survivors. My one plea was that there would be a Chernobyl Remembrance Day and they implemented it six months later. And the anniversary was on Friday.\u201d
\nTo meet the agency\u2019s auspicious and urgent goals, the series offers some valuable awareness-building. <\/p>\n

Noted Adi, \u201cThis series articulates things like never before. We\u2019ve all seen the documentaries, I\u2019ve made enough of them myself, but this is a new way of telling the story with fresh eyes, fresh ears, a fresh heart, and hopefully with fresh solidarity and that will hopefully tell it to a new and wider audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the white wash continues; even now there are tour operators trying to bring people to the ghost towns of the region.
\nWhen that was mentioned to Roche, all she said was, \u201cIt\u2019s sick. We should leave the place as a monument to man\u2019s destructive capability, not use it as a playground.\u201d <\/p>\n

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