Projects and exhibitions
 
"Certificate no. 000358/"
Photographs
Project description
Photographer
Hiring the exhibition

Project description

Chernobyl in the Ukraine became the site of the most infamous nuclear disaster accident of all. In 1986 the explosion of the nuclear reactor affected the lives of millions in Western Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine.

Starting in April 2011, at the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl-disaster Certificate no. 000358/ stresses that Chernobyl was by no means exceptional: it was just another example in a series of devastating nuclear accidents that have taken place in the last 45 years in the Former Soviet Union.

The project is very much linked to the current discussion about climate change and the need to secure our energy supply of tomorrow. Nuclear energy is being presented as an alternative to fossil energy sources. Further development of a nuclear industry will prove to be difficult without Russia.

The country plays a vital role in the nuclear industry worldwide. It is exporting its nuclear technology to developing countries such as Iran, India and Pakistan; it produces nuclear fuel for France, Germany and the Netherlands and imports nuclear waste for storage or reprocessing from countries like Taiwan, Japan, Hungary, Iran, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and China. The Russian nuclear industry however, has an appalling history of accidents and of deliberately dumping nuclear materials straight into the environment. Many of the nuclear plants still in use are unsafe and still contaminate large areas in far away places as Siberia.

Certificate describes four locations

Mayak, South East of the Urals has been the key facility for the production of weapons plutonium. Accidental and deliberate releases of nuclear waste exposed 272.000 people to high levels of radiation. It is regarded as one of the most unsafe and most polluting nuclear plants in the world. Mayak plays an important role in storage and reprocessing of foreign nuclear material nonetheless.

Semipalatinsk in Eastern Kazakhstan was the main test facility for nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union. Around 475 atmospheric and underground nuclear tests were conducted between 1945 and 1989. UNDP estimates that more than 1.2 millions people have been severely contaminated for a prolonged period.

Chernobyl in the Ukraine became the site of the most infamous nuclear disaster accident of all. In 1986 the explosion of the nuclear reactor affected the lives of millions in Western Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine. All three countries have plans to build new reactors to export energy to Europe.

Tomsk-7 in Western Siberia faced its last accident in 1993. An explosion destroyed part of a reprocessing facility spewing uranium and plutonium into the atmosphere. An area of 200 square kilometres was contaminated, several villages were evacuated. Tomsk-7 keeps on dumping high radioactive nuclear waste in the vicinity of populated areas. A second reprocessing facility is considered to deal with the increased imports of nuclear waste. There are already large amounts of nuclear waste processed from European countries.