1
00:00:06,0 --> 00:00:09,5
Prof. Ivan Nikitchanka – academician of
the Belarusian Academy of Sciences,
deputy Minister of Agriculture in 1986,

2
00:00:10,0 --> 00:00:13,5
involved in clean-up operations after
the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster.

3
00:00:14,0 --> 00:00:23,0
I think it’s a sign – “People, be careful!
You’ll destroy yourselves!”

4
00:00:23,5 --> 00:00:30,0
You need to be smart enough to see it,
which is not the case here yet.

5
00:00:30,5 --> 00:00:33,5
Chernobyl hit not just Belarus,
but the whole world.

6
00:00:34,0 --> 00:00:38,5
Nastas’sia Piatrouna – Geiger counter specialist,
involved in clean-up operations after
the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster.

7
00:00:40,0 --> 00:00:44,5
What kind of advice can I give?
Just live your life and enjoy it, 

8
00:00:45,0 --> 00:00:49,5
and death comes anyway.
If you weren’t born, you can’t die…

9
00:00:53,0 --> 00:01:00,5
I’ve never been afraid or in any danger.
I never was on the first day, and I’m not now.

10
00:01:16,0 --> 00:01:20,0
ONLY BELIEVE THE WIND
Chernobyl, 20 Years After

11
00:01:31,0 --> 00:01:34,5
Kamaryn, Local Veterinary Clinic

12
00:01:40,0 --> 00:01:44,5
My working desk is over there…

13
00:01:45,0 --> 00:01:47,0
How often do you measure radioactivity levels?

14
00:01:47,5 --> 00:01:51,0
50-70 times a month, about 1000 a year.

15
00:01:52,0 --> 00:01:59,5
Look, this is my work here.

16
00:02:01,0 --> 00:02:05,5
The radioactivity level depends
on the kind of mushroom.

17
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The cleanest are the lamellar funghi –
puffballs, honey fungus and russulas.

18
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But chanterelles and ceps are “dirtier”.

19
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First I weigh them.

20
00:02:29,0 --> 00:02:33,5
Then I shut them inside the device. 

21
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It’s a kind of lead “house” to stop
the outside environment from influencing them.

22
00:02:40,0 --> 00:02:45,5
And now we measure them.

23
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Yes, these mushrooms are fresh…

24
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If you boil them in salty water,
a third of the radiation will go away.

25
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They say that if you boil them 5 times and
pour the water away, they’ll be almost clean.

26
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But they’ll hardly be mushrooms at all
after such processing!

27
00:03:20,0 --> 00:03:24,5
You might as well just throw them away!

28
00:03:25,0 --> 00:03:29,5
There are two villages 10km from here,
called Upper and Lower Zhary. 

29
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Near Lower Zhary, the mushrooms are clean.

30
00:03:36,0 --> 00:03:37,5
They’re clean near Lower Zhary?

31
00:03:38,0 --> 00:03:42,5
Yes, they’re clean. If you have
the opportunity, you can go there.

32
00:03:43,0 --> 00:00:45,5
Thanks a lot.

33
00:03:46,0 --> 00:03:51,5
The blueberries are much cleaner there too…

34
00:03:53,0 --> 00:03:56,5
Your mushrooms are a bit cleaner – 1034.

35
00:03:57,0 --> 00:04:01,5
But it should be the other way round.

36
00:04:04,0 --> 00:04:07,5
Now I’m measuring dried mushrooms.

37
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I measure them too… The cycle repeats.

38
00:04:15,0 --> 00:04:20,5
Multiplied by 10,000 equals 10,300.
That’s the radioactivity level.

39
00:04:23,0 --> 00:04:26,5
This was not the first disaster of its kind.

40
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There was once a terrible accident
and radioactivity leak in
the Chelyabinsk region in Russia.

41
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But that was in the Siberian taiga.

42
00:04:38,0 --> 00:04:41,5
They already knew what ought to be done.

43
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Radiobiology Institute in Borovsk
was dealing with such problems;

44
00:04:46,0 --> 00:04:49,5
and we had consultants from there.

45
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But that was only a month
after the accident had happened…

46
00:04:56,0 --> 00:04:59,5
We knew that people should be
protected first of all.

47
00:05:00,0 --> 00:05:07,5
For that, we bought clean food products.
Meat from the Netherlands,

48
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milk from the Baltic Republics and Finland,
flour… We gave people safe food.

49
00:05:15,0 --> 00:05:20,5
Even hay was brought in for the cattle,
but that was pointless

50
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because, during transportation, it got covered
in contaminated dust, just like the local hay.

51
00:05:40,0 --> 00:05:43,5
Should I twist them this way, or that way?

52
00:05:45,0 --> 00:05:48,5
Straight after the accident there was
a lot of confusion and disorder.

53
00:05:49,0 --> 00:05:51,5
No one knew about the radiation.

54
00:05:52,0 --> 00:05:56,5
If it had a colour or smell,
people might have taken precautions.

55
00:05:57,0 --> 00:06:04,5
With the Ministry of Health and Belarusian
Hydrometric Service, we (the Ministry of Agriculture)

56
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formed flying radioactivity intelligence squads
to offer on the spot situation evaluations.

57
00:06:13,0 --> 00:06:19,5
We could only get approximate figures
using civil defence helicopters.

58
00:06:20,0 --> 00:06:26,5
They’d draw lines on our maps,
this many milliroentgen here, and this many there.

59
00:06:37,0 --> 00:06:44,5
This is it, this one’s bad…

60
00:06:50,0 --> 00:06:56,5
It was “freedom”…

61
00:06:58,0 --> 00:07:08,5
Every evening a KGB man would take my work notes
away, then bring them back in the morning.

62
00:07:09,0 --> 00:07:12,5
That’s what kind of freedom it was.

63
00:07:15,0 --> 00:07:20,5
Now we’re driving on the edge of the Zone.
To the left is the Zone, and to the right we can live.

64
00:07:21,0 --> 00:07:24,5
Of course, that’s purely theoretical.

65
00:07:25,0 --> 00:07:27,5
You can live on the right-hand side,
but on the left you can’t.

66
00:07:28,0 --> 00:07:32,5
And no-one lives there anymore.
There’s nobody from here to Chernobyl.

67
00:07:33,0 --> 00:07:37,5
This land belonged to the collective farm
where I worked.

68
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After the accident, we moved the villagers
from the left side over to the right.

69
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Imagine what it was like to move people
from one side to the other.

70
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And the main thing is that we only had
1.5 days to do it in.

71
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We were ordered to remove everyone
and everything in 1.5 days.

72
00:07:54,0 --> 00:08:00,0
For all we knew, it could have exploded again.
Yet, we sat there and waited for 6 days.

73
00:08:00,5 --> 00:08:05,5
So we moved the people from one side of the road
to the other, from this side to that.

74
00:08:06,0 --> 00:08:12,5
We also had to match people up psychologically –
the alcoholics with the alcoholics,
independent people with independent people.

75
00:08:13,0 --> 00:08:17,5
11 people were living in my house.

76
00:08:20,0 --> 00:08:24,5
No-one knew that there was no shaft
underneath the reactor for it to fall into.

77
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We thought the reactor had got stuck,
and that’s why it hadn’t fallen.

78
00:08:31,0 --> 00:08:37,5
Only when the metro tunnel-builders went in,
did it become clear that there was no shaft.

79
00:08:38,0 --> 00:08:43,5
It’s good they drained off the “heavy water”
and there was no explosion…

80
00:09:01,0 --> 00:09:05,5
On the right is the road to Bragin,
and up ahead is the Zone.

81
00:09:06,0 --> 00:09:10,5
You see –
“Palessie State Radiation Ecology Reserve.
Entrance and exit by permit only."

82
00:09:11,0 --> 00:09:17,5
"Fires, hunting and fishing prohibited.”
This is where the Zone begins.

83
00:09:22,0 --> 00:09:25,5
How do people perceive it now,
psychologically?

84
00:09:26,0 --> 00:09:29,5
Now they take it calmly.
Absolutely no reaction.

85
00:09:30,0 --> 00:09:34,5
But before… Just imagine,
we didn’t know anything back then.

86
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Now we’re literate. We’ve learnt how to fight
radiation, how to work and protect ourselves.

87
00:09:39,0 --> 00:09:42,5
In the early days we knew nothing.

88
00:09:43,0 --> 00:09:46,5
I had so much trouble with
the collective farm cattle.

89
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How we used to wash them before
they went for slaughter. My God!

90
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In the first year, radioactive fallout
would settle on their skin,

91
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so it made a difference if you
washed them before measuring.

92
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We measured them with a device
like the one I have now.

93
00:10:04,0 --> 00:10:07,5
It can measure cattle while they’re
still alive, to show whether
their meat is edible or not.

94
00:10:08,0 --> 00:10:12,0
When we washed the cattle,
the radiation level would drop.

95
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But in the first years the
“admissible levels” were high as well.

96
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We were prepared to evacuate everyone
along a line through
Mahiliou-Kirau-Chocimsk-Babrujsk…

97
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To leave everything behind
and move the people Northwards.

98
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I don’t know whether it would have
worked, but that was the plan.

99
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Do you know how people got back
to their homes in the first days?

100
00:10:39,0 --> 00:10:42,5
Soldiers were posted on every path
and wouldn’t let people through.

101
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So people found all sorts of tricks and
round-about ways of getting to their houses.

102
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Especially elderly people.
The young people coped with it more easily.

103
00:10:52,5 --> 00:10:59,5
My sister’s husband was 60
at the time of the catastrophe.

104
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He went to the evacuated village every day.
He was living with me, but used to go there.

105
00:11:05,0 --> 00:11:08,5
I asked him
“What have you forgotten over there?”

106
00:11:09,0 --> 00:11:14,5
But he just swore, and said
“Everything I have is there.
That’s the house I built”.

107
00:11:15,0 --> 00:11:18,5
The houses hadn’t been buried yet,
and were still standing.

108
00:11:19,0 --> 00:11:22,5
And indeed, he did die
because of the alpha-particles.

109
00:11:23,0 --> 00:11:27,5
I’m not a doctor, but that’s the conclusion I came to.

110
00:11:29,0 --> 00:11:32,5
If you lead a healthy lifestyle, and
don’t eat “dirty” food, you needn’t be afraid.

111
00:11:33,0 --> 00:11:38,5
Now, most radiation comes from food products,
or wild mushrooms and berries.

112
00:11:39,0 --> 00:11:42,5
When the guys shoot wildfowl,
they come here to get them measured.
I taught them to.

113
00:11:43,0 --> 00:11:46,0
I say I won’t register it,
and I won’t tell the militia,

114
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as long as they don’t eat
any contaminated or untested food.

115
00:11:52,0 --> 00:11:55,5
This is the evacuated village of Ludvinova,
and that’s Pirki over there.

116
00:11:56,0 --> 00:11:57,5
Why hasn’t anyone stopped us?
Where’s the checkpoint?

117
00:11:58,0 --> 00:12:01,5
Who’s going to stop you?
The checkpoint’s far away, in Pirki.

118
00:12:02,0 --> 00:12:09,5
They only patrol in this area,
and if they find someone without
a permit, they give them a fine.

119
00:12:10,0 --> 00:12:14,5
And here’s another sign:
“Danger of Radiation”.

120
00:12:15,0 --> 00:12:20,0
Over there it wasn’t, but
here it’s officially prohibited.

121
00:12:35,0 --> 00:12:39,5
But it’s still alive.
Did you think it’s dead? No.

122
00:12:40,0 --> 00:12:45,5
The earth is gradually being rehabilitated,
purified, and turned back into arable land.

123
00:12:46,0 --> 00:12:49,5
The radiation level is quite low here –
25 microroentgen. That’s not so high.

124
00:12:50,0 --> 00:12:52,5
In one of Gomel's districts,
it’s 38 microroentgen.

125
00:12:53,0 --> 00:12:55,0
And what’s the normal level?

126
00:12:55,5 --> 00:12:57,0
12 microroentgen

127
00:12:57,5 --> 00:13:02,5
I wouldn’t say the death rate
is higher here.

128
00:13:03,0 --> 00:13:08,0
People die of cardiovascular diseases,
like everywhere else.

129
00:13:11,0 --> 00:13:15,0
People are giving birth to children,
but not as often as before,

130
00:13:15,5 --> 00:13:18,5
though perhaps the radiation
isn’t to blame.

131
00:13:19,0 --> 00:13:23,0
I think it’s because life
is expensive these days.

132
00:13:23,5 --> 00:13:28,5
It’s costly to raise children.
Perhaps that’s why…

133
00:13:40,0 --> 00:13:42,5
Meteorites were discovered here
in the past. Yes, meteorites.

134
00:13:43,0 --> 00:13:48,5
Now people from Moscow spend
days and nights here,
still searching for meteorites.

135
00:13:49,0 --> 00:13:55,5
They found some here,
and where we’ll be going later.

136
00:13:57,0 --> 00:14:01,5
One was found before World War II.

137
00:14:02,0 --> 00:14:04,5
By coincidence,
my uncle also found one.

138
00:14:05,0 --> 00:14:08,5
His family was illiterate and
they didn’t know what it was.

139
00:14:09,0 --> 00:14:12,5
My grandma put it on top of
a barrel of pickled gherkins.

140
00:14:13,0 --> 00:14:18,5
Then a clever man came and asked
“What kind of stone is that on the barrel”?

141
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The stone was small but very heavy,

142
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so the scientist took it away,
had a look, and saw it was a meteorite.

143
00:14:34,0 --> 00:14:39,0
A girl was herding cattle and
found another meteorite here.

144
00:14:40,0 --> 00:14:43,5
And a tractor driver dug up
another one over there.

145
00:14:50,0 --> 00:14:54,5
We haven’t learned how
to get rid of anything.

146
00:14:55,0 --> 00:15:00,5
We are storing up this
evil stuff in our bodies,

147
00:15:01,0 --> 00:15:05,5
which will affect not only the Zone,
but the whole of Belarus too.

148
00:15:06,0 --> 00:15:09,5
This is what I mean…

149
00:15:10,0 --> 00:15:14,5
Caesium attacks
the soft tissues of the body,

150
00:15:15,0 --> 00:15:19,5
but fades in a couple of months
if one eats uncontaminated food.

151
00:15:25,0 --> 00:15:29,5
But strontium, once it has penetrated
the body, is stored in the bones.

152
00:15:33,0 --> 00:15:39,5
It takes 50 years
to reach the bone-marrow.

153
00:15:40,0 --> 00:15:44,5
When it reaches the marrow,
in 30 years’ time,
then we’ll start worrying.

154
00:15:45,0 --> 00:15:50,5
It poses no threat to older people
like me, but will affect you,
my children and grandchildren.

155
00:15:51,0 --> 00:15:57,5
There’ll be a risk of mass leukaemia.

156
00:15:58,0 --> 00:16:06,5
There’ll be no red blood in the body,
and that means death from oxygen starvation.

157
00:16:10,0 --> 00:16:14,5
We should start setting up
bone-marrow banks right now,

158
00:16:15,0 --> 00:16:19,5
while people are still alive.

159
00:16:20,0 --> 00:16:24,5
It can then be used for transplants
in future when the strontium starts to act.

160
00:16:25,0 --> 00:16:29,5
It’s better for people to have
transplants of their own marrow, since
immuno-genetic factors are crucial here.

161
00:16:30,0 --> 00:16:34,5
Only certain kinds of marrow
can take root properly…

162
00:16:37,0 --> 00:16:40,5
There are grain fields on both sides here.

163
00:16:41,0 --> 00:16:44,5
Sometimes you see elk
crossing the road here.

164
00:16:45,0 --> 00:16:49,5
There’s some maize growing.
Maize is unique, by the way.

165
00:16:50,0 --> 00:16:54,5
It’d stay uncontaminated even if
you planted it near the reactor.

166
00:16:55,0 --> 00:16:59,5
I don’t know why – maize
must have that kind of structure.

167
00:17:00,0 --> 00:17:07,5
We planted some in Pirki after
the evacuation and it remained at
zero level – zero caesium or strontium.

168
00:17:08,0 --> 00:17:24,5
My main work is testing milk, hay,
forage, plant products, and animals.

169
00:17:25,0 --> 00:17:29,5
I check caesium levels.

170
00:17:30,0 --> 00:17:34,5
To check for strontium, I bring
products to Gomel twice a year.

171
00:17:35,0 --> 00:17:40,5
There, they test for whether
strontium is present or not.

172
00:17:41,0 --> 00:17:45,0
Sometimes it is.

173
00:17:45,5 --> 00:17:49,5
But I haven’t really worked with
strontium, so I don’t really know.

174
00:17:50,0 --> 00:17:54,0
Look, there’s a combine
coming back from the harvest.

175
00:17:54,5 --> 00:17:58,5
What are you filming? The combine?
Oh, that’s alright, film away...

176
00:18:00,0 --> 00:18:04,5
I’ve had all the diseases of Chernobyl.

177
00:18:05,0 --> 00:18:10,5
Since 1986, I can’t remember a single day
when I haven’t been in pain.

178
00:18:11,0 --> 00:18:19,5
All the time something hurts,
something gets operated on,
something is removed. What can I do?

179
00:18:20,0 --> 00:18:27,5
But I have 2 sons, a daughter,
2 granddaughters, 2 grandsons,
and a great-granddaughter.

180
00:18:28,0 --> 00:18:32,5
Why should they have to suffer?

181
00:18:33,0 --> 00:18:37,5
I’m suffering needlessly, but at least
I knew the possible consequences.

182
00:18:38,0 --> 00:18:42,5
I knew what radiation was when
I was helping people at the time.

183
00:18:43,0 --> 00:18:47,5
But why should they have to suffer?
And imagine how many more of them there are…

184
00:19:05,0 --> 00:19:10,5
Pirki Village. 1236 people evacuated.
May 5, 1986.

185
00:19:12,0 --> 00:19:17,5
This was the very centre of
our village, our meeting point.

186
00:19:18,0 --> 00:19:22,5
There was a club and some workers’ houses
here, and a farm over there.

187
00:19:23,0 --> 00:19:25,5
And this used to be the shop.

188
00:19:26,0 --> 00:19:28,5
So what’s the reading there?

189
00:19:29,0 --> 00:19:31,5
High.

190
00:19:32,0 --> 00:19:33,5
Can you tell me?

191
00:19:34,0 --> 00:19:38,0
450… but I’m afraid to scare you…

192
00:19:39,0 --> 00:19:43,5
This used to be the street where we lived.
Let’s go on another 100 metres.

193
00:19:45,0 --> 00:19:50,5
This is the grave of a wooden house.
It rotted and collapsed.

194
00:19:51,0 --> 00:19:57,5
The brick-built houses
haven’t fallen down yet.

195
00:20:00,0 --> 00:20:05,5
This is an elm tree. I think
this is where our neighbour lived.

196
00:20:06,0 --> 00:20:11,0
And there was a sycamore growing
in our yard. Let’s go a bit further.

197
00:20:11,0 --> 00:20:16,5
Perhaps it’s gone? I so wished
it would still be here.

198
00:20:29,0 --> 00:20:33,5
A family lived here, but now they live
in Ukraine. They were evacuated there.

199
00:20:34,0 --> 00:20:38,5
Their children came and
left flowers on Remembrance Day.

200
00:20:45,0 --> 00:20:49,5
Oh, look, this is our sycamore.
How beautiful it is!

201
00:20:50,0 --> 00:20:56,5
Can you take a nice big picture of it
and send me the photograph?

202
00:21:06,0 --> 00:21:13,5
Our house was here. My husband
really loved the sycamore.
He dreams of coming here to see it.

203
00:21:16,0 --> 00:21:24,5
There was a radiation measuring device
called a DT-5. Civil defense issue.

204
00:21:26,0 --> 00:21:30,5
I took measurements with it
and wrote 1.7 in the logbook,

205
00:21:31,0 --> 00:21:35,5
but no one could ever tell me
what those units were,
or what I was measuring.

206
00:21:36,0 --> 00:21:40,5
Still, I noted it all
down conscientiously.

207
00:21:43,0 --> 00:21:47,5
I think it was about 1700 microroentgen.

208
00:21:48,0 --> 00:21:52,5
But nobody knows the truth.
Or else they don’t want to say…

209
00:21:55,0 --> 00:22:03,5
I think the most horrible thing
about the Zone is the wasteland
and desolation. It’s depressing.

210
00:22:29,0 --> 00:22:32,5
Now this is the graveyard of
the evacuated village of Kaporanka.

211
00:22:33,0 --> 00:22:38,0
All my relatives, acquaintances,
and friends are buried here.

212
00:22:39,0 --> 00:22:43,0
20 years have passed since the village
was evacuated and dug into the ground,

213
00:22:43,5 --> 00:22:47,5
but everyone born here tries
to get buried here…

214
00:22:48,0 --> 00:22:54,5
My sister’s husband is buried
over there. The one I mentioned,
who came here after the evacuation.

215
00:22:55,0 --> 00:23:00,5
People are even brought back from
remote villages to be buried here.

216
00:23:01,0 --> 00:23:04,5
A lot of people were evacuated
to Ukraine, near Chornihiv,

217
00:23:05,0 --> 00:23:08,5
but even from there they bring
the dead back here to be buried.

218
00:23:09,0 --> 00:23:13,5
People gather here
on Remembrance Day every year,

219
00:23:14,0 --> 00:23:18,5
no matter where they’re living;
in Gomel or in Minsk.

220
00:23:19,0 --> 00:23:24,5
Everyone tries to come, and we all
pay our tributes to the dead,
and meet up with one other.

221
00:23:25,0 --> 00:23:34,5
For an hour or two, we discuss
our lives and problems, and
exchange news, bad and good.

222
00:23:45,0 --> 00:23:49,5
The graveyard is the only living place
where people can meet
in this evacuated, dead village…

223
00:23:52,0 --> 00:23:57,5
Ask in the Belarusian Radiological
Institute headed by prof. Nesterenko
about radiation levels in Minsk schools.

224
00:23:58,0 --> 00:24:03,5
If they aren’t afraid, they’ll tell you
that radiation levels in Minsk schoolchildren
are 20 times higher than the norm;

225
00:24:04,0 --> 00:24:08,5
20 times above critical level!

226
00:24:09,0 --> 00:24:14,5
What will become of them?
They’ll be handicapped, with short lives…

227
00:24:21,0 --> 00:24:24,5
This was the town of Soniechny…

228
00:24:25,0 --> 00:24:29,5
There used to be a club here,
a shopping centre there, and
the state farm office was over there.

229
00:24:30,0 --> 00:24:34,5
By the way, the farm director died
not long ago, the one who was
in charge up until the disaster.

230
00:24:41,0 --> 00:24:47,5
Firstly, I would like people to think
about the danger they’re living in.

231
00:24:48,0 --> 00:24:54,5
If they don’t care about themselves,
then they should at least think
of their children.

232
00:24:55,0 --> 00:25:01,5
Secondly, we need to insist that
the authorities uphold the law.

233
00:25:02,0 --> 00:25:10,5
The law protecting citizens who
suffered from the Chernobyl disaster
should be implemented rigorously.

234
00:25:11,0 --> 00:25:16,5
No high officials should decide whether
a settlement is no longer contaminated –

235
00:25:17,0 --> 00:25:25,5
it will never be clean, ever!
They should not be the ones to decide.

236
00:25:26,0 --> 00:25:31,5
If there’s any controversy,
it can be easily solved: the people
should be tested, not the land.

237
00:25:35,0 --> 00:25:39,5
You see, two weeks ago
we buried two people together.

238
00:25:40,0 --> 00:25:44,5
One of them was my age,
and worked as a foreman here.

239
00:25:45,0 --> 00:25:48,5
Then the chief engineer died
the next day. He was 70.

240
00:25:49,0 --> 00:25:52,5
Let’s visit their graves tomorrow.

241
00:25:53,0 --> 00:25:56,5
What did they die of?

242
00:25:57,0 --> 00:26:01,5
Heart disease, dystonia, paralysis.
In a word – Chernobyl.

243
00:26:08,0 --> 00:26:12,5
This was a kindergarten…
Now it’s gone.

244
00:26:13,0 --> 00:26:17,5
It’s awful walking around here –
what if someone were to appear suddenly?

245
00:26:18,0 --> 00:26:22,5
There’s even a towel left from
those days. It’s horrible!

246
00:26:29,0 --> 00:26:34,5
These were rooms.
Everything’s in decay now, ruined.

247
00:26:40,0 --> 00:26:44,5
Everything’s gone.

248
00:26:49,0 --> 00:26:49,0
There’s a child’s drawing
on the wall there.

249
00:26:51,0 --> 00:26:55,5
The Belarusian population
has been declining since 1993.

250
00:26:56,0 --> 00:27:00,5
It has already decreased by
500,000 people [from 10 million].

251
00:27:01,0 --> 00:27:07,5
It decreases in a geometrical progression
every year, with a coefficient of 1.5.

252
00:27:08,0 --> 00:27:14,5
In recent years:
2004 – down by 42,000 people.

253
00:27:15,0 --> 00:27:20,5
2005 – by 63,000.
In 8 months of 2006 – by 96,000.

254
00:27:21,0 --> 00:27:26,5
The Chernobyl issue should be
the priority for Belarus.

255
00:27:27,0 --> 00:27:31,5
All other issues should be
moved into the background.

256
00:27:32,0 --> 00:27:36,5
For instance, who will use
the grand new National Library?

257
00:27:37,0 --> 00:27:40,5
There will be nobody left.

258
00:27:50,0 --> 00:27:54,5
This picture’s dated 1965, when I
was working as a milkmaid on our farm.

259
00:27:55,0 --> 00:27:59,5
We were preparing forage
for the cattle.

260
00:28:03,0 --> 00:28:07,5
That was St. Peter’s Day.

261
00:28:08,0 --> 00:28:14,5
For some reason it was the custom
to hang swings on the oak
in the graveyard

262
00:28:15,0 --> 00:28:19,5
and play on them,
like a public holiday…

263
00:28:25,0 --> 00:28:30,5
These are our village lads.
Also at the graveyard.

264
00:28:35,0 --> 00:28:39,5
These are my neighbours
in our village…

265
00:28:41,0 --> 00:28:44,5
Recently they cancelled
some of our benefits:

266
00:28:45,0 --> 00:28:49,5
we only used to pay 50%
for electricity and heating.

267
00:28:50,0 --> 00:28:54,5
Public transport was free.

268
00:28:56,0 --> 00:29:04,5
Now we get just 2-weeks’ holiday
for having been in the Chernobyl
clean-up operations,

269
00:29:05,0 --> 00:29:11,5
or you can claim compensation instead.

270
00:29:13,0 --> 00:29:17,5
That doesn’t mean
the situation’s any better.

271
00:29:18,0 --> 00:29:22,5
I think the costs were too high
for our country to cover.

272
00:29:23,0 --> 00:29:26,5
You can’t save money
at the cost of people’s lives!

273
00:29:27,0 --> 00:29:30,5
But what if there’s no money
to pay for it, then what?

274
00:29:32,0 --> 00:29:37,5
We’re planning an international
conference on nuclear issues.

275
00:29:38,0 --> 00:29:43,5
They wouldn’t allow us to hold it
in Belarus, so it’ll be
in Vilnius, Lithuania.

276
00:29:44,0 --> 00:29:48,5
We also plan to address
the international community,
and even the UN.

277
00:29:49,0 --> 00:29:53,5
So maybe there will be no
Belarusians left, but others
will still be alive in this world.

278
00:29:54,0 --> 00:30:00,5
All work with radioactive substances
should be categorically rejected.

279
00:30:02,0 --> 00:30:07,5
All nuclear power plants
should be banned.

280
00:30:08,0 --> 00:30:12,5
Another way out must be found,
alternative energy sources.

281
00:30:13,0 --> 00:30:18,5
Did you know that, earlier
this year, it was decided

282
00:20:19,0 --> 00:30:25,5
that a nuclear power plant
will be built in Belarus?

283
00:30:26,0 --> 00:30:31,5
Why do we need a nuclear plant?
We haven’t recovered
from Chernobyl yet.

284
00:30:32,0 --> 00:30:37,5
And you shouldn’t forget that
nuclear waste is also a raw
material for nuclear weapons.

285
00:30:53,0 --> 00:30:57,5
What would you’ve done if
you’d been warned about the explosion?
Would you have run away?

286
00:30:58,0 --> 00:31:01,5
No, probably not…

287
00:31:02,0 --> 00:31:05,5
When it had already exploded,
we didn’t even run in the first
6 days before the evacuation,

288
00:31:06,0 --> 00:31:09,5
so I guess the forecasts wouldn’t
really have influenced us much.

289
00:31:12,0 --> 00:30:16,5
I would like to be optimistic,
I truly would…

290
00:31:25,0 --> 00:31:29,5
Look, they’re cranes!..

291
00:31:35,0 --> 00:31:40,5
They’re cranes!..
Oh, let’s drive back…

292
00:31:50,0 --> 00:31:54,5
Director
Viktar Korzun

293
00:31:55,0 --> 00:31:59,5
Cameramen
Jury Haruliou
Aliaksandar Lavysh
Uladzimier Kaspiarovich

294
00:32:00,0 --> 00:32:04,5
Sound operator
Aliaksandar Lavysh

295
00:32:05,0 --> 00:32:09,5
Editing
Dmitriy Sushchev

296
00:32:10,0 --> 00:32:14,5
Sound editor
Siarhiej Labandzievski

297
00:32:15,0 --> 00:32:19,5
Consultant
Jury Cybin

298
00:32:20,0 --> 00:32:24,5
Producer
Kasia Kamockaja