Chernobyl, Fukushima: The Lesson

Thirty years ago – on April 26, 1986 – reactor four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, spewing out massive quantities of radiation into the atmosphere. Within days the pollution had spread across Europe. Living on land contaminated with radioactivity would be a life changing ordeal for the people of Belarus. But also for the Sami reindeer herders of central Norway. And even the Gaels of the distant Hebrides. Five years ago there was a meltdown at the Fukushima reactor – and thousands of Japanese found their homes, fields and farms irradiated, just as had happened in Europe. This international documentary to be screened on BBC ALBA – filmed in Belarus, Japan, the lands of Norway’s Sami reindeer herders, and in the Outer Hebrides – poses the question: what lessons have been learned? The film reveals that a combination of science, local lore, and the commitment of ordinary men and women, has made life possible in much of the contaminated land. The filmmakers gained unique access to nuclear experts, health officials, and the farmers, reindeer herders and crofters whose lives, land and livelihoods were in jeopardy following the two nuclear disasters. We learn that five years ago, the residents of Fukushima turned to the people who entirely understood their problem when the Japanese nuclear plant was wrecked by a tsunami – the people of Belarus. For quarter of a century, Belarusians had been evolving ways to live heathy lives and bring up healthy children in areas with higher than normal levels of radiation. They had developed a culture of public education, health care, and radiation monitoring that allows them to lead relatively normal lives. The Japanese, including young mothers, visited Belarus to learn the lessons. The first advice they got was from a Belarus mother: “Don’t panic, Japanese mothers!” International co-operation proved successful in lessening the impact of the Fukushima disaster on Japan, by show