Suspilne releases exclusive archive footage of the Chronobyl NPP following the 1986 disaster
Suspilne has released exclusive archive video footage of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant following the 1986 disaster, reports the broadcaster's press office.
It was uploaded to the platform "Suspilne Media Library" on the occasion of the International Chornobyl Disaster Remembrance Day and the International Remembrance Day for Victims of Nuclear Accidents and Disasters.
The archive is a series of reports for the program "Aktualna Kamera", filmed in the year of the tragedy and stored on tapes. The Suspilne team working with the archives digitized the footage.
"The footage of a reporter hovering over the destroyed power plant in a helicopter is some of the most impressive archive material we've come across recently. The reporter is not wearing any protective gear. We found out later that it was Valeriy Makarenko and Oleksandr Yurchenko from the Kyiv TV studio who were the first to film the destroyed plant. The crew got there semi-legally, and, as Valeriy himself recalled afterwards, it was a breakthrough in the media blockade around the real situation with the Chornobyl disaster," says Taisia Turchyn, head of the project for digitizing the Suspilne archives and of the "Suspilne Media Library".
The footage also features people dealing with the aftermath of the disaster, shots of the plant and its premises after the accident.
The released material includes an interview with the emergency responder Anatoly Shevchenko, filmed with the destroyed reactor on the background; a conversation with the first shift foreman Dmytro Ponomaryov, filmed at the control panel of the TV station for monitoring the installation of an assembly system in the reactor.
The helicopter footage taken by the journalists shows the destroyed building of the fourth power unit. You can hear the pilot talking and watch the reconstruction crew manager meeting with the reporters.
Today, April 26, is the International Chornobyl Disaster Remembrance Day and the International Remembrance Day for Victims of Nuclear Accidents and Disasters.
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