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This stainless-steel dome entombs the remains of the Chernobyl reactor No. 4 core.
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In fear of a nuclear attack from the United States and NATO allies, each child was issued a gas mask that was stored in every school classroom
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Decades after Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster, a community of babushkas remains, despite the severely contaminated ground, mandatory evacuations, governmental objections and the deaths of many fellow “self-settlers.”
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Photographer Michael Haritan presents “Chernobyl: Causes, Cover-up and Consequences” April 24 at the Peters Township Public Library.
A local photographer who’s made multiple trips to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant site in the Ukraine will share his images and video captured there during a program at Peters Township Public Library.
Michael Haritan of Peters Township has conducted extensive research into the 1986 catastrophe at Chernobyl. His findings will be shared as part of the program, “Chernobyl: Causes, Cover-up and Consequences,” from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 24.
“It’s a brief presentation of the three categories,” Haritan said. “That accident left a mark on the entire world as far as thinking about energy sources or resources and being responsible to the environment in case of catastrophe.”
Haritan’s presentation includes personal photos and video captured during visits to the site in Ukraine in 2016 and 2018. They provide haunting documentation of the disaster site, a psychiatric institution and an orphanage, giving audiences a rare view of the disastrous event, along with the place and the people who once worked and lived there.
On April 26,1986, improper testing at low power at the number four reactor at the plant in what then was the Soviet Union resulted in loss of control that led to an explosion and fire that demolished the reactor building and released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. As safety measures were ignored, the uranium fuel in the reactor overheated and melted through the protective barriers.
It is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in history. Many of those who responded died within days or suffered long-term health issues.
Haritan’s interest in the disaster came about shortly before a 2016 trip to Ukraine, where he was traveling to teach English to middle school children.
“I found out through my research that that was the last year that reactor sites would be viewed by anyone before it would be encapsulated by a stainless-steel dome for the world never to see again,” Haritan said. “As a photographer, I felt I could provide photos for historians of that place before it was encapsulated.”
He recalled his initial impressions.
“I just recognized the desolation, nobody around at all,” Haritan said. “What impressed me was the overgrowth of foliage, trees, shrubs and bushes, as well as the crumbling of the roads because they hadn’t been maintained in 30 years. That was my first impression, the overgrowth of nature overtaking the whole place. Our first stop was at a riverside and that’s where I saw nature at its finest.
“There were birds chirping, bugs flying and the water was calm. It looked like nothing ever happened, except a couple hundred yards away, I saw rusting barges that had been abandoned 30 years ago. It showed nature was reclaiming the land that was once inhabited by 40,000 inhabitants and workers at the Chernobyl plant.”
Due to the current Russo-Ukrainian War, Haritan is one of the last professional photographers to document the Chernobyl site.
Sydney Krawiec, the library’s program and outreach coordinator, said Haritan made a presentation at the library about five years ago and the current war has revived an interest in the subject.
“There has been a renewed interest in these nuclear disasters,” she said. “There’s also the very human piece with what’s happening on that side of the world. I think it will be an interesting program and it’s something that is not just for adults.”
Haritan has given more than 40 presentations across the country on the subject, which formed the basis of his new book, “Chernobyl: Aftermath of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster,” which was a No. 1 New Best Seller on Amazon two days after its December release.
The book includes 415 of the 8,000 photos he took during his two visits, as well as untold stories and interviews from survivors.
Copies will be available before and after the program.
Haritan has won numerous local, state, national and international awards and has produced photo documentaries of folk music and dance cultures, history, architecture and geography of Native Americans, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, along with Ukraine.
Throughout his 40-year career, Haritan has taught photography to students and enthusiasts alike, including at Washington & Jefferson College, Waynesburg University and Community College of Allegheny County, as well as the last 10 summers at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY.
Admission for the program is free. Registration is available at the library’s website, ptlibrary.org.
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