Even before my photographic residency at the Izolyatsia Foundation in Kiev I’d become fascinated by a group of people called ‘Liquidators’. These were the people that had been sent to Chernobyl to clean up the radioactive waste exploded from reactor 4 in the early morning of the 26th of April 1986. The Liquidators went where machines failed, fighting an invisible war against the atom. I met all of these people in Slavutych which was built to replace Chernobyl and Pripyat whilst continuing to service the Nuclear Power Plant in Chernobyl. After the disaster it was decided that production of power should continue in the remaining 3 reactors whilst the Liquidators continued their clean-up and decommissioning of reactor 4. Theirs is a story of lost youth and duty to the Soviet Union in the hope that that the state would look after them in return. The Chernobyl Disaster was seen by many as a catalyst for the devolution of the USSR and these people have been left with medals and meagre state pensions. Whilst there was clear sadness in many of the stories I heard during the interviews, not one of the people I met had regret for what they’d done. Only they were aware of the greatness of sacrifice they made.
I met a group of Liquidators at The Museum of Slavutych and Chernobyl Power.
Koshevaja Halyna Ivanivna “I grew up in an orphanage. My fate was my own: if you are working somewhere, then you are responsible for that place of work."
"When the accident happened, of course, my soul was on fire because I had to watch what happened there and work out how I could be of any use.”
Sukhetsky Anatoly Kasianovich was made Head of the radiation safety monitoring service after the accident “In those days, the state had a debt to us, and we owed the state in return. We fulfilled our duty, and we knew that the state would take care of us.”
Shirokov Alexey Vitalievich aged 70 “No, I never regretted a thing. Nobody forced us to be there... I was invited to work... And the young lads – I tried to protect them... After a stroke I can hardly remember my words...”
Ivanov Valentin Vasilyevich, 80. He worked at the station for 25 years. I asked him, what did the disaster mean to you? "I can’t explain that simply... Our youth was taken, and that was it... We thought that we’d go back to Pripyat after 3 days, and we never went back."
Markin Vasily Nikolaevich, 70 “Let me tell you something, without breaking my own heart. I returned because I loved this work. Why did I not stay in Kiev? I can't live in big cities! I’m used to living in satellite towns. That’s all. That’s all the motivation...”
Yashin Evgeniy Mikhailovich, 72 “Nobody was obliged to work. I did my job. I wasn’t forced to... After the accident Pripyat was completely cut off from the country. You couldn’t send a telegram or call anyone...’
Lidiia klímova - head of the Chernobyl Veteran’s Foundation. Lidiia was in control of my meeting with the veterans, telling me where to be & when.
Museum exhibitions showing the protection the Liquidators were given and the radiation testing machines.
Eugene Abdupayevich Alimov - Director of the Museum of Slavutych and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Eugene himself is a keen photographer and documented the building of Slavutych. It was built very quickly after the disaster, each of the Soviet states building a section. They brought their own materials and labourers.
The Museum in Slavutych documents the Chernobyl disaster and building of the city and its development. Slavutych was the last Soviet city to be built and the last ‘Atomic City’. Most people in the town still work at the Plant, catching the train from the head of the town each day.
I met Lakov Mamedov in his home, with his wife. I developed a very strong bond with him, even though we didn’t speak the same language. He told me things that truly shocked me, in a very emotional discusion.
“There aren’t lots of people like me left. I have only one man left here which also, like me, was taken from the reactor. He’s now walking holding his bicycle... We had 12 people in our ward, only 4 survived. Others were just covered and taken away.”
Oleksandr Kupnyi who worked at Chernobyl NPP as a dosimetrist but also went on to photograph the work he was undertaking as a Liquidator, his father was the head of the enterprise that planned the construction of the shelter that now encases the reactor.
Svetlana and Jay Zaharchenko at their home in Slavutych. Svetlana was 4 months pregnant with Jay at the time of the disaster when she lived in Pripyat.
