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The Jefferson Exchange

Remembering The Lessons Of Chernobyl

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Firef7y, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26619625

The very name speaks volumes, in just three syllables: Chernobyl.  It is the site of the worst nuclear power disaster ever, a 1986 explosion and massive radiation leak that killed dozens of people quickly and sickened thousands more for years to come. 

Serhii Plokhy, a Ukrainian historian, finds the greatest fault in the Soviet system that was ultimately responsible for the disaster. 

The system itself passed into history less than a decade later, but authoritarian governments exist elsewhere and are interested in nuclear power. 

Plokhy warns of the potential for future problems in his book Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe.  He visits to replay some of the history, in the hope it will not be repeated.

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Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.
April Ehrlich is JPR content partner at Oregon Public Broadcasting. Prior to joining OPB, she was a regional reporter at Jefferson Public Radio where she won a National Edward R. Murrow Award.