Keith: Hey everyone, today we head back to Pripyat, Ukraine, a city frozen in time after the deadly blast at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. I am Keith Kocinski, and Channel One News starts right now.
Tom: We will catch up with Keith in just a bit, but first up, controversy continues in the state of North Carolina over the so-called “bathroom bill,” with protestors making their voices heard.
More than 50 people protesting the bathroom bill law were arrested, some carried away in plastic handcuffs. Opponents protested the law, which limits the use of public restrooms to the gender on a person's birth certificate. They say it discriminates against transgender people.
Outside, supporters of the law called on the legislature, which overwhelmingly passed the measure a month ago, not to bow to pressure from major businesses who have moved jobs out of the state. Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato became the latest to cancel concerts on Monday as Democrats introduced a bill to reverse the law. But little Republican support makes it unlikely for the law to be repealed in the current session.
All right, after the break, Keith takes over the show as he enters a radioactive danger zone.
Keith: Behind me is the entrance to the Exclusion Zone, an area over 1,000 square miles surrounding the Chernobyl power plant. For the most part, this area still remains uninhabitable to humans.
Dmitry: This is more than 1,000 times the normal level.
Keith: We were deep into the ghost town when our radiation detectors started going crazy.
So we shouldn't stay in this area for very long, then.
Dmitry: Of course, we have to go.
Keith: Quickly we moved on. Our tour guide, Dmitry, took us further into Pripyat, a city frozen in time. Everything here is just like it was moments after the deadliest nuclear power plant blast in history: a child's doll left behind, halls at a hospital eerily silent. Rides sit empty at an abandoned amusement park For decades it has been too dangerous to visit — considered deadly — but now it is beginning to open up for daring tourists.
What brings you here to Chernobyl?
Polish man: I think it's adventure and the desire of something that’s unknown.
Keith: Pripyat sits within the Exclusion Zone, which today includes northern Ukraine and southern Belarus. To get here we had to move through a series of security checkpoints and sign paperwork pretty much saying we accept the radiation risk. That is because, even years later, radiation can be toxic and has caused illnesses like cancer.
Is it safe for us to be here in Pripyat?
Dmitry: Yes, 30 years after the accident, it is safe for us to be here. We just have to remember about the radiation and safety rules.
Keith: While the strength and quantity of radiation breaks down over time, in some places levels still remain high. You really can't sense radiation; that is why this is a must — a Geiger counter, which measures radiation.
Dmitry: When the accident happened that night, all the radioactive dust from the reactor went by wind into the west direction, and we are going through this trace. That is why the level of radiation here is higher.
Keith: On the days following the explosion, over 40,000 people were evacuated with the idea they may return in a few days, but, as you can see 30 years later, that wasn't the case. People left everything behind in a mad rush as they were being showered with radioactive dust. However, they weren't told of the dangers for over a day.
Dmitry: There is no doubt that it injured their health.
Keith: What would have happened to the people here if they hadn’t evacuated and they had stayed for another month, another year?
Dmitry: I think people would have taken on a lot of radiation and would be dead.
Keith: One of the spots with high levels of radiation is this hospital, where some of the first responders were sent after the accident, their radioactive equipment left here to decay.
Dmitry: I cannot identify whose equipment this is, but it is probably part of one of the six firefighters who died after the accident.
Keith: So we continue to get closer to this piece of equipment; the radiation levels continue to spike. If we stood near that piece of radioactive equipment for just
45 minutes, we would receive a year's worth of radiation.
We continue our journey deeper into the zone and closer to ground zero, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant — where it all happened.
Today the reactor has been sealed off by a protective barrier keeping radioactive materials from spewing out, and much of the radioactive dust and debris from the accident has been cleaned up.
This arch-shaped building behind me is called the New Safe Confinement Building. It is over 300 feet tall and spans over 800 feet. It is expected to be a long-term solution to contain radiation and allow for more cleanup. Even though construction is expected to be finished later next year, it is unclear if people will be coming back to live anytime soon.
Vitaly Petruk: We don't even speak about people going back to the Exclusion Zone now.
Sixty-six percent of the Exclusion Zone can be decontaminated for human life in
100 years, but right now, it's not a good value of money to move people.
Keith: But even though humans can't come back permanently, animals have already made it their home.
Sergii Mirnyi: The wildlife population in the zone appears to be quite healthy.
Keith: Sergii Mirnyi was a chemist who researched the accident site.
Mirnyi: The zone has turned into a natural reserve. Much of it is absolutely safe.
Keith: However, some scientists continue to find genetic defects in small mammals here, and more research is being done into the long-term effects of radiation.
As we leave the area, we pass through these checkpoints testing our bodies for elevated radiation levels. As I am cleared to go, it is a reminder of the influence this tragedy had on the world and the consequences of neglect and arrogance.
Mirnyi: The Chernobyl accident undeniably changed the way of handling nuclear energy all over the world, in all countries.
Dmitry: I wish on the anniversary that it would make people want to know more about the Exclusion Zone, to know more about the experience. I hope that it can avoid such disasters in the future.
Keith: Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.
Tom: Now, it is difficult to know just how many people have died from Chernobyl. Some estimates put it at 4,000, others at half a million. So what was it like reporting from the Exclusion Zone? Well, head on over to ChannelOne.com to hear Keith and Maggie talk about the experience.
All right, after the break, we meet some expert hackers, but not quite the kind you are thinking of.
Tom: All right, it is time to get your geek on, and Azia is here with a story about a meeting of the minds.
Azia: Yeah, Tom. It is called a hackathon. Think of it as an epic brainstorm, and you won’t believe what kinds of problems these young people are solving. Check it out.
Eighth-grade student Aditya Krishnamoorthy and his friends are some of the youngest competing in the Reno Hackathon in Nevada.
Aditya Krishnamoorthy: It's kind of daunting to see these people in their 20s and above. They have lots of coding experience, or they're in college taking computer science classes.
Azia: This is his first ever hackathon, an event that brings people together to solve problems or come up with new ideas. And his young team is building an application called Simple School. The app would give teachers a more reliable program to handle grades and attendance.
Aditya: To have the teacher not have to worry about her grade system not working but just be able to do their job efficiently.
Azia: It is ideas like these that developer Jerry Nixon says the competition is all about.
Jerry Nixon: Almost a free-for-all when it comes to software development, but it also includes other people, creative people who want to make something that really looks beautiful.
Azia: But the purpose is not to create a perfect product.
Nixon: And it really means not to do it too seriously, because you'll become a professional developer eventually, but until then you're really hacking at stuff to see what you like and what you don't like.
Azia: And it is this kind of hacking away in a race against time that can generate a programmer's best kind of work. And Aditya says it is not about who wins; it is about the experience.
Aditya: You can show off how good you are at something while at the same time getting benefits from it. Like I said it before, it was a learning experience, so that's what's important.
Azia: Azia Celestino, Channel One News.
Tom: So awesome.
Okay guys, we are out of here for now. We will see you tomorrow.
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