Chernobyl

Abundance of birds in Fukushima as judged from Chernobyl

by Timothy Mousseau

The effects of radiation on abundance of common birds in Fukushima can be assessed from the effects of
radiation... more The effects of radiation on abundance of common birds in Fukushima can be assessed from the effects of
radiation in Chernobyl. Abundance of birds was negatively related to radiation, with a significant
difference between Fukushima and Chernobyl. Analysis of 14 species common to the two areas revealed
a negative effect of radiation on abundance, differing between areas and species. The relationship
between abundance and radiation was more strongly negative in Fukushima than in Chernobyl for the
same 14 species, demonstrating a negative consequence of radiation for birds immediately after the
accident on 11 March 2011 during the main breeding season in MarcheJuly, when individuals work close
to their maximum sustainable level.

The effects of radiation on sperm swimming behavior depend on plasma oxidative status in the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica)

by Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati

From Czarnobyl to Żarnobyl: The impact of Chernobyl on the Polish green opposition until 1989 (and beyond)

by Kacper Szulecki

in: Arndt, Melanie (ed.) "After Chernobyl", ZZF/Böhlau Verlag, forthcoming in German in February 2012.

“Are you crazy? You wanna protest for the damn white mice, is that what you want?” – the prominent opposition leader... more “Are you crazy? You wanna protest for the damn white mice, is that what you want?” – the prominent opposition leader Jacek Kuroń supposedly exclaimed in 1981, when ap-proached by some young activists with the idea of the “Solidarity” trade union actions for environmental protection. One of the youngsters, since then and until this day an activist in Warsaw, Jarosław “Jarema” Dubiel, explains that “it was not yet the time for environmental concerns”. That time had come only after the Chernobyl catastrophe, and in Poland too, it was largely, although not exclusively, about nuclear energy and its dangers. The attitudes soon changed so that several thousand protesters were gathered at a march condemning the state’s notorious information policy on Chernobyl’s fallout risks in June of 1986. With time methods too changed and green activism became an example of the best and most spectacular non-violent actions that Polish dissent had to offer in the second half of the 1980s. To give a hint of the direction the protests took – in October 1987, in a manner as unbelievable as the spelling of the place where it took place – Gdańsk district of Wrzeszcz – four followers of the “Freedom and Peace” (Wolność i Pokój – WiP) Movement, climbed the rooftop of a local pharmacy dressed up as animals (a fox, a hare, a hedgehog and a fish). Following one of the key principles of the Movement’s non-violent strategy: “it takes only a single cop to arrest a standing protester, but up to four to arrest a sitting one” (and a whole platoon if you climb a rooftop and pull the ladder up), they remained atop the pharmacy for some time, displaying their banners and scattering fliers. Their colleagues on the same day in different points of the city distributed some ten thousand leaflets altogether. The human-animals were arrested eventually, but only once they stumbled down from the roof after peaceful negotiations and a long “performance” for quite a large audience of sympathetic bystanders.

Life in the Zone

by Steven Featherstone

Published in June 2011 issue of Harper's Magazine

DNA damage in barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) from the Chernobyl region detected by use of the comet assay

by Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati

Increased oxidative stress in barn swallows from the Chernobyl region

by Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati

Climate Catastrophism: The History of the Future of Climate Change, in press

by Franz Mauelshagen

Published in: Historical disasters in context. Science, religion, and politics, edited by A. Janku, F. Mauel-shagen and G. Schenk. London, New York. Routledge, forthcoming 2012 (in press).
The chapter is an extended English translation of a first version published in German (see below). In the German book chapter, the focus was slightly different. The idea of a history of the future only occurred to me later.

Catastrophism has a long scientific tradition in geology and early modern "natural history". The... more Catastrophism has a long scientific tradition in geology and early modern "natural history". The controversies between "uniformitarianism" and "catastrophism" were sometimes fierce in the 19th century, however, the basic idea that a true picture of the geological past of the earth would provide a likely picture of the future, were somewhat shared by both theories. With these traditions in the background, this paper discuses the question of how close futurist scenarios of the consequences of climate change and science fiction representations of that very future come to each other. I am focusing on abrupt climate change scenarios, most intensely discussed in the years following the millennial turn. Roland Emmerich's movie "The Day after Tomorrow" was based on the same scenario, but often criticized for its unrealistic representations of climate change (which is only partly justified). What emerges from the comparison between "science fiction" and "science fact" is the idea of a history of the future of climate change, which might provide a framework for future investigations of how we imagine our climate future.

Don't underestimate the death rate from Chernobyl

by Timothy Mousseau

The Most Dangerous Film in the World

by Susan Schuppli

"The Most Dangerous Film in the World." Tickle Your Catastrophe. Ed. Frederik Le Roy, Nele Wynants, Dominiek Hoens, Robrecht Vanderbeeken. Ghent: NGE (Dutch Aesthetics Society), Ghent University, the KASK (Ghent Royal Academy of Fine Arts) and Vooruit, 2010. 130-45.

This paper examines a short film sequence shot at Chernobyl’s Nuclear Reactor Unit 4 by the late Soviet filmmaker... more This paper examines a short film sequence shot at Chernobyl’s Nuclear Reactor Unit 4 by the late Soviet filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko on April 26 1986. What both surprised and perturbed the filmmaker were the small incandescent markings that mysteriously appeared upon the film when he first developed his footage. Isabelle Stengers provocation that we need to listen to the stories the material wants to tell us, is returned twice over as the material not only speaks and has a story to tell, but speaks directly and brazenly back at us, given that its radiological voice-print continues to breach the containment of its filmic matter. As an irradiated artefact capable of discharging its contaminates into the far distant future, Shevchenko’s documentary film should no longer be thought exclusively in terms of its representational status an index pointing to an event that occurred outside of the cinematic apparatus, but must now be confronted as an actual toxic event that is archived directly within its material substrates. The nuclear fallout captured by his film forces a rethinking of the ontological nature of mediatic matter as the lethal atmosphere of Chernobyl remolecularised the film’s emulsive matter to create a dangerous new form of cinema.

Notes on the economic valuation of nuclear disasters.

by Alistair Munro

Notes prepared for a lecture on the economics of nuclear accidents on the environmental economics course at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

We provide an overview of methods used to assess the economic impact of nuclear accidents, along with a summary of... more We provide an overview of methods used to assess the economic impact of nuclear accidents, along with a summary of attempts to date to estimate the costs and policy responses to accidents.

Is it arrivederci to nuclear power in Italy?

by Dominic Standish

The removal of a question about reviving nuclear power in Italy from a referendum planned for 12 and 13 June 2011... more The removal of a question about reviving nuclear power in Italy from a referendum planned for 12 and 13 June 2011 suggests the Italian government has manipulated fears about nuclear risk and prioritised short-term political survival over acute energy needs.

Muddling through a "Nuclear-Political" Emergency

by Roland Czada

Presented at: International Sociological Association, XIIth World Congress of Sociology, Madrid, Spain, July 9-13, 1990