Monument to the liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident
On December 13, 2017, the solemn opening of the monument dedicated to the participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident took place on Poklonnaya Gora. It is installed at the intersection of the Alley of War and Labour Veterans with the Alley of Peace in Victory Park. The monument was erected according to the project of the sculptor Andrey Kovalchuk (he is the author of the memorial of military glory “We were together in the fight against Fascism” (2010) and the monument to the heroes of the First World War (2014) in Victory Park) with the participation of architects Konstantin Pinsky and Sofia Shlenkina. The monument is made in the form of a three-quarter circle wall. The missing quarter symbolizes an exploded reactor. There is a sculpture “Atom” in the middle of the monument. There are silhouettes of the liquidators of the accident in the walls. The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986. During the tests, a powerful explosion occurred on one of the station’s turbo generators. As a result of the accident, a large dose of radioactive substances was released into the environment. The biggest disaster in the history of nuclear power has happened. Radiation pollution of varying degrees of danger covered a significant part of the territory of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. The citizens of these countries were affected by the disaster most of all. The clouds formed from the burning reactor spread various radioactive materials, primarily radionuclides of iodine and caesium, over most of Europe. They have reached, in particular, countries such as Austria, Germany, Italy. Shortly after the explosion, the authorities created a 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the NPP and began to eliminate the consequences. The whole country, the USSR, was doing this. More than 600 thousand people participated in the elimination of the consequences of the disaster. Unfortunately, there are no exact statistics of those affected by the direct consequences of the accident, those who died from radiation exposure or from the long-term effects of radiation exposure. However, it is known that at least tens of thousands of liquidators received high doses of radiation. More than 30 people died immediately after the disaster. For courage and heroism, more than 80 thousand liquidators of the accident were awarded high state awards. Six of them were awarded the high title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
Address: Moscow, Victory Park
