Shadow of Chernobyl

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Forty years later, the exclusion zone surrounding the infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant remains uninhabited by humans. But among the radioactive remnants, wildlife is flourishing, including endangered species. In the second of our two-part series, we look at the state of the disaster site today, consider what lessons we’ve learned during clean up efforts, hear about a strange story about radioactive shellfish, and consider whether small modular reactors could reinvigorate dreams of a nuclear-powered future and bring nuclear energy out of Chernobyl’s shadow. Guests: Steven Biegalski – Chair of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics program at Georgia Institute of Technology Tom Scott – Professor of Nuclear Materials and Devices at the University of Bristol Jacopo Buongiorno – Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT, Director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES), and Director of Science and Technology of the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:13.6	In the four decades after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, life has returned to the radioactive radius called the exclusion zone,
0:22.6	including the kind traveling by bus. For these tourists, radiation in the Chernobyl exclusion zone
0:29.7	is a form of entertainment. They're among the tens of thousands of people who come here each year
0:35.9	for potentially dangerous thrills and
0:38.4	a peek into history.
0:40.7	Visitors may be as surprised as this scientist was by the combination of devastation and
0:46.1	ethereal beauty found there.
0:48.3	My first impression is just how stunningly beautiful the exclusion zone is because it's
0:53.9	pretty much untouched by human hands
0:56.6	for 40 years.
0:58.4	This is Big Picture Science.
0:59.6	I'm Molly Bentley.
1:00.8	In the second of our two-part series about the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, we look
1:06.1	at the life that has returned to the radioactive radius around the site and how the
1:10.5	accident has shaped the development of nuclear power.
1:13.8	How have fear and pragmatism been dueling and fueling the future of clean energy?
1:19.0	This episode is called at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
1:39.2	in the morning of April 26, 1986, blanketed Europe and forced the evacuation of nearby towns.
1:46.3	Radiation was detected in Japan, 5,000 miles away.
1:50.4	The combination of design flaws and human error had produced the greatest nuclear disaster in history.
1:56.5	We described what led to the explosion and its immediate aftermath in episode one of this series.
	...

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