Today’s Sacrificial Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Sergei Vasilyevich Sobolev, Deputy Head of the Executive Committee of the Shield of Chernobyl Association, on the aftermath of the Chernobyl explosion:
There was a moment when there existed the danger of a nuclear explosion, and they had to get the water out from under the reactor, so that a mixture of uranium and graphite wouldn’t get into it — with the water they would have formed a critical mass. The explosion would have been between three and five megatons. This would have meant that not only Kiev and Minsk, but a large part of Europe would have been uninhabitable. Can you imagine it? A European catastrophe. So here was the task: who would dive in there and open the bolt on the safety valve? They promised them a car, an apartment, a dacha, aid for their families until the end of time. They searched for volunteers. And they found them! The boys dove, many times, and they opened that bolt, and the unit was given 7000 rubles. They forgot about the cars and apartments they promised — but that’s not why they dove! Not for the material, least of all for the material promises. [Becomes upset.] Those people don’t exist anymore, just the documents in our museum, with their names. But what if they hadn’t done it? In terms of our readiness for self-sacrifice, we have no equals.
Culled from: Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
This makes me wonder: what do you suppose would happen in America if a situation like this occurred? Would the U.S. government be too concerned about lawsuits to send someone down there and simply allow the explosion to occur, as it sat around in a bureaucratic stalemate, unable to make the necessary decisions? Or would it assign a Navy seal or two to do the dirty work and keep it hush hush as they died from radiation poisoning – making up some story to cover up the real reason for their deaths? Are Americans by nature too selfish to volunteer for a suicide mission like this? Do they lack the community mentality found in a communist nation?
oh heck no, nobody would dive…the gov would run underground for safety & deny they knew anything about it…and our great grandchildren would be born with no brains.
disagree. there are folks who risk their lives everyday, for the community- the police, the firemen who rush into burning buildings.. the media portrays our own folks as selfish assholes, but we’ve got some fine folks here, just like any country.
I agree with Cricket. I think I’d have to knock my husband out to keep him from going in if the continued existence of all the people on the North American continent was at stake. He’s very afraid of getting in water over his head too. My brother who’s an a**hole most of the time, would go in even if it were just his children’s lives that were at stake. I can think of dozens of people that I know who wouldn’t hesitate.
I agree with Cricket. Probably nobody would even have to be bribed with anything. Somebody, probably several somebodies, would volunteer to do it, because it would be their job. You can see that any day you want to, a firefighter or a cop or a Hazmat cleaner or anything like that, saying that they were only doing what they’ve been trained to do all along.
This is like the group of Japanese retired folk who are trying to volunteer to go into the Fukushima power plant.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13598607
And during Katrina there was that one guy who “commandeered” a bus to help people get out.
After seeing the civilian passengers on United Flight 93, who, realising they were going to die, rushed the cockpit to save others on the ground, I feel safe in saying there ARE brave people who would do it, not for the incentive, but because it is the RIGHT thing to do.
~ Let’s Roll~
Many people would volunteeer to do a hellish job like that. Remember all the National Guards who went to Iraq and served all those months even though they lost homes and businesses because of their endless deployments…not everybody in this country is an a&&hole-it just seems like it when you read the news.