Rod Interviewed on Channel 5 News about Chernobyl

The major nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor occurred on April 26, 1986. The major news coverage in this country was increased by the fact that it was difficult to get clear information out of Russia. Wild tales about thousands of casualties circulated during the days after the accident.

A few days after the accident , Rod got a call from Atlanta's Channel 5 news inviting him there for an interview. Probably Dr. Joe Hadley pointed them to me. Mark went with me to the TV station and they put me on a stool in front of a green screen out in what appeared to be a storage area. So I could see only what they put on a monitor where I was. I was to be interviewed by Richard Belcher on the News, and he talked with me beforehand to describe what was going to happen.

I had to go back to Georgia State to teach an evening class after the interview, and arrived back at the Student Center about the time the evening news was being aired. I was at first shocked, then amused, to find some students who had seen the broadcast expressing skepticism about what I had said. They had bought into the story that there might have been thousands of deaths.

Later, I came to write a description of the Chernobyl accident in HyperPhysics. More immediately, I was drawn more into the debate about nuclear energy in the United States since this accident produced more polarization and extremes in that debate.