nuclear deja vu

It is a nuclear deja vue for me again and again!!! Growing up in Poland in the 1960's in the cold war era, it was a standard part of our educational curriculum in primary grades to practice military readiness in case of nuclear disaster. Run with masks on, roll to the ground, wrap yourself in white sheets and hide under the desks or basements were practised several times a week. Lectures focused on what to expect and how to survive. Pictures of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were vivid and shocking for our young minds. Nightmares of being engulfed by enormous fires were keeping me awake at night for years.

Fast forward to 1986, while visiting my family in Poland, at 6 months pregnant, the Chernobyl nuclear explosion happened. It was kept secret for three days. The Soviets tried to cover up the incident and only when the cloud reached Sweden, the truth came out. The explosion released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere over more than 200,000 square kilometers of Europe. I happened to be in the city of Krakow (about 800 km west of Chernobyl) when a number of military helicopters were hovering above the city. I was filled with fear that it had something to do with a civil war related to the resurgence of the Solidarity movement and that my return to Canada few days later might be in jeopardy I found out later that the helicopters were monitoring the movement of the radioactive cloud from the Chernobyl disaster. The Soviets tried to cover up the incident and only when the cloud reached Sweden, the truth came out. The explosion released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere over more than 200,000 square kilometers of Europe. I regretted walking the ancient streets of my beautiful city and eating ice-cream as soft warm rain was coming down in Krakow that day.

Trying to fly back to Canada few days later was terrifying. The airport in Warsaw was filled with soldiers, rifles in hand. I was relieved when allowed to board the plane heading to Frankfurt. Arriving there was just as scary and confusing. All passengers were tested for radiation exposure and mine showed dose beyond the end of the scale on the Geiger-Müller (GM) counter. Some were allowed to proceed, but others were told to move to the side. I was lucky to be able to make my next flight to Toronto after I confirmed that I was pregnant. I felt so happy to be back in Canada. My husband was even happier to see me back. He knew about the nuclear disaster much earlier but was unable to warn me. As our son suffered from some childhood health problems, we often worried whether they were connected to his gestational radiation exposure. As well, I often wonder about the source if my own ills.

April is a common planting time in Eastern Europe when people are outside. It is also the rainy season when radioactive particles are washed out of the air and onto the ground. Eating food contaminated by high levels of radiation can lead to acute symptoms like nausea and vomiting, and in the long term to an increased risk of developing cancer. Following Chernobyl, there were over 20,000 thyroid cancer cases in exposed children/adolescents (especially from contaminated milk) and elevated leukemia risks for liquidators. Other issues include non-cancer thyroid diseases, psychological stress, and cardiovascular issues. In Britain people are only now allowed to begin eating their domestic lamb. Consuming wild boar was restricted in Germany because it contained high levels radioactive cesium-137. Today, we wonder about the long term health affects of radiation.

Fast forward to 2026 and here we are again facing the possibility of a highly radioactive nuclear waste travelling long distances on highways that have been notoriously unsafe. We live 300 meters from this highway. The nuclear waste bundles are supposed to be buried near the forest where we fish, hunt, pick berries and mushrooms. The pristine Northern Ontario, our boreal forest full of lakes and green space may never be the same. Many people I talk with about the DGR (Deep Undergroud Repository) undergoing an Impact Assessment (IA) worry about the future of their children and grandchildren and feel hopeless. Very few feel that it sounds reasonable safe. There is no successful project like it that is yet operating anywhere in the world. People are stressed and divided over the issue. The social anxiety is especially evident in communities near the projected site. The heavy thought of its potential risks keeps me awake at night. It is surreal and shocking to wonder if our beautiful Northern Ontario may become the site of highly radioactive contamination should the experiment go wrong at the site or on route to the site and result in an uninhabitable exclusion zones similar to or greater than the Chernobyl (2,600 square km that are still contaminated and restricted).