Trump's Chernobyl
Thirty-four years ago in Moscow I watched the government mishandle a disaster. Why does it feel like it was just yesterday?
An Opinion piece in the New York Times, by , a member of the Editorial Board.
[Comment by Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps:
While this Opinion piece makes compelling comparisons between the Chernobyl catastrophe and the coronavirus pandemic, many times when radioactive catastrophes like Chernobyl, and nuclear weapons risks, are used as metaphors, or figures of speech, they do so flippantly, while effectively ignorning or downplaying the actual risks of nuclear dangers. As but a few examples: during the Enron "meltdown" two decades ago, its stocks were described as "radioactive," as in the Washington Post; during the 2008 financial collapse, bundled subprime mortgages gone bad were compared to high-level radioactive waste when described as a "Yucca Mountain repository of bad debt," as on NPR; and radical power plays, breaking norms and traditions in Congress to force a bill or nominee through over minority opposition, are described as "going nuclear" or the "nuclear option," like starting a nuclear war. However, the literal risks and radioactive damage of all things nuclear, whether atomic reactors, radioactive waste, contamination, health impacts, nuclear weapons, etc. are rarely if ever reported by the mainstream media, despite all the metaphorical comparisons, for dramatic effect.]
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On NPR's "All Things Considered" on Tuesday, April 7, 2020, at around 7:20pm, NPR reporter Leila Fadel reported a quote from a nurse referred to as "Marie" (her middle name, to conceal her identity, to protect her job, as nurses are under orders to not speak with the news media), that working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic is akin to "Chernobyl," because you know the invisible hazard is all around you.
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As reported by the Washington Post (note that "chain reaction" is yet another nuclear metaphor):