Chernobyl is more than a technological accident belonging to the past; it is a catastrophe that has an effect on the present and that determines the future. But amidst the commemorative events, will the lessons of Chernobyl be heeded? The conclusions of last year’s Chernobyl forum report suggest not: presented as “reassuring”, they stem from a way of thinking that aims to minimize not the real consequences of the catastrophe, but the image of these in the eyes of the victims and the public. According to Guillaume Grandazzi, the commemorations will attempt to salvage the fiction of risk-free atomic power.
Guillaume Grandazzi
(b.1969) holds a doctoral degree in sociology and is an associated fellow at the Centre for Sociological and Anthropological Risk Analysis (LASAR) at the University of Caen, France. He is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Montreal.
