Volodymyr Sverhun's Life Before the Meltdown and Its Aftermath
An interview with Volodymyr Sverhun, a former employee of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), sheds light on his everyday existence in Pripyat before the catastrophe, the events of April 26, 1986, the evacuation, and the long-term health consequences. Sverhun moved to Pripyat in 1980 from Kamchatka, driven by the promise of better housing. 'The main reason was a place to live. Back then, you had to wait decades everywhere else, but here they guaranteed an apartment in two years,' he recalls.
By 1984, Sverhun had secured a 16th-floor apartment in Pripyat, where he lived with his wife, who worked as a kindergarten teacher.
The ChNPP Disaster and Its Impact
April 26, 1986, was supposed to be the first day of Sverhun's vacation. Despite living just 5 kilometers from the plant, he had no idea what was unfolding. 'Pripyat was a city of the future, with everything you needed right at hand—kindergartens, schools,' he says of life before the accident.
The evacuation began on April 27, 1986, around 9–10 a.m. Sverhun notes, 'I knew we'd be gone for a long time, so we packed big suitcases for ourselves and the kids.' However, he adds that many residents left in their slippers, not grasping the gravity of the situation. 'Villagers were told it was just a drill. They lied as much as they could,' he remarks.
After the disaster, Sverhun returned to work at ChNPP on June 1, 1986, assigned to the third reactor on a shift rotation: 15 days on duty, 15 days off. His salary jumped to 2,000 rubles a month, but that couldn't offset the heavy toll on his health. 'I got this strange metallic taste in my throat and on my tongue,' he remembers about his condition after shifts at the plant.
In 1987, Sverhun left ChNPP and was classified with a second-degree disability and a first-category victim status. His family received an apartment in Kyiv's Troieshchyna neighborhood in 1986. His personal file bore a red KGB stamp barring him from traveling abroad for 10 years.
Mikhail Gorbachev didn't publicly address the disaster until April 30, 1986, but by then, many—especially young men—still downplayed the danger. 'Young guys... They're told: put on protective gear... And they say: why, there's nothing here, no smell, nothing,' Sverhun says of the casual attitude toward the invisible threat.
“The events surrounding the ChNPP accident had far-reaching consequences for the thousands of people living in the exclusion zone.”
Volodymyr Sverhun
The harsh realities of life after the meltdown left deep scars on Sverhun and countless other survivors. The massive radiation release from the explosion triggered severe health issues and upended the lives of those forced to abandon their homes. This interview with Volodymyr Sverhun underscores how a dismissive approach to danger and a lack of timely information shaped critical decisions in that pivotal moment.