Lorrie Mayzlin
2
6 THE AGORA Features August 25 2011 By Lorrie Mayzlin Agora reporter MCCC’s Chernobyl survivor is a healthy (thankful- ly) 38-year old Dean’s List student, and my husband, Michael Mayzlin. I would imagine that he is the only Chernobyl survivor in all of southeast Michigan. Over the span of our 13-year marriage, I have lis- tened to his thoughts, fears, dreams and memories of Chernobyl, which is about 60 miles north of his former home in Kiev. Generally, Michael is a shy and quiet person, wh o is not one to make too many waves wher- ever he goes. This being the 25 th anniversary of the tragedy, it’s a good time to tell his story. Q. How old were you when Chernobyl occurred? I was 12 years old in April 1986, just before my 13 th birthday . Q. What did you hear from the government? Absolutely nothing on the day of the accident. I think the rst ofcial announcement came May 1 in a 30 -sec - ond blurb during the nightly newscast. The announcer read a short prepared statement about a small accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and said every- thing was under control. Q. How was it determined when you’d evacuate? The school year always ended at the end of May. One day, about two weeks before the end of school, local government ofcials in Kiev made verbal announce - ments in schools and various work places that the school year would end early and everyone under the age of 18 is to evacuate the city of Kiev within the next couple of weeks due to health hazards associated with the accident at Chernobyl. Q. Who determined where you’d go? Families were given a choice to take their kids out of Kiev. Those who did not have anywhere to go, would be taken in bus loads to summer camps. Luckily , we had relatives living in Chisinau, Moldova, deep in the south of the Soviet Union on the border with Romania. I was actually excited to go because it was like tak- ing a summer trip to another country. Some of my friends simply left the city for their summer “dachas” in the countryside. Q. What if people had no money? Money was needed only for a train ticket and person- al expenses if you were not on a “government bus” go- ing to a summer camp. Actually, not too many people had too much money anyway back in those days. Q. How did you get there? I traveled by train with one of my parents, my mom, I think. My parents bought a ticket (which was not very expensive in those days) for the Kiev-Chisinau train. Took about 12 hours to get there. I loved taking the train because all long-travel trains had several rooms that would carry four passengers each. I would lie on the top bunk, look out of the win- dow, and enjoy the countryside. ally know the severity of the situation. I heard from my friends that radiation makes living things explode in growth, but I didn’t realize that the bushes in front of our apartment building will turn into large trees. I guess when I came back and couldn’t see the play- ground behind those “trees,” I knew that it was more severe than what we were told. Q. What were your fears? Dreams? Worries? My biggest fear was not being able to come back to Kiev again. Although we were told that everyone will be back in Sept ember, I w as afraid tha t this was goi ng to take longer. Being 13 at the time, I really did not fully under- stand the severity of the situation. I didn’t know about the medi- cal repercussions or long-term effects. My friend in Kiev had his dad’s radioac- tivity meter. He used to take it out on the playgroun d and show it off to everyone. It would make a fast clicking sound when radioactive levels were high. That May it was clicking like crazy. That scared me a bit, because I knew something was wrong, but I was also fascinated by it because I thought t o myself that I am here whil e something big is happening. I was telling my newly found friends in Moldova about the “clicking.” case each in hand, my mom, dad, and myself were in a taxicab on the way to the airport. The entire process took about 4-5 months and included a trip to Moscow for a visit in the U.S., Austrian and Italian embassies. Austria and Italy were “transfer points” that we had to go through. Q. How much did it cost to move to the U.S.? I can’t possibly begin to imagine the amount of mon- ey my parents had to gather to make this move hap- pen. A lot of it wa s, of course, visa an d paperw ork fees. The bulk of it, however, was “under the table” money that had to be paid to various government agents that were processing the paperwork to get it moving along through the channels. I would think now that some amount was paid to the local KGB and militia agents to prevent them from harassing our family. Back then, if you wanted to leave the “motherland” you were considered a traitor and the lowest ele- ment of society and were constantly persecuted by the authorities in a variety of ways. Q. What was that day like? It was actually unusually sunny, warm, and I re- member the sky being very clear. April 26 was a Sat- urday, so we were in school only until noon (school in the Soviet Union was 6 days a week). I came back from school and went outside to be with my friends. Usually we would sit around and talk for a while, tell By Lorrie Mayzlin Agora reporter The push for “clean energy” in the United States has never been greater than in the last few years. Our dependence on foreign countries for energy supplies and volatile price uc- tuations have caused American citizens to consider other alternatives. 2011 is an important year in “clean en- ergy” because it marks both the year that the Fukushima nuclear power plant melt- ed down and the 25 th anniversary of the worst nuclear plant disaster in the world, at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union. This issue is relevant for MCCC stu- dents and faculty for several reasons. Aside from students’ cash-strapped bud- gets, MCCC has a new nuclear technol- ogy program, and it has a student who survived the Chernobyl disaster. There are 361 square miles in Belarus and Ukraine that have been designated as an “exclusion zone” around the Cher- nobyl site. They are mostly off-limits to visitors, but especially for residential pur- poses. The ground will remain contaminated for at least the next three generations. Al- though the “red forest” no longer glows red, undeniable signs of the long-lasting devastation still are there. In 1986, shortly after the Chernobyl re- actor melted down, a temporary sarcoph- agus was placed over the exposed reactor to contain the nuclear fallout. Today, the reactor is still “melting,” the sarcophagus is cracked, and radiation is leaking. The government of the Ukraine does not have the $840 million required to build a new cont ainment unit. Buried in Mitino Cemetery in Moscow, Russia, are 14 “liquidators,” who were the “rst responders” (reghters and opera- tors). They were exposed only briey to the immense radiation and were all dead within one month. William Lorenz of Belleville, who is the father of this article’s author, worked at the United States Embassy in Moscow, Russia, during the mid-1990s. “There is a cemetery in Moscow, which your mother and I used to pass on our way to and from our job in the United States Embassy,” Lorenz said. “When we entered this cemetery, you could see that there was a special section with decorative blocks surrounding about 20 graves, and there was a plaque written in both English and Russian which said that the graves were of the rst helicopter pilots who dropped the cement to cover the hole created by the explosion.” Pictures of the villages and cities that surrounded Chernobyl are grim and ghostly – schoolbooks scattered in class- rooms, apartment homes with furniture and clothing where people once lived, and nally, Mother Nature taking back the areas that man covered with concrete. When Fukushima melted down earlier this year after an earthquake and subse- quent tsunami, the Japanese government tried to downplay the numbers of casu- alties and severity of the damage, thus putting hundreds of thousands of people (including our own military service mem- bers) in h arm’s way. It took several months before Japanese government ofcials admitted their pow- er plants had indeed gone through a full meltdown, and the grounds, food supplies and water supplies had been contaminat- ed with radioactive fallout. Much like Chernobyl, the Japanese government simply told nearby citizens to “stay indoors and do not open your windows.” The stark difference between Chernob- yl and Fukushima is that Fukushima was caused by a natural disaster; Chernobyl After the Chernobyl explosion, the people of Pri- pyat ocked to a railway bridge just outside the city to get a good view of the reactor. Initially, they had been told that radiation levels were minimal and that they were safe. They found out later that the radiation levels here were very near lethal. Photo by Ben Vivo The Funfair at Pripyat, the city closest to Chernobyl, was set to open on May 1, 1986, four days after the reactor meltdown. It never opened and remains abandoned. After 25 years, Chernobyl still relevant Tragedy offers perspective on “clean energy” MCCC student was 12 when he survived Chernobyl “Very few people in these (May Day) parades knew about the severity of what happened just four days before in Chernobyl. Ironically, everyone was out in the streets celebrat- ing Com- munism and the gov ernment , pr ett y much trapped below the cloud of radioactive air.” Michael Mayzlin’s visa photo in 1987 Michael Mayzlin
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6 THE AGORA Features August 25
By Lorrie MayzlinAgora reporter
MCCC’s Chernobyl survivor is a healthy (thankful-
ly) 38-year old Dean’s List student, and my husband,Michael Mayzlin. I would imagine that he is the onlyChernobyl survivor in all of southeast Michigan.
Over the span of our 13-year marriage, I have lis-tened to his thoughts, fears, dreams and memories of Chernobyl, which is about 60 miles north of his former home in Kiev. Generally, Michael is a shy and quiet person, who is not one to make too many waves wher-ever he goes. This being the 25 th anniversary of thetragedy, it’s a good time to tell his story.
Q. How old were you when Chernobyl occurred?
I was 12 years old in April 1986, just before my 13th birthday.
Q. What did you hear from the government?
Absolutely nothing on the day of the accident. I think the rst ofcial announcement came May 1 in a 30-sec-ond blurb during the nightly newscast. The announcer read a short prepared statement about a small accidentat the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and said every-
thing was under control.Q. How was it determined when you’d evacuate?
The school year always ended at the end of May. Oneday, about two weeks before the end of school, localgovernment ofcials in Kiev made verbal announce-ments in schools and various work places that theschool year would end early and everyone under theage of 18 is to evacuate the city of Kiev within the nextcouple of weeks due to health hazards associated withthe accident at Chernobyl.
Q. Who determined where you’d go?
Families were given a choice to take their kids out of Kiev. Those who did not have anywhere to go, would be taken in bus loads to summer camps. Luckily, wehad relatives living in Chisinau, Moldova, deep in thesouth of the Soviet Union on the border with Romania.
I was actually excited to go because it was like tak-ing a summer trip to another country. Some of myfriends simply left the city for their summer “dachas”in the countryside.
Q. What if people had no money?
Money was needed only for a train ticket and person-al expenses if you were not on a “government bus” go-ing to a summer camp. Actually, not too many people
ally know the severity of the situation. I heard from myfriends that radiation makes living things explode ingrowth, but I didn’t realize that the bushes in front of our apartment building will turn into large trees.
I guess when I came back and couldn’t see the play-ground behind those “trees,” I knew that it was moresevere than what we were told.
Q. What were your fears? Dreams? Worries?
My biggest fear was not being able to come back toKiev again. Although we were told that everyone will be back in September, I was afraid that this was goingto take longer.
Being 13 at the time, I really did not fully under-stand the severity of the situation. I didn’tknow about the medi-cal repercussions or long-term effects.
My friend in Kievhad his dad’s radioac-tivity meter. He usedto take it out on theplayground and show
case each in hand, my mom, dad, and mysea taxicab on the way to the airport. The enttook about 4-5 months and included a trip tfor a visit in the U.S., Austrian and Italian Austria and Italy were “transfer points” thatgo through.
Q. How much did it cost to move to the
I can’t possibly begin to imagine the amouey my parents had to gather to make this pen. A lot of it was, of course, visa and papeThe bulk of it, however, was “under the tabthat had to be paid to various government were processing the paperwork to get it mothrough the channels. I would think now
amount was plocal KGB aagents to prevfrom harassing
Back then, if y
to leave the “myou were contraitor and the ment of society
l
orrie Mayzlinreporter
e push for “clean energy” in theed States has never been greater thane last few years.
r dependence on foreign countriesnergy supplies and volatile price uc-ons have caused American citizens toder other alternatives.
11 is an important year in “clean en-” because it marks both the year thatukushima nuclear power plant melt-own and the 25th anniversary of thet nuclear plant disaster in the world,ernobyl in the former Soviet Union.
is issue is relevant for MCCC stu-and faculty for several reasons.
e from students’ cash-strapped bud-MCCC has a new nuclear technol-program, and it has a student whoved the Chernobyl disaster.
ere are 361 square miles in BelarusUkraine that have been designated
“exclusion zone” around the Cher-l site. They are mostly off-limits to
ors, but especially for residential pur-s.
e ground will remain contaminatedleast the next three generations. Al-
gh the “red forest” no longer glowsundeniable signs of the long-lastingstation still are there.
1986, shortly after the Chernobyl re-melted down, a temporary sarcoph-was placed over the exposed reactor ntain the nuclear fallout. Today, theor is still “melting,” the sarcophagus
cked, and radiation is leaking.e government of the Ukraine doeshave the $840 million required to
a new containment unit.
ried in Mitino Cemetery in Moscow,ia, are 14 “liquidators,” who were theresponders” (reghters and opera-They were exposed only briey to
mmense radiation and were all deadn one month.
lliam Lorenz of Belleville, who isather of this article’s author, workede United States Embassy in Moscow,ia, during the mid-1990s.
here is a cemetery in Moscow, whichmother and I used to pass on our wayd from our job in the United Statesassy,” Lorenz said.
When we entered this cemetery, you
d see that there was a special sectiondecorative blocks surrounding aboutaves, and there was a plaque writtenth English and Russian which saidhe graves were of the rst helicopter s who dropped the cement to cover ole created by the explosion.”
tures of the villages and cities thatunded Chernobyl are grim andly – schoolbooks scattered in class-s, apartment homes with furnitureclothing where people once lived,nally, Mother Nature taking back reas that man covered with concrete.
hen Fukushima melted down earlier year after an earthquake and subse-t tsunami, the Japanese governmentto downplay the numbers of casu-and severity of the damage, thus
ng hundreds of thousands of people
uding our own military service mem-in harm’s way.
ook several months before Japanesernment ofcials admitted their pow-ants had indeed gone through a full
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Pho
The Funfair at Pripyat, the city closest to Chernobyl, was set to open on May 1, 1986, four days after the reactor meltdown. It never opened and remains aband
After 25 years, Chernobyl still relevanragedy offerserspective on
clean energy”
MCCC student was 12 when he survived Cherno“Very few people in these
(May Day) parades knew
about the severity of whathappened just four days
before inChernobyl.Ironically,everyonewas out inthe streetscelebrat-ing Com-munismand the
government, pretty muchtrapped below the cloudof radioactive air.”
Michael Mayzlin
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_____________________________________________________________________
2012 Michigan Community College Press Association Judging Form
Place of award:First Place Second Place Third Place Honorable Mention
Category: In depth reporting
Headline/title of entry: After 25 years, Chernobyl still relevant
Contestant’s name: Lorrie Mayzlin
College name: Monroe County Community College
Judge’s comments:Your husband has an interesting story. You asked him some good questions, but focusedless on the facts of his experience and more on what it means to him 25 years later. Also,
while it’s good that you acknowledged the relationship at the beginning of the piece, I thinkwriting about friends and family members requires special justification or, at least, anapproach that differentiates itself from straight news or a straightforward interview.The piece on clean energy has good information, and it’s not a bad thing to try your hand atthose sorts of stories as a student journalist. But it doesn’t strike me as the sort of story thatmost local newspapers would ask one of their reporters to write, largely because it doesn’tspeak specifically to a local audience.
