Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in a five-part series on the “atomic-bombed violin.” The stringed instrument, once owned by a Russian, survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. It was restored a decade ago and its sound has since touched many people’s hearts across borders.
Alley of abandoned villages - 162 plaques with the names of permanently evacuated settlements during 1986-1991 after the Chernobyl accident. Credit: Margarita Kalinina-Pohl (2018).
This year is rich in commemorative anniversaries of natural and man-made disasters stemming from the use of nuclear energy for peaceful and military purposes. In March, we solemnly observed the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. On April 26, we marked 35 years since the largest nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. At end of August, the international nuclear nonproliferation and antinuclear movement will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site. Besides catastrophic impacts on humans and environments, these grim places have something else in common; they have emerged as nuclear tourist destinations, with the Chernobyl (Chornobyl in Ukrainian) Exclusion Zone especially popular among aficionados of “dark” tourism.