72. Chernobyl: Soviet Secrets Are Still Coming Out (Ep 5)

About this episode

The episode explores the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster and its impact on the Soviet Union, including the role of young reservists and the strained US-USSR relations.

Who were the bio-robots, the 3,000 young reservists drafted in to fight the radiation? Why was an absurdly inadequate, yet enormous, structure built at pace to contain the fallout? Could trust be restored between the US and the USSR after the latter lied about the explosion? Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga look at how the nuclear fallout ate away at the very core of the Soviet Union. Email: journeythroughtime@goalhanger.com X: @ThroughTimePod Blue Sky: @ThroughTimePod Instagram: @JourneyThroughTimePod Social Producer: Emma Jackson Assistant Producers: Alfie Rowe, Alfie Norris Producer: Alice Horrell Head of History: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Guests: Sarah Churchwell, David Olusoga

Topics covered

• Chernobyl
• Soviet history
• nuclear fallout
• US-USSR relations
• bio-robots
• radiation
• Chernobyl disaster

Keywords

• Chernobyl
• Soviet Union
• bio-robots
• radiation
• nuclear fallout
• USSR
• Chernobyl disaster
• trust
• explosion
• history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Soviet Union, USSR, Goalhanger

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