There is no indication that Drach did not believe in the positive power of nuclear energy when he wrote the verses that helped improve his standing with the authorities. But there is ample evidence that he regretted his enthusiasm for nuclear power and the nationalization of the atom following the accident. The Chernobyl disaster put an abrupt and tragic end to his erstwhile fascination. In May 1986, his son, Maksym Drach, a student of medicine at the time of the accident, was sent along with classmates to the exclusion zone in order to establish medical control over the area and check the traffic moving in and out of the zone for radioactivity. Without proper protection, he sustained a high dose of radiation, fell ill, and found himself in a Kyviv hospital undergoing emergency treatment for radiation sickness. He would suffer from the effects of exposure for years to come.

Drach now returned to the theme of Chernobyl and nuclear power with a different set of feelings and images. For him, what happened to Ukraine was a nuclear apocalypse…In the next two years he would become one of the leaders of Rukh (Movement), a grassroots organization that would propel Ukraine into a democratic revolution. That revolution would help lead to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. “Chernobyl roused our souls, showing us in real terms that we were on the edge of a precipice, an abyss, and that our cultural efforts were a vanity of vanities, a waste of effort, a rose under a bulldozer.”…

In April 2016, when the world marked the thirtieth anniversary of the disaster, there was a temptation to breathe a sigh of relief…But the harmful impact of the accident is still far from over. With tests revealing that the Cesium-137 around Chernobyl is not decaying as quickly as one would wish for, scholars believe that the isotope will continue to harm the environment for at least 180 years - the time required for half the Cesium to be eliminated by weathering and migration. Other radionuclides will also remain in the region for a long time. The half-life of Plutonium-239, traces of which were found as far away as Sweden, is 24,000 years…

The most crucial lesson is the importance of counteracting the dangers posed by nuclear nationalism and isolationism and of ensuring close international cooperation between countries developing nuclear projects. The lesson is especially important today, when the forces of populism, nationalism, and anti-globalism are finding more adherents in a world that relies increasingly on nuclear technology for the production of energy.

The world has already been overwhelmed by one Chernobyl and one exclusion zone. It cannot afford any more. It must learn its lessons from what happened in and around Chernobyl on April 26, 1986.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serhii_Plokhii