Museum exhibition shows how southwest Scotland was affected by Chernobyl disaster
Scottish sheep farms were affected by radiation from the explosion
An object that shows how the southwest of Scotland was directly affected by the fallout from the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine nearly forty years ago will go on display at the National Museum of Scotland this summer.
The new exhibition Cold War Scotland will explore Scotland’s place on the frontline of the stand-off with 190 artefacts brought together for the display which opens on 13th July.
Curators say a Geiger counter used by farmers in East Ayrshire to test for radiation in sheep following the Chernobyl Disaster illustrates the enduring but unseen impact of the Cold War on Scotland’s landscape.
What happened at Chernobyl?
The explosion in April 1986 at Chernobyl, which was at that time inside the USSR, is the worst nuclear accident in history.
Staff at the plant planned to use routine maintenance on the fourth reactor to test whether it could be cooled in the event of a power outage.
But safety protocols were broken during the experiment, and they were unable to shut down the reactor during a series of power surges that eventually caused a chain reaction of explosions.
They left the reactor’s nuclear core exposed, causing highly radioactive material to be released into the atmosphere.
Some of this radioactivity was carried by weather patterns as 1,300 miles far as southwest Scotland where it contaminated both the land and the animals which grazed on it.
It wasn’t until 2010 that the final sheep farms in Scotland were freed of restrctions, but scientists estimate the immediate zone around the Chernobyl power station will not be habitable for up to 20,000 years.
Cold War stories from Scotland
Curators say the exhibition will tell the stories of how Scotland’s unique geography and topography brought the nation into the 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union following the end of the Second World War.
Firsthand accounts include a young mother who decorated her daughter’s pram with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) badges. A rattle made from an old laundry detergent bottle emblazoned with the CND logo was given to her baby during the Peace Marches of the early 1980s and will go on display in the exhibition.
The exhibition will also reveal the physical remains of the Cold War; the ruined bases, forgotten bunkers and decommissioned nuclear power stations still evident across the Scottish landscape.
Meredith Greiling, Principal Curator of Technology at National Museums Scotland, said:
“From nuclear submarines to lively peace protests and observation stations perpetually monitoring for devastating attack, the Cold War permeated every aspect of life in Scotland for decades. This conflict is so often remembered on a global scale, but this thought-provoking exhibition will offer a Scottish perspective of the period, allowing Scots from all walks of life to tell their remarkable stories for the first time.”