Another conspiracy theory derives from the state the USSR was in at the time of the Chornobyl Disaster. The war in Afghanistan had been dragging on for 6 years already consuming vast resources, In the first half of 1986 crude oil prices fell below $20 a barrel. European countries were considering building more nuclear power plants. Below are some excerpts from the world press after the Chornobyl meltdown:
“If the blow to nuclear energy is as severe as the securities markets fear, the result could be upward pressure on prices of oil as well as natural gas and coal. A rise in energy prices could wipe out a key factor that has been pushing down the rate of inflation in the United States and the global economy.” – NY Times on May 02, 1986.
“The 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the world’s biggest nuclear accident, turned Germans against atomic energy for years as they panicked about safety and the environment, fears the Green lobby capitalized on to strengthen their influence.” – Reuters.
“The data demonstrates its impact: in the 32 years before Chernobyl, 409 reactors were opened, but only 194 have been connected in the three decades since.” – The Guardian.
“The accident couldn’t have happened at a worse time. The Berlin Wall came crashing down in 1990, ending the Soviet Union. Both Ukraine and Belarus had been former U.S.S.R. satellite countries. Now, they were facing independence. Ukraine had been the “breadbasket” of the Soviet world. The accident destroyed this role. There were few small businesses to take its place. The accident made new business development more difficult. Few companies wanted to invest in an area threatened by radiation. Who wants to buy a product marked “Made in Chernobyl”?” – The Balance.
Is it possible the Chornobyl disaster was intended by Moscow to try to raise the oil and gas prices for the long run by averting people from nuclear energy and to keep Europe and Russia’s “satellite countries” such as Ukraine and Belarus in its sphere of influence?
As incredible as it may sound at first, the theory well explains why such a senseless experiment was
- Conducted at a Nuclear Power plant so close to the European borders.
- Used the Fourth Reactor that had faults in it and Moscow was well aware of it. in 2003, 121 documents dating from 1971 to 1988 have been released, after spending years in the archives of the former KGB in Ukraine, reported El Mundo and BBC News. The documents show that things started going wrong right from the start. According to the released documents, the Ukrainian KGB regularly reported systematic security breaches to Moscow during the whole construction period from 1976 to 1979. A report dating back to 1984, also shows abnormalities in the Third and Fourth reactor, and it was the Fourth reactor that exploded in 1986. In addition, reports confirm the use of poor-quality equipment delivered by Yugoslavian companies. It also reported an incident in 1982 resulting in the release of small doses of radiation.
Moscow probably wanted some relatively minor accident, but it spanned out of control.
How Moscow pressured Dyatlov the night of Chornobyl Meltdown >