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My country is like a dream Loveliest in the world
Written on flower buds And in the songs we sing
Greetings are holly here In this land of ours
The land where brotherhood Blossoms eternally
I love your river Dniester And your misty woods
We all sing your name We all praise you!
You, my all, Moldova!
To you my deepest yearnings Wherever I would go,
You'll be in my heart I will cherish you always!
Everything I do to you I will devote!
You, the luckiest of all Soviet Daughters!
I love your river Dniester And your misty woods
We all sing your name We all praise you, Moldova!
We all praise you!
You, my all, Moldova!
The 1950s, beginning of the Cold War.
After Stalin's death Nikita Khrushchev becomes the leader
of the Soviet Communist Party
He aims for the Soviet Union to become
first worldwide in scientific and technical development.
The cosmos is declared Soviet property.
A Soviet Spaceship defies gravity
and becomes the sun's first artificial satellite,
the first man-made planet.
These kids were the first to utter
the hitherto unknown word: RAKETA.
Who knows, maybe they will also be the first starship pilots?
After conquering the cosmos, Khrushchev wants
to overcome the United States here on Earth.
Following the party orders, scientists take over agriculture.
Mathematics and physics take over nature.
The future belonges to research and scientific experiments.
- In the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory of the Moldovan Academy of Sciences,
we asked professor Adlov to explain how scholars
will meet this year's Congress.
- Soviet scientists were tasked by the party
to take the lead in all fields of science.
The small Moldovan republic
was part of the Great Soviet Empire,
being 14th largest among the 15 Soviet Republics.
Under the new economic policy
Moldova is ordered to exponentially grow production in all branches of agriculture.
- Milk farm chief Maria Cazac, has shown a burning ambition
to fight for even higher productivity and do her best in outracing
the United States in dairy and meat production per capita.
- So we can outrun the United States as soon as possible.
Moldova and its lands passed through an overnight industrial shock.
To meet party plans, even rivers were forced to flow uphill.
When I was born, Moldova was still part of the Soviet Union.
My family was big and united.
At the holidays all of us used to gather at my grandparents'
I spent a good part of my childhood at my grandma, Olimpiada's,
She was a biology teacher.
I remember her bringing a microscope from school, during summer vacations
so I could study natural processes.
Next to the house, I had a small garden. It was all my own.
There, I used to seed and nurture crops till they were fully grown.
A few years ago, my grandmother died of pancreatic cancer.
I've noticed that this terrible illness spread significantly in recent decades.
I remember Grandma telling us about strange secret experiments
in Moldova's collective farms during Soviet times...
I wonder: is there a connection between those experiments
and the exponential growth of cancer illnesses in the past half century?
- Man is what he eats, breathes and even thinks.
I love cats, I just adore them.
My cat will never eat a store bought sausage,
which I might find tasty.
You know, a wurster!
She smells it but ignores it, even though she is hungry.
That's some instinct!
Once I brought sprats and shared some with my cat.
She didn't even smell them. Some hedgehog came and ate them.
Doubtlessly, technical progress had an amazing effect on the quality of life,
as well as diseases, causing a lot of new illnesses to appear.
The main cause of progress is the increase of population.
More population means more food.
For more food, we need to genetically modify corn cobs to grow in size,
to a half meter, for instance.
Unfortunately, the human species ages, just like any other.
Every genetic reproduction cycle works like a software program.
If this "software" is attacked by "viruses", just like with a computer,
be it food, radiation or magnetic fields, then this program could malfunction.
Basically, that's how cancer acts.
A cell with a function, be it of the liver, muscles, lungs
must, following reproduction, specialise in the same function.
But if its program malfunctions, then it switches back to its initial programming,
becomes a big cell, grows and destroys surrounding cells thus generating Cancer.
- Good afternoon, some tomatoes, please?
- Which ones?
- Pink, please.
- A kilo or two?
- Two, please. - All right.
- Where are they from?
- Orhei.
- I wondered if you know anyone...
... who's growing them traditionally, you know, seed to seed.
- No, currently hybrids rule the day.
Seed to seed ones are scarce.
- Maybe there are still folks who grow them traditionally.
- Maybe some country granny with a passion, you know...
- Hi, 2 kilos of onions, please!
- I wonder if you know anyone growing tomatoes naturally.
- I do, myself, from Dubasarii Vechi.
- Seed to seed, not hybrid.
- This is not done anymore, no harvest.
- No harvest?
- None! My mother in law, lost 20 years on that.
- No harvest.
- How did they grow them before?
- Before is past, you know.
- Pardon?
- Before, seeds were seeds, tomatoes were tomatoes,
now everything is made from soy... Hybrids, everywhere.
- We're looking for someone who still practices traditional breeding.
- Nowadays seeds have codes, not names.
No more variety names.
- Such is the specificity of man, that he needs to control everything,
to have the feeling that nature would be lost without him,
although nature evolves very well without him.
- Could you tell us more on biodiversity and its role?
- It is the diversity of everything alive.
If we look specifically at agriculture and focus on the last hundred years,
we'll notice we lost three quarters of our agricultural biodiversity.
That would equal 75%.
This means that if you used to buy tomatoes from the farmers at the marketplace,
and you had 10 tomatoes, now you only have 2, one red and maybe one pink.
Many disappeared or were somehow erased...
...by the Soviet block breed identity.
- Storms aren't solely to blame for the death of this wheat crop.
Man created a variety,
man cultivated a heavy spike,
but failed to give the straw strength.
The breeder's mission begins again.
Again he must examine millions of varieties
until he finds one or two with the necessary properties.
Here's what "Lenin" award laureate,
Nikolay Dubinin, has to say.
- Indeed, crops with useful features for agriculture
are seldom met in nature.
Thus, in creating new varieties, breeders face hereditary conservatism.
May this dependency be decreased?
Modifying chromosomes leads to Mutation,
thus creating new qualities in plants.
Mutations may be the result of chromosomal changes,
both chemical and structural.
If breeders could willingly cause gene mutations,
and change chromosome structures,
then they will control the plants' hereditary change in nature.
So, how to enter the cell's molecular structures?
Radioactivity can do that.
It is a wonderful molecular surgical instrument.
It produces the finest operations inside chromosomes,
modifies gene chemistry, rebuilds their structure.
The cell gains new properties
that become stable features of a radioactive mutant.
- Tell us about the beginnings of radiobiology in Moldova.
- I remember radiobiology experiments at my institute, back in 64-65.
In the beginning, when I was still a student.
For obtaining various mutations, we first used liquid mutagens
like radioactive phosphorus and sulphur
mutants were further used to get hybrids
which would be planted on thousands of land hectares,
and that's how it began.
Then, in 67-68, they brought in more powerful machinery.
- Currently everyone is concerned with creating hi-tech robots.
We are creating "plant robots" the very same way.
- Could you please tell us about the history of radiobiology?
How did man come to the ability to modify crops, specifically?
- After 1900, Genetics started developing in a major way as a science.
Researches were also made by Russian Scientists.
A massive contribution, was that of Iosif Rapoport
and also an enormous contribution of Dubinin.
Based on research on drosophila melanogaster and other insects,
he noticed that under Gamma ray influence eye colour and wing form may change
to a great extent, just like all other features.
Thus they concluded that Gamma rays produce mutations.
- After the war, a big group of scientists
from across the Soviet Union,
were sent to Moldova.
I must mention that Moldova
was among the Soviet Union's best equipped
radiobiology research centers.
- The beans that used to grow in Moldova
were not suitable for mechanised picking,
The beans layed on the ground and it had big grains.
We needed to create a variety that would grow straight up,
with smaller grains,
which could be cultivated by tractor and harvested by combine.
We picked a Mexican black bean variety,
and exposed them to Gamma rays.
The mutants obtained
stood up better.
We also changed the colour of the seeds from black to white.
We then exposed the seeds again to Caesium rays
and obtained a variety with straight up branches.
And you could see fences of peas on the fields where it was sown.
All in one size and shape!
That's what we did...
- We went to Moscow in '68
and brought the Kolos radioactive unit to irradiating seeds before planting.
This was the first such equipment and was mounted on
an old American built Studebaker Truck.
This was our first unit.
We used to call her Marusia.
She was quite obedient. Marusia, Marusia.
That's how the name Marusia stuck.
We later got other machines.
We just called those Kolos, left them nameless.
- Tell us what purpose did the machine serve?
- It was sent here to prove that radiation may be applied in agriculture.
- Which cultures did you treat with radiation, specifically?
- Most often we irradiated corn seeds.
To a smaller extent Sunflower seeds.
Then oats, as well as wheat grains.
We even treated pumpkin seeds at the Tiraspol Institute.
Peas also.
Let me show you a specific example.
They are clearly illustrating how radiation quantitatively increased this culture's yield.
Look how satisfied they were!
Green the leaves of flower grow I love how they sing in Kotovsk
Be they small kids or their grandads Be they beautiful girls or their strong lads
Let this whole country of ours sing, About this wealthy life we have!
- The main element of our machinery is the ionising chamber.
Inside which there are tens of Cobalt 60 isotopes
generating up to 1 million Roentgens per hour.
Radio-stimulation usually applies to seeds before plantation.
Imagine that seeds are sleeping.
And we must wake them so they rise from the ground quickly.
Thus, exposing seeds to a small dose of radiation will energize them.
For a person, it's the equivalent of a strong coffee with a dash of Cognac.
By getting this stimulation, plants grow quickly,
exceeding other plants' development.
Further, however, plant development depends
on environmental conditions, but an early start means faster growth.
This is the stimulatory pre-planting dose.
- Moldova was in a way lucky for having these people
leading the science of Radiobiology.
In case of corn, the pre-planting irradiation of seeds
was practiced on half of Moldova's agricultural fields.
I'm referring to the radioactive treatment of seeds with stimulatory doses
that increased the yield of agricultural crops by 30%.
- Can you tell us a bit about the generations?
At which generation can mutations occur?
Can mutations occur at the third generation, for example?
- If mutation occurs, it is final.
If you cut off a finger...
it won't grow back.
No way out.
The same goes for mutation.
If it hits a chromosome,
it changes it forever. No way back!
Thus mutation is stable.
- Once, my research advisor and I radiated cotton,
and obtained green cotton fiber.
I asked him: what do we gained from that?
He smiled, since he knew I was still young.
The explanation was:
Army camouflage is green.
So, no need to paint it green.
By using mutating dosage, we got phenomenal results with sunflower.
Upon extraction, the sunflower oil taste
was similar to the flavour of olive oil.
Stefania Rares is singing.
Mamma told me to dance with Just the lad wearing the nice clothes
I’ll dance with the one I love, And don’t care what mama says!
Whatever mamma says, I will dance with whomever i want!
I will dance and party on, Untill all my years have gone!
- Evolution is a continuous process.
It constantly creates and modifies all living things.
Mutations are the main factor of evolution.
However, the frequency of naturally occurring mutations is quite small.
Yet, with the help of these radioactive equipment, we can increase
mutation frequency hundreds and even thousands of times.
Thus, we can accelerate the creation of any variety we would need from nature.
- Tell us about this machinery, please.
How does it work?
What isotopes does it use?
- The Stebel 3A machine,
works with Caesium 137 sources,
generating 700-800 Roentgen units/minute,
and we use it to blast seeds with radiation.
It took great effort to find out the right dosage,
to obtain the mutants we needed.
- In Moscow they didn't get to identify
radiation exposure durations necessary for agricultural crops.
Later, here in Moldova we were basically forced
to calculate the necessary dosage,
be they 500 or 1000 Roentgen Units, based on each separate crop variety.
Thus, by raising radiation exposure, we risked decreasing yields instead of increasing them.
- I was transferred from the horticulture institute,
to the botanical garden institute.
There, I fell in love with local plants, especially flowers.
I got 12 varieties of Iris with the help of radiation.
These Iris flowers were of very high quality.
They were lovely, drought and frost resistant,
I was the breeder who created these flowers of unequal beauty in the world.
Their unique beauty was even appreciated
by the Moldova State Variety committee.
- Tell us about the portable radiation units...
- Our laboratory also used portable units for plant irradiation.
A bit earlier you saw our RHM Gamma 20, a fixed type unit.
But if the plant had to be irradiated in field conditions,
then we carried these units in the field with a special stroller.
We mounted them on tripods and proceeded to irradiate the plants.
For example, we would blast the plants' reproductive organs, like the corn husk.
Therefore, we used them to irradiate reproductive organs in field conditions,
Do you understand?
The corn cob may not simply be picked and brought
to the laboratory for treatment with RHM Gamma 20 and planted back...
The cob is the female reproductive organ in corn
and we used this equipment to irradiate the corn ovuli.
Thus not the matured cob, but the barely incipient one was irradiated.
In its meiotic stage.
- You spoke about cases when you radiated corn with the Kolos unit...
- Yes.
... with Marussia, and the unit jammed.
Could you expand on that?
- We used to receive corn seeds from the factory, in 25 kg bags.
There were 2 labels inside.
When we placed bags in the irradiation container,
sometimes labels inside could jam the ionising mechanism.
In such cases, I used to remove labels with my bare hands.
From what I read, I was sure
that my hands could resist up to 15 000 Roentgens,
since blood circulation is low here.
However if radiation were to hit your chest,
500 Roentgens would make you a hopeless case for medicine.
- Did you have such cases ?
- I can only say that...
some nasty warts would often appear on my hands,
but they were gone in a few months.
Then they would reappear.
This is what I clearly observed about consequences on myself.
- If radiation affects a person for a long time,
their body could suffer fatal mutations
that would lead to certain death.
Thus, if people get exposed to excessive radiation they die.
We also generate crop mutations,
yet, we throw many of the mutants away,
keeping only the ones we prefer.
You can't do the same with the humans...
- Most of my colleagues who worked in the biophysics lab
are gone now.
Almost no one left from my team... All died young...
That's what working with radiation does.
- The year is 1964.
A delegation of Japanese scientists visits Moldova.
They are accompanied by Moscow officials.
Together with the party leadership, they visit a number of local collective farms.
They also visit Onitcani village, in the Criuleni district.
- Is there a connection between that visit and applying radioactive isotopes
in Moldovan agriculture?
- Who decided Moldova is the place?
- Moldova was first among Soviet Republics
in agricultural experiments.
It started with the testing of various chemicals in the 50s-60s,
and soon after an agreement was reached with Moscow
that Moldova would be centre of radioactive breeding.
They begin by using radioactive phosphorus and sulphur.
Then, the Moscow Nuclear Agency began to heavily finance
atomic gardening in Moldova.
That's how radiation began to be implemented in Moldova's Agriculture.
- Comrade Nikita Khrushchev's arrives to decorate
the Republic with the "Order of Lenin" Award,
He inspires the working people of our towns and villages
to new heroic deeds in the name of communism.
- Dear Comrades!
The Moldovan people,
with the brotherly help of all the peoples of the Soviet Union
has achieved spectacular results in developing economy and culture.
These results are highly prized by the Communist Party and the Soviet Government.
For outstanding results in developing horticultural breeding practices,
the increase of agricultural production,
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
has honoured the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova
with the "Order of Lenin" Award.
Allow me to once again congratulate you, dear comrades
and the entire Moldovan people whom you represent,
for your success and the award received,
and to wish you further success and new awards.
- Besides Kolos and other radioactive installations,
a Gamma complex was built in Moldova.
Rumour has it, that is the second Gamma complex in the world.
There was another such complex in Japan in the 1930s.
Imagine that! The Japanese working with radiation back in those days!
Can you believe that ?!
And now a second one in Moldova, much more advanced and sophisticated.
An enormous circle with an all-round wall
to prevent radioactivity from breaching the perimeter.
- Tell us about the projects in radiobiology held here, in Moldova.
- I don't remember them all.
The Gamma Field was the main one, and various machines were made...
They believed radiation could generate highly valuable mutants
that would right all wrongs.
And they also believed that radiation could stimulate
certain processes in the plant.
- I am Valery Akimov.
I will be 72 next week.
In the mid-70s, the construction of a unique Gamma Field began
under the direction of the Chisinau Agricultural Institute.
This Gamma Field is a 100 meter diameter circle,
Cobalt 60 Isotopes were used as radioactive sources here.
In the center of the Gamma Field there were two irradiating machines
one of them was called "Gamma-Panorama",
and it irradiated the entire experimental field simultaneously.
The other unit was called "Flora-M".
It irradiated crops in strictly defined sectors,
without affecting crops in other sectors.
During the irradiation of crops, no one was allowed to be present
in the experimental field perimeter.
Everyone was behind the protective wall
and barbed wire fence.
- Hello! - Hi!
- We're looking for this Gamma Field circle.
Gamma Field or something...
- I don't know where it is.
- Old folks must know.
- We have no grandma or grandpa.
Mother doesen't know also... No idea.
- Hello! - Hi!
- We're looking for the...
Gamma Field...
The Gamma Field. - We don't know.
- We aren't from around here.
- Thank you!
- Hello!
I'm looking for the Gamma Field. The circle.
- Have you find it?
- Can't say that I have!
- See the bus station over there?
Take that upper road.
Cross through the village, and another kilometer straight
keep on driving forward
untill you see a hill.
- Do you know what it was used for?
- It eliminated radiation
for experiments.
There was a bunker there,
with an atom inside.
It eliminated radiation...
They were making experiments to see how plants would grow...
That's my understanding of what was done there.
Moscow used to run the show.
Locals had no idea of the consequences.
The thing is folks were unaware of the harm done.
Radiation used to glow all around the village and fields...
They were doing experiments... to kinda see plant growth, you know...
- How do you know all this? Did you work there?
- I didn't, but some of my peers did.
Among them many older than me. Some died. Many were crippled.
But most of those who worked in that field passed away.
- Any of those who used to work there, left in the village?
- There's a woman around here...
She's still alive... I think...
- Hello! - Hello!
- Do you know where the Gamma Field is?
- Straight ahead.
- You know what it was used for?
- ...Agriculture stuff...
- Anyone working there left around?
- I used to work there as a driver.
- Where?
- At the Gamma Field.
- I used to drive the boss around.
- Who was the boss?
- Akimov.
- Anyone else who worked there left in the village?
- Yup. Tolya Grabovsky...
Veronica.
Most of them died, though.
- Why?
- Drinking, they say...
- Hello!
We're looking for Mrs. Veronica.
- What for?
- We wish to talk to her.
- Mrs. Veronica, we're from Chisinau,
and we are here to make a film about this science... radiobiology.
We heard there used to be a Gamma Field here.
Is it true? Rumour has it that you worked there.
- Here we had the barley...
Here we had peas...
Strawberries here...
You can see the vineyard there.
Here guards installed some scarecrows to keep birds away.
You know, from eating sunflower seeds.
- How were these plants different from others?
- Well,they were very different. You see...
Corn grew twice as big there, reaching 2-3 meters.
Corn!
No corn that tall now.
We used to go around measuring crops.
We wrote down: 185 cm from end to end.
Corn was brown, black, blue, red... Any colour you like.
Apple trees had more fruits than leaves.
Heavenly!
Grapes were so big... I can't tell you in words...
Eating fruit was forbidden. Unless they allowed us to. Because it was radiated.
If they radiated it all night, we weren't allowed to eat any fruit until noon.
We waited for radiation to evaporate or something and then they'd let us eat. No other way.
- Where's everybody else who worked there?
- All of them died.
- They were dumb enough to go in there and steal...
Watermelons there were huge, enormous...
Akimov would number them from 1 to 100...
When he went to check he'd see there was no 90, no 70,
The biggest watermelons were gone.
So, they're all dead, only me and Iulia are alive now.
Since Iulia's left to work in Italy, I'm the only one around here.
- What killed them, in your view? Was it the Gamma Field?
- There was a guard with horrible warts on his hands.
How can i put it... Really nasty ones!
- What's up with you? I asked. - Radiation, he said.
- Why would you go there? - Why should Akimov eat it all? he replied.
I, myself didn't want to go there for one strawberry and so I never entered.
- Hi, guys! - Hi!
- We're looking for the Gamma Field.
- It's over by that tree.
It's there!
- On the right side ?
- Yes, there's a road there.
- Thank you!
- Hello! - Hi!
- I'm Dragos.
- Alexandru. - Nice to meet you.
- I wanted to ask you what's up with this circle?
- All this wilderness here? - Yes.
- I don't know. I've been here for three days now.
- Ever wondered why this circle is here?
- I was thinking they maybe wanted to build a lake or something...
- Been here with the cows for three days you say?
- Yes, since I came from somewhere else.
- There was a radioactive Gamma Garden here.
- I don't know anything.
-I want to measure radiation levels here.
- You want to measure it, you say?
- Yeah, with these two devices here.
Here, hold one!
- Which one? - This one.
This one measures radioactivity.
And I thought we'd measure it here.
This is another piece of equipment.
Let's go closer to the centre.
- Those who started building must know what the deal was.
- Right...
- I'll switch to another mode now...
Hold it and tell me when this moves up.
You see this indicator arrow here? It shows radiation levels around.
See, Alexandru these plants are in a straight line.
You can see that it's man-made.
Only sage left, on that hill there...
However other plants used to grow here.
- Yeah.
- Folks in the village said there were plenty of various plants here.
- Heard that? - Yep, a beep.
- Apparently, the ground is still contaminated.
- Does this mean it still works or what?
- Radiation remains in the ground for years to come.
So... it's not ok to stay here for long.
- Really? - Yeah.
- What is this radiation? Heat or what?
- When man discovered radiation,
he created radioactive elements with very strong energies.
Did you feel anything while being here?
- No, nothing.
Maybe a bit light headed when I got up, that's all.
- These trees were abandoned by scientists,
probably when the circle was destroyed, the trees remained like that,
cherry trees, apple trees.
That's what's left of the heaven on earth, as Mrs. Veronica who worked here would say.
- As the only rational being on earth, man was often arrogant.
By declaring himself King of nature, without solid reason, he tried to tame nature.
Here's an example from life.
The King of nature tangoes with the almost extinct King of animals.
Everybody's satisfied and happy.
- Tell us a bit about scale.
- Moldova enlarged this scale to a pretty large extent.
In 3-4 years, Kolos was even transported to Ukraine for seed radiation.
- From what I observed in archived footage, people had this confidence about themselves.
People operating radioactive equipment, I mean.
They were certain that this science would never fail!
- They were in such a hurry to implement radiobiology in agriculture...
I mean, first of all, that experiments should have been initially tested in trial laboratories.
Starting on large scale fields, from the onset,
unaware of the dosage for each crop, was premature.
That's why I was not satisfied.
Because we started on immense territories.
However, we had no fundamental bases for that.
- Quality was ignored, only quantity mattered.
This is why we have such dire consequences now,
because, in my opinion,
most disasters we face today,
such as lack of intellect, various ilnesses,
were caused by low quality products.
They thought that if radiation gets you a mutant, it'll solve all your problems.
Often, when large doses were applied, entire batches perished.
Mutations occurred in a very low percentage of cases - 0,02%.
But it was obvious that upon rising radioactive exposure,
seeding material loses germination and dies. Thus the organism dies.
The same can happen to humans, animals,
mosquitos, bees, and therefore to plants.
- You're saying they had no time to think of their deeds?
Science should usually consider the possible consequences.
- I don't know if they had no time to think, in their hurry,
during the 4-5 years of implementing these practices in Moldova,
or whether they dreamed of getting the State Prize.
- I, myself was concerned about certain issues that science overlooked.
Like what should we do with the waste?
What can we observe, after 70 years of radiobiology in Moldova?
In your opinion, what is left behind?
- Hard to say...
They should have thought about the present and future.
For example, nuclear power plant management is handling such issues,
by disposing of radioactive waste in specialised storage facilities.
In a hundred years maybe they will reuse it,
science is not ready for such recycling yet.
The same should've been done with atomic gardening.
Not like we did. We hurried with the Kolos machines,
and now we don't know what to do with them.
- Famous geneticist, Soviet Academy of Sciences member,
"Lenin" Award Laureate, Nikolay Dubinin,
was willing to answer our questions.
- The "Pravda" newspaper just published
a very negative article on breeding of soils,
showing how well-wishing turns to harm.
Because people don't know how to work the soils.
That is why our investment returns are on a constant decrease
and are currently approaching minimum values.
For this and other related reasons, harvest yields don't actually increase.
Our aim is to finally achieve party goals
of harvesting 250 million tons per year.
Still, the plant itself is part of the task! Aside from the the soil and fertilizers.
Therefore Moldova's experience is crucial for the entire Soviet Union in this case!
- We are inside a radiological objective.
Special objective 5101, 5102.
A codename left since Soviet times.
It basically stores all machinery used in Socialist Moldova's industry,
in agriculture and plant breeding research.
As you can see containers are stored behind these physical protection barriers,
with Kolos machines that used Caesium 137.
Over there, in the back we have RHM Gamma 20 machines
with Cobalt 60 isotopes,
as well as a Stebel unit,
which was used in a plant breeding research institute,
namely Selectia.
Now these machines, are placed in a protective container.
Until 2003, were carelessly abandoned under open skies.
I feel like I am inside pyramid of Cheops.
A space full of old artifacts.
Relics that once served for a purpose
and have currently turned to waste and not just waste but also problems.
- How many years will it take to enter this place without risk?
How much time is needed untill all isotopes fully disintegrate?
- If we talk about all the radioactive source types stored here,
in some cases it would take no less than tens of thousands of years
till it would be possible to enter here without facing danger.
Such an approach is impossible for radioactive waste management.
- In these capsules we have C14 Radioactive Carbon,
with a 6000-year half-life.
- During inventory, the background of radioactive isotopes is checked.
It is still active.
We notice the red colour on that Geiger counter.
It means it has to be further kept in the safe.
- Please explain what "half-life" is?
A simple definition, please...
- In physics, "half-life" is called "the law of radioactive decay".
- The period in which radioactive material intensity drops by half.
For example, Cobalt 60 has a half-life of 5 years.
So in 5 years its power will drop twice.
And so it happens every 5 years.
It will be 4 times as weak in 10 years,
and 8 times as weak in 15 years.
- How about Carbon 14, with a half-life of 6000 years,
how much will it take for it to not be dangerous anymore?
- Sixty Thousand Years. - That's ten half-lives.
- Theoretically, 10 half-lives are enough
for radioactive material to become non-hazardous.
- 60 thousand years. - Yes, 60 thousand years.
- How would you see radiobiology as a science.
Is it a failed science? Is Moldova to blame for its failure?
- It was and still is an important science,
though not for use in agriculture to obtain large crop yields.
This was obvious from the beginning and they should have admitted it.
- So, a proud scientist can't admit he failed?
It is human nature to make mistakes.
- Admitting failure is difficult for an ordinary man,
but if he has a scientific title, a high-level position,
then it's extremely hard, obviously...
- When I came to see the results, I used to ask:
- How's the yield? The answer was: Good yield!
- What are your results? - Good results!
You'll get whatever results you want.
In this case, science was not quite scientific...
- Thus, the experiment did not have the desired result?
Were the expectations too big, or what?
- The Party wanted big results.
I repeatedly warned my bosses.
The answer was: - Did you get the money?
Are you conducting experiments? Are you working?! Carry on!
- It's 2018...
Radiation breeding is still applied at the Genetics Institute,
using the same equipment as half a century ago.
- Just like in the beginning,
today's atomic breeders, stayed with the mindset that radiation can change things...
Yes, it does cause change... So what?
- 50. That's one.
100. Do you also have 100?
You don't, I have 100. Write that down.
50,
100,
150 in mine. In yours?
- No.
- 200.
- I really hope rabbits won't eat all my chickpeas, like last year.
The jerks seem to distinguish irradiated plants and eat them all.
It's like they choose them specifically.
Only stems are left behind them.
- One day, we'll catch ourselves one of these huge rabbits and make a stew.
- Do you think it's normal to still use radiation in biology in 2018?
How much longer do you plan to use this equipment?
Not for long, from what we know.
However, we hope our unit will continue to be used.
So we, and our successors could continue our work.
I believe that the methods we use in our research,
will also be used in the future.
Why do you think man uses radioactive mutagenesis?
What is the final goal?
- The goal is to eat well, to live well.
Work less and have more. That's it...
- Dorin, are you done with the samples?
- Yes. - Let's take them...
How long do you think exposure will take?
- Usually about 3-4 hours. It depends...
The unit is old and rusty, it squeaks, here and there.
- Hopefully it will last for another year or two,
while we still have initial material to make.
- I wish rabbits wouldn't eat my chickpeas. - You and your rabbits...
- Now, let's take them.
I'll take 4, you take the rest, and we're off.
Take your phone, I'll take my glasses.
- Let me get my diary... - The record book,
so we could apply the necessary dosage...
We're off.
- Let me start by saying this is not my first interview,
so, I don't give a damn about your camera and your microphone.
I am calm and I will only speak what I must.
Put this on record, please.
Smile, please.
Yes, that's right.
I started the construction of this Gamma Field, where we are now
and by the will of destiny, I also dismantled it,
and sent the radioactive sources into final disposal.
- What if radiobiology in Moldova would have been a success story?
How'd Moldova, or even the whole world, look today?
- You're asking a philosophical question.
No one will answer it. To be honest, I do not even know what to answer.
- Imagine that the Gamma Field is still functional,
and you are still its director nowadays?
- My opinion is that the Gamma Field is one of a kind
and it is a pity that we have what we have today.
If that had not happened, the Gamma Field would still work,
plants would have been growing and would have been irradiated here.
Improved crops would be obtained,
and this would be a contribution to the science of radiobiology.
- How would the world look like without radiobiology? What would differ?
- Again with the philosophical questions...
- Did the results justify the sacrifices of scholars?
- This is a provocative question, allow me to not answer it.
"Moldova must become the Garden of the Soviet Union." N.S. Khrushchev
A Communist Party meeting was dedicated to this issue.
Referring to Comrade Khrushchev's visit to Moldova,
Republican Communist Party First Secretary, Zinovi Serdiuk
noted in his speech:
-I think, as Nikita Sergeyevich said,
that Moldova should be focused on one thing - becoming the Soviet Garden,
deliver delicacies to the Soviet people:
grapes, wines, juices, fruit.
The Moldovan people embraced this task from Comrade Khrushchev
as its honourable destiny, being firmly committed to its accomplishment in reality.
To properly organize themselves for the continuous development of horticulture,
and thus successfully follow Comrade Khrushchev's instructions.
After all my attempts to find the truth,
it seems it remains hidden somewhere in the past.
I understood that the decisions of politicians
can lead to human sacrifices
and can even influence the growth of plants.
I wonder...
Where in the world will the next Soviet Garden appear?