Kontrowersje związane z krótko i długofalowymi skutkami katastrofy w Czarnobylu (1986)

The assessment of the Polish authorities’ reaction to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 is ambiguous. Among researchers, historians, and journalists, there are often extremely different opinions on the preventive actions taken and the information policy of the PRL government. These differences are also visible in the assessment of the long-term effects of these actions. As a result of widespread disinformation during the disaster and subsequent conflicting narratives, so-called “radiophobia” and social experience marked by distrust and fear have grown, being structures of long duration and a cognitive matrix present in the reception of current events. The article aims to present interpretative doubts in the assessment of actions taken after the disaster and their contemporary consequences, primarily in the context of broadly understood nuclear threats.