Zarko Bogosavljevic was 38 at the time of the accident and worked in the Belgrade land development agency as an electrical engineer. He remembers staring at the sky looking for black clouds coming his way. About the precautions he took and his views on nuclear energy he spoke to his niece, Milena Tatalovic.
We conducted the interview in his and my aunt’s apartment in a suburb of Belgrade one afternoon.
Zarko Bogosavljevic was born on 9th of March 1948 in Belgrade, which was at that time capital of Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. He finished Electrical Engineering University in Belgrade and he had been working for many years in the Belgrade land development public agency as electrical engineer.
He is married to Zorka Bogosavljevic, a mechanical technician by profession, 63 years old, and currently retired. They got married in 1974.
In 1986, at the time Chernobyl accident happened, Zarko was 38 years old and lived in Belgrade with his wife Zorka, and their two kids, Zoran and Jelena. Zoran was 10, and Jelena was 6 at that time. Even then he was working in Belgrade land development public agency.
The first thing that crosses his mind when he hears the word „nuclear threat“ is the weapon and rising threat of terrorism in world. However, on the mention of the „Nuclear Power Plant“ his first association is great potential in energy. He didn’t know too much about nuclear energy production at that time, except that he believed that it had a potential in becoming very important source of energy.
Read the full interview