For Svetlana Alexievich, this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Soviet Union is a kind of âhistorical Chernobyl that still produces contamination and radiationâpsychological, historical, political and cultural,â CU-Boulder expert Mark Leiderman observes. He says now is a good time for students and the world to learn more about Russia, and the university has already moved to meet that need.