Disasters: Chernobyl
In 1986, the workers at Chernobyl 4 decided to run tests to determine if the cooling system could keep the reactor core cool in the event of an electrical power outage in the time between the power outage and back up generator support. The scientist, Alexander Amikov, believed that the turbines could keep enough energy going to keep the water cooling pumps working for a 30-50 second delay before the emergency generator would kick in. One error made was the the engineers working on the reactor were specialists in electric generators not nuclear reactors and they were not informed on the proper safety measures of the reactor. The test was carried out with lack of communication and coordination among the staff performing the test and the staff who were supposed to keep the reactor safe. There was a lack of safety precautions used,due to a culture not focused on them due to Cold War isolation, that led to steps being taken that left the reactor unstable and at risk on top of the poor reactor design used only at Chernobyl. A power surge occurred that resulted in explosions and an almost complete destruction of the reactor.
Chernobyl reactor before the April 1986 accident.
A large dose of radioactive material was released as gas and also in small fragments of nuclear material. The release of this intense radioactive material lasted for 10 days, which decreased astronomically after the graphite fires were able to be put out. It is the largest uncontrolled radioactive release into the environment. The environmental decomposition is now considered to be in an equilibrium state though the radioactive cesium will be going through radioactive decay for another 300 years.. Thirty people were killed in the three months following the disaster; two people were killed on site due to the explosion and twenty eight killed due to acute radiation poisoning. The only threat to public health recognized was the rise in thyroid cancer in people exposed to the radiation. Most of the Northern Hemisphere was exposed to some sort of radiation. People living within a 30 kilometer radius of the accident were evacuated after a couple weeks, but by that time many of those people had received high doses of radiation to their whole bodies and thyroid. It is estimated that 1,000 people were exposed to very high levels of radiation, 600,000 emergency workers, and also over 4,000 children who drank contaminated milk who also developed thyroid cancer were effected by the accident with another 7 million people believed to also have been effected.
The disaster at Chernobyl urged nuclear power companies all over the world to strengthen safety precautions and nuclear reactor designs. This disaster, although the most serious nuclear power accident in history, is not something that is at risk for occurring again because most nuclear power companies have/had better designs and infrastructure in their operations. The monetary damage is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars because of resettling, healthcare, research into contaminated food, power loss, toxic waste clean-up, radiation monitoring, and the direct damage from the accident. More than 5,700 acres of farmland were contaminated and an estimated 5 million people live in a contaminated area currently, but there is no evidence that anything harmful is occurring.
Many species in Chernobyl have been changed due to the high levels of radiation. Some scientists say Chernobyl will not be ready to be inhabited again for another 20,000 years.
Chernobyl shortly after the explosions and reactor meltdown occurred.
25 Facts You May Not Know About The Chernobyl Accident
