Сhernobyl nuclear power plant
accident in Ukraine.
Where is Chernobyl?
Chernobyl is located about 81 miles (130 km) north of
Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and about 12 miles (20 km)
south of the border with Belarus. The fourth reactor at
the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was designed and
built during the 1970s and 1980s. A manmade reservoir,
roughly 8.5 square miles (22 sq. km) in size and fed by
the Pripyat River, was created to provide cooling water
for the reactor.
In the spring of 1986 the people of Pripyat in Ukraine
were enjoying unusually warm weather .Unseen and
unknown to them, just three kilometers away workers
at Chernobyl power plant were preparing to test the
nuclear reactor. The result of the test was unexpected
and catastrophic.
At 1:23a.m. on 26 of April 1986, the worst nuclear
power plant accident started to unfold. The Chernobyl
accident was the result of a flawed reactor design that
was operated with inadequately trained personnel.The
resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5%
of the radioactive dust into the atmosphere and wind
spread this over Ukraine.
Workers at the plant who were sent to put out the fire
died immediately from radiation. In many other people
developed serious disaster such a thyroid cancer in the
following year.In Ukraine, Russia and Belarus over one
million people affected by radiation. By 2000, about 4000
cases of thyroid cancer has been diagnosed in exposed
children
.
By 11:00 on 27 April, buses had arrived in Pripyat to start
the evacuation. The evacuation began at 14:00. Around
50.000 people left the city in the first evacuation and over
the next few months a futher 150.000 people moved from
the contaminated surrounding. Some people refused to
leave their homes.
Chernobyl today
Chernobyl unit 4 is now enclosed in a large concrete
shelter which was erected quickly (by October 1986) .
However, the structure is neither strong not durable.
A New Safe Confinement structure is due to be completed
in 2017.
The region today is widely known as one of the
world's most unique wildlife sanctuaries. Thriving
populations of wolves, deer, lynx, beaver, eagles,
boar, elk, bears and other animals have been
documented in the dense woodlands that now
surround the silent plant. Only a handful of
radiation effects, such as stunted trees growing in
the zone of highest radiation and animals with
high levels of cesium-137 in their bodies, are
known to occur.
But that's not to suggest that the area has returned
to normal, or will at any point in the near future.
Because of the long-lived radiation in the region
surrounding the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Plant, the area won't be safe for human habitation
for at least 20,000 years.
Created by the students of 8-A class
Glib Cherniy and Sofia Momotiuk