Chernobyl+Distaster

Commissioned by leader of the Soviet Union at the time, Leonid Brezhnev, in 1970, the Chernobyl Power Plant would be the first of its kind in the Ukraine. It contained four reactors, so powerful that the single plant provided 10% of the Ukraine’s electricity. A nearby city, Prypiat, was also constructed to house the construction workers, and eventually the workers of the plant. Brezhnev had plans to build not one or two reactors, but six. Only four had been completed at the time of the accident in 1986. What is widely accepted as the worst nuclear incident ever, worse than the combined effects of every nuclear accident that had preceded it, Chernobyl lives on as symbol of the collapse of the Soviet Union. On the morning of April 26th, 1986, a test was put into place at Reactor Four. The crew was testing how long the turbines would continue to spin in the case of a power outage. This would be a slightly modified version of a failed test that occurred a year prior. A serious design flaw coupled with untrained reactor workers led a power surge to cause the reactor to overheat. As a result of the intense pressure, a steam explosion ensued, releasing into the atmosphere fission products. Two seconds later, a second explosion sent hot graphite and metal fragments, resulting in the immediate death of two workers. The explosion, and resulting fire, created a radioactive cloud, which stretched over 1,000 meters upwards. 186 firefighters came to fight the flames, unaware that the fire they faced was not typical. It would not be extinguished for fourteen days. Radioactive levels spiked across the Ukraine, parts of Russia and Belarus. An increase in radioactivity was seen throughout Europe. The worst hit areas experienced 20,000 Roentgen per hour, the lethal limit for radioactivity being 500 Roentgen per hour. Cold War isolation had led to poorly designed and maintained facilities. The USSR was crumbling and this disaster only magnified that hard truth. = = ** Immediate Response ** The immediate death toll was at least 31, including workers and firefighters, who had been sent in to extinguish the radioactive blaze. The day after the incident, everything proceeded as usual. The remaining three reactors continued to operate; children of Prypiat went to school and their parents, even those at the plant, returned to work. They were assured the situation was under control and it was safe to continue on with their lives. Rumors of mysterious symptoms of the exposed firefighters spread like wildfire. Children were ordered to take iodine tablets to counteract some types of radiation. The next day, police officers ordered citizens to remain indoors with the windows tightly shut. Still, no questions were answered and the citizens of Prypiat were in the dark. Finally on April 29th, the government released a statement that could only begin to articulate the true radioactive nature of the explosion. The same day, a three-day plan was enacted which would evacuate over 350,000 citizens from the areas surrounding the reactor. The amount of radiation released was equal to approximately 400 times the amount released by Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The day following the incident, Swedish workers, 1100 km from Chernobyl, found high levels of radioactive material covering their clothing. The disaster not only affected those within the 30 km radius danger zone, but all of Europe.
 * Construction **
 * The Disaster **[[image:http://wayne.calvarychapelkaharlyk.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/chernobyl2.jpg width="174" height="210" align="right" caption="Chernobyl Reactor Four "]]

The government began construction of an enormous concrete wall, which would surround Reactor Four, a month following the incident. The wall was designed to contain the radiation, allowing the plant to continue operations in the remaining three reactors. Despite the lingering high levels of radiation, the plant continued to operate until it was entirely decommissioned on December 15th, 2000. Recently analyzed by Ukranian scientists, the areas surrounding Chernobyl will not be habitable for over 20,000 years. The UN would later estimate that upwards of 9,000 lives were lost due to consequences of the disaster. Cancer levels rose dramatically in children between the ages of 0 and 14 at the time of the incident. In Berlin, Down syndrome peaked exactly nine months after the disaster. Chromosomal conditions, physical mutations, increased suicide risk, increased levels of alcoholism and mental illness scarred a generation of Chernobyl victims and their children. The efforts to contain the radiation, including the evacuation of the area, crippled the Soviet economy, costing over 1.8 billion rubles (57 million Canadian dollars). Distrust and concern for the government of the USSR continued to grow, both outside and within the Iron Curtain. The disaster foreshadowed the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was eminent. While the USSR has dissolved, the uninhabited area surrounding Chernobyl will forever represent the dangers of isolationism and a secretive government.
 * Lo **** ng Term Effects **



Information credits: http://www.bentan.me/chernobyl/?page= http://www.our-energy.com/chernobyl_disaster.html http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/the-chernobyl-disaster-25-years-ago/100033/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster#Effects

Image credits: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l19380I2Nb1qbtkli.jpg http://funnybest.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/pr-img03.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f6/Chernobyl_burning-aerial_view_of_core.jpg