Chernobyl Worst Nuclear disaster in history Location The

Chernobyl Worst Nuclear disaster in history

Location: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster occurred in Pripyat, Ukraine in 1986.

Before the accident Workers of the power plant were trying to do an exercise on sector 4 to see how the nuclear power station would cope if its electricity supply failed. To do this, they switched off a pump that supplied with water that was used to cool down the uranium. The uranium became really hot and the technicians tried to cool it down but they failed

What happened The reactors fuels elements raptured and there was a really violent explosion Graphite that was covering the reactor ignited and burned for 9 days releasing huge amounts of radiation The accident released more radiation the dropping of the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

The effects Exposure to radiation caused many health problems The accident increased thyroid cancer among children in areas of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. many who were exposed to radiation made it to adult hood and had children, some indication showed that their children may be suffering from the radiation from their parents

Fatalities 2 people died during the accident. Lots of groups have come up with different estimates like The environmental Greenpeace, they looked at Europe and estimated that 93, 000 people will die from radiation Its hard for them to estimate since some of the effects started kicking in after the disaster

Changes in Lithosphere Over 63, 000 square miles of land has been effected by the accident The rural parts of the land has been severely devastated. The soil has become contaminated which would contaminate crops growing there.

Effect on the environment The radioactive particles have settled on the trees and lots of them have died. The red forest was a result of this and was one of the most contaminated terrestrial habitats

Other impacts on the environment Contamination of groundwater Contaminating crops Animals becoming radioactive

Why is it important? People are being more precocious and power plants are being safer People are debating whether nuclear power plants are worth having because supporters for nuclear power say that the risk of having accidents are low but opponents say it can cause lots of damage and they have the accident of Chernobyl to prove it

What people have done They have built a concrete cover which is called a sarcophagus and that helped the radiation from getting into the atmosphere. They put it around sector 4 since it was damaged. They have tried to clean the area and it is kind of safe because the radiation levels are not that bad in the exclusive zone, people can tour there. They can tour but not live there. It will take a long time to make it safe for people to live there

Chernobyl Now There is a 30 km exclusion zone that people cannot live on and they cant run any business in the zone, its against a law that they made. People can come and visit.

Chernobyl now Scientists are surprised by the recovery of the animals living in that area. The animals have been infected with radiation but somehow manage to live and they have benefited from the lack of people

Any lasting effects? There is still radiation but its not as much as it used to be. There is still a lot of cleaning to do The animals have been contaminated with radiation Its is still an exclusion zone and will be for a long time

Sources http: //www. greenpeace. org/international/en/ca mpaigns/nuclear/nomorechernobyls/whathappened-in-chernobyl/ http: //www. friendsofchernobylcenters. org/fact s. html http: //news. bbc. co. uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_49 40000/newsid_4943000/4943008. stm http: //www. eoearth. org/view/article/152617

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