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What Caused the Catastrophic Nuclear Accident in Chernobyl?

Mar 19, 2024
Chernobyl is a city in Ukraine located about 56 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of the capital, kyiv. Before the disaster and subsequent evacuation, it housed about 14,000 people. At that time it was still part of the Soviet Union. The city was the location of the first

nuclear

power plant built in Ukraine, but disaster struck on April 26, 1986 when reactor number 4 exploded. The city is still home to about 690 people, although it is now something of a ghost town, with animals occupying many abandoned buildings. Most residents live about 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the disaster site in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and, surprisingly, international tourists flock to the area.
what caused the catastrophic nuclear accident in chernobyl
But

what

exactly happened in Chernobyl? That is

what

we will discover today, in this episode of the Infographics program, What

caused

the

catastrophic

nuclear

accident

at Chernobyl? As CNN reported in 2016, if you visit Chernobyl now as a tourist, you will be taken on a strictly guided tour of what was once a busy, if not small, city. The photographs show a place that has been frozen and overgrown, a sort of eerie remnant of a city where people once lived and worked, and where children played on the now-disused Ferris wheel. The explosion of the nuclear power plant is considered the worst nuclear disaster in the history of the world.
what caused the catastrophic nuclear accident in chernobyl

More Interesting Facts About,

what caused the catastrophic nuclear accident in chernobyl...

Radioactive dust was sent everywhere and carried by winds to Sweden. The number of deaths directly related to the initial explosion is believed to be about 31, although the WHO reports that another 50 deaths occurred later as a result of massive radiation exposure that day. These deaths were mostly workers and rescuers. Two people died as a result of injuries sustained in the explosion. The WHO further states that around 4,000 deaths in total can be attributed to radiation exposure due to the event. On the day of the disaster, thousands of people were exposed to high levels of radiation and the WHO stated that these people have a high risk of developing cancer throughout their lives.
what caused the catastrophic nuclear accident in chernobyl
Even the millions of people living miles away from the site in other parts of the then-Soviet Union were exposed to low levels of radionuclides (or atoms containing excess nuclear energy) and they, too, are at increased risk of cancer. Furthermore, many of those displaced suffered economically and psychologically, especially because some were never provided with sufficient information about the danger to which they had been exposed. According to recent reports, areas at least 30 kilometers (19 mi) away from the crash site are mostly radiation-free, although some lakes and forests are off-limits areas or at least restricted to the public. "In most areas the problems are economic and psychological, not health or environmental," said Dr.
what caused the catastrophic nuclear accident in chernobyl
Mikhail Balonov, a radiation expert and scientific secretary of the Chernobyl Forum. So yes, now this is a tourist place for those who want to see what a ghost town is like. We analyzed blogs written by travelers who visited the exclusion zone. One of them wrote that when she was invited she thought it was a joke, thinking like many people that visiting a place like that was too dangerous. She wrote that, in the absence of people, the area has once again become home to wandering bears, wild horses, deer, foxes, wolves... and dogs, many stray dogs. While you are instructed not to touch things, eat or drink during the tour, her guide checks radiation levels throughout the visit. “I felt like I was walking through a horror theme park,” she said of an abandoned kindergarten, saying there were still dolls hanging around.
Anyway, you get the idea, let's now talk about what happened that fateful day. Well, according to the World Nuclear Association, this is how it happened. We will try to explain it as clearly as possible, because it is not so simple if you do not work as a nuclear energy engineer. Workers at Chernobyl Reactor 4 were conducting a test to see if the turbines could provide enough power to keep the coolant pumps running in the event of a power loss, and if they could keep them running until the emergency diesel generator was activated. I had done this test before, but had been unsuccessful.
They lowered the reactor to 25 percent of its capacity, but a problem arose when the power dropped to one percent. They then tried to increase the power, but what followed was a massive power surge. The emergency shutdown of the reactor failed. An engineer had wanted to abort the test, but a superior told him to continue. Then the reactor became even more unstable. This

caused

considerable pressure and, according to a step-by-step report witnessed by an engineer, “the 1.5 ton (350 kg) blocks on top of the Upper Biological Shield fuel channels began to jump up and down and collapse.” They could feel the shock waves through them. the structure of the building.
What did he do then? Of course, she ran there and went down a series of steps to inform the others of what she had seen. The pumps failed, there was no water flow, and the reactor started making loud noises. As another website tells us about the sudden power increase: “A quirk in the design of the control rods caused a dramatic power surge when they were inserted into the reactor.” The hot fuel combined with cold water created a mass of steam that could not escape and caused a lot of pressure. This lifted a 1,000-ton lid and here we have the beginning of the radiation leak.
Air entered the reactor and caused a graphite fire. A second explosion occurred when hydrogen was formed when hot water vapor came into contact with zirconium. This was a much larger explosion than the first and sent debris everywhere. The power went out, except for the battery-powered lighting. The air was full of dust. A man died and his body was trapped in all the rubble. The burning of fuel caused fires everywhere and radiation was spewed into the atmosphere. All internal telephone lines went down and workers fled the scene. The firefighters arrived apparently unaware of the danger they were in due to the radiation leak.
Someone even joked, “There must be an incredible amount of radiation here. “We’ll be lucky if we’re all still alive tomorrow morning.” He was joking, but he wasn't far off. As one woman explained, the next day she found out there had been a fire, but the children were still playing, going to school, people were still milling about in the street, even though she said, “All the roads were covered in water.” and a little white liquid. Everything was white, foamy.” She added that she had not been informed about the danger of radiation and she stated: “About the radiation, that the radioactivity was leaking, there was not a word.” The reactor filled with water, but then flooding was a problem.
Then, for days, thousands of tons of clay, sand, boron and dolomite were dropped from helicopters into the burning reactor to quell the fire, but also to try to prevent the spread of radiation. For 10 days, a large amount of radioactive substances invaded the air, most of it falling as dust in nearby areas, but smaller particles were scattered far and wide by the wind. We all know what happened next. We must add that there are numerous scientific theories about what exactly happened that day, and this is just a basic summary of the most widespread belief. Let's hope something like this never happens again.
So would you ever consider visiting Chernobyl? Tell us why or why not in the comments. Also, be sure to watch our other video called Russia vs. the European Union: Who Would Win? Thanks for watching and as always don't forget to like, share and subscribe. Until next time!

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