Matthew BeebePeriod 7

Chernobyl

Source(http://www.ukrainianweb.com/chernobyl_ukraine.htm)

What Happened?

In 1986 a generator in a nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded

The accident was caused from a combination of flawed reactor design and under-trained personal

What Happened Continued

The reactor’s fuel cell was putting out too much heat for the coolant to handle

Radioactive debris spread over a 30 kilometer radius from the generator

In all, a total of 14 EBq of radiation was released into the environment

Over half of it spread by un-reactive gaseous elements

What Happened Continued

Over the next three months following the accident, two died on the day of the accident and 28 more died from radiation poisoning

The resettlement of the contaminated areas is an ongoing process

Contamination of water sources was quickly brought down to safe levels through dilution, and absorption of radionuclitides in bed sediment

Source(http://www.bigtrends.com/options/post-chernobyl-spx-performance-may-be-repeating/)

Who Was Impacted?

Chernobyl was located in the Soviet Union, what is now Ukraine

Iodine-131 and caesium-137 were the two main contaminants in the accident

Iodine-131 has a short half life of eight days

Caesium-137 was the main concern for the contaminated area with a longer half life of 30 years

Consequences

Any buildings or agriculture in a 30 kilometer radius was contaminated with radioactive nucleotides from the explosion

The area around Chernobyl was deemed uninhabitable and the agriculture contained too much radioactivity to be safely consumed

Source(http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/features/chernobyl-15/agriculture.shtml

Consequences Continued

The World Health Organization(WHO) conducted tests to analyze the effects that radioactive exposure had on a person’s health

WHO found that the scientist who originally contributed disease to overexposure to radioactivity had been incorrect

Source(http://aksynelek.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/chernobyl-nuclear-accident/)

Consequences Continued WHO found that the exposure to radioactive

waste had not been the cause of the diseases

People were exposed not only directly to the radiation, but the radiation was also in the food that they ate Bioaccumulation caused the animals in the area to obtain radiation.

Source(http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html)

The Lingering Effects

Pripyat, within the 30 kilometer radioactive radius of Chernobyl, is still uninhabited by today

Pripyat is considered an unofficial nature reserve

Source(http://funny.funnyoldplanet.com/strange/the-chernobyl-story-told-in-pictures/)

Chernobyl Today

The Ukraine government plans on opening the sarcophagus over Chernobyl reactor 4 to allow tourists to learn about the disaster.

Source(http://electrodes.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/remember-chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-contamination-worse-than-previously-thought/)

Works Cited International Atomic Energy Agency. "WHO | Chernobyl: the True Scale of the

Accident." World Health Organization. 5 Sept. 2005. Web. 22 Aug. 2011.

<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr38/en/index.html>. “Preface: The Chernobyl Accident." International Chernbyl Portal of the ICRIN

Project. UNICEF, 2010. Web. 20 Aug. 2011. <http://chernobyl.info/en-US/Home/History- of-Chernobyl-Disaster/The-Accident.aspx>.

Saunders, Doug. "Area around Chernobyl Remains Uninhabitable 25 Years Later - The Globe and Mail." Home - The Globe and Mail. MSNBC, 15 Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Aug. 2011. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/area-around- chernobyl-remains-uninhabitable-25-years-later/article1943614/>.

World Health Organization. "WHO | Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident." World Health Organization. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Web. 22 Aug. 2011. <http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/en/>.

World Nuclear Association. "Chernobyl | Chernobyl Accident | Chernobyl Disaster." World Nuclear Association | Nuclear Power - a Sustainable Energy Resource. NAC International, Apr. 2011. Web. 22 Aug. 2011. <http://www.world-

nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html>.