The
Chernobyl Accident
The Chernobyl
station is situated at the settlement of Pripyat, Ukraine, 18 km northwest of
the city of Chernobyl, 16 km from the border of Ukraine and Belarus, and about 110 km north of Kiev, the capital of
Ukraine.
The station consisted
of four reactors,
each capable
of producing 1 GW of
electric power. Construction of the plant began in the 1970s, with reactor
number 1 commissioned in 1977, followed by number 2 in 1978, number З in 1981,
and number 4 in 1983. Two more reactors number 5 and number 6, also capable of
producing 1 Gigawatt each were under construction at the time of the accident.
The Chernobyl
accident riveted international attention. Around the world, people read the
story and were profoundly affected. As a result, «Chernobyl» has entered the
public consciousness in a number of different ways and received worldwide media
attention.
The Chernobyl
accident was clearly a major disaster in human history. Public awareness of the
risks of nuclear power increased significantly. Organizations, both pro- and
anti-nuclear, have made great efforts to sway public opinion.
The Chernobyl
accident also came to symbolize the crumbling state of the USSR in public
perception, in particular a dangerous culture of incompetence and cover-up.
On Saturday, April
26, 1986, at 1:23:58 a.m. local time, the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl power
plant known as Chernobyl-4 suffered a catastrophic steam explosion that
resulted in a fire, a series of additional explosions, and a nuclear meltdown.
It is regarded as
the worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power ever happened. It
produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over parts of the western
Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, UK, and even eastern USA.
Large areas of
Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the
evacuation and resettlement of more than 300,000 people. About 60% of the
radioactive fallout landed in the neighbour republic Belarus.
Even now it is
difficult to accurately tally the number of deaths caused by the event at
Chernobyl, as most of the expected deaths are from cancer, have not yet
actually occurred, and are difficult to attribute specifically to the accident.
The Chernobyl
accident was not a unique event. Long before, in 1957 near Chelaybinsk-40, a
small top-secret town, the first nuclear accident occurred involved the first
serious nuclear contamination of vast territories. It was a nuclear explosion
happened in a tank with nuclear wastes. In 30 years such tragedy repeated at
Chernobyl.
People hope that
it was the last time because the third time might be the last one.
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