Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

By coppell1234

  • Building Chernobyl

    http://history1900s.about.com/od/horribledisasters/p/Chernobyl.htmThe agreement to build the Chernobyl power plants dates from 1966. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in northern Ukraine, approximately 80 miles north of Kiev. Its first reactor went online in 1977, the second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983; two more were planned for construction. Pripyat was also built near the Chernobyl Nuclear plant to house the workers and their families.

  • The Day Before

    http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/04/chernobyl_disaster_25th_annive.htmlThe reactor was at full power operating normally. A test was conducted in the effort to determine if one of the turbines could supply power to feed water pumps until standby diesel generators came on line. Steam power was directed to both turbines of the power generators. The test was designed to be conducted at 22%-32% full power. However the demand in electricity was still high at the time.

  • Explosion

    http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html Under intense heat, the core began to break down. Steam tubes burst and tons of steam and water shot into the reactor. This caused a tremendous steam explosion. Steam pressure blew the 1000-ton steel and cement filled biologic shield off the top of the reactor, exposing the hot core to the atmosphere.

  • Mistake

    http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/04/chernobyl_disaster_25th_annive.htmlThe Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine was scheduled to have a routine safety test. Around 12:30am operators in the control room of reactor #4 failed to reprogram computer to maintain the power at 30%. That caused the power to move down to 1%. This amount of power was too low to conduct the test.

  • The Fire

    http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.htmlAt 2:00am the largest fires on the roof of the reactor hall were brought under control by a group of 100 fire fighters called in from the Pripyat. By 5:00am most of the fires were put out, but graphite fire had started. A graphite fire when ignited releases toxic radioactive substances into the atmosphere.

  • First Announcement

    Russian Announcementhttp://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html The nearby city of Prypiat was not immediately evacuated after the incident, for the general population of the Soviet Union was not informed of the disaster until 2 days later. TV news program Vremya made the announcement in a 20 second segment. Not long after, ABC released its report about the disaster.

  • First Cases of Radioative Deaths

    http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.htmlConsiderable amounts of radioactive material were released to the environment after the accident. Within a few weeks, 30 workers died and radiation injuries occurred to over a hundred others. During the last 15 years, 60,000 people have additionally died in Russia because of the Chernobyl accident. Estimates of the total death toll for the Ukraine and Belarus could reach another 140,000.

  • The Second Reactor

    http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html A fire broke out in the turbine hall of Reactor 2 forcing Chernobyl officials to shut down the station's second reactor. The fire began in Reactor 2's Turbine 4 due to a hydrogen leak. Discussions about the future of nuclear energy resulted in the operation of Reactor 2 being canceled.

  • Closeing Chernobyl

    Effectshttp://atomicinsights.com/1996/04/chernobyl-health-effects-best-available-data.htmlAt a meeting in the Canadian capital Ottawa, Ukraine and the G7 group of the world's leading industrialized nations sign a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing to close Chernobyl. It involves commitments worth a total of some US$2.3 billion in aid from the G7 to support Chernobyl's closure by the year 2000.

  • Effects to this Day

    Geiger Counter Reading http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.htmlThe best estimate of radiation related illness is that there have been approximately 500-600 excess cases of thyroid cancer, mostly in children, in the areas most affected by the radioactive fallout. There have been other health effects from the accident that are worse, mainly because they could have been prevented.