The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl is the most famous reactor meltdown in the world. Chernobyl is in the country of Ukraine. Chernobyl’s 4th reactor melted down on April 26th, 1986. An uncompleted safety check was the cause. Two Soviet workers died in the meltdown and many more were injured. After the disaster 600,000 Soviet Workers attempted to make a concrete and metal crypt around the fourth reactor. It was a failed attempt and although still standing, it could cave in at any moment. Funds for a permanent structure around the fourth reactor are being collected. They are going to have to rail in a dome structure the size of a football stadium to cover it.
However, what weren’t foretold were the long-term effects. Animal and human mutations, high cancer rates, and radiation poisoning are just a couple. Twenty-five years later the effects still show. Many plants and animals around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant were killed after the accident from radiation poisoning. Although many plants and animals came back, the effects from radiation still showed. Three-legged frogs. Radioactive flowers. Trees especially took a hit from radioactive materials. The Cesium and Plutonium released caused the trees to have stunted growth, deformed the branches and trunks, gave them unnaturally long or short needles and other things.
Other adverse affects include an increase in thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer however is one of the most curable of cancers. Most of this cancer appeared within a generation of Chernobyl and hasn’t been transferred to the new generation.
Although the radiation has done many bad things, it has also done some good. In the 40 mile diameter around Chernobyl, a vast collection of wildlife flourishes. The lack of human population in the “exclusion zone” has led to a wildlife haven free of human interaction. 57 species of birds (2007) were counted. There is also a type of radiotroph fungus growing in, on, and around the Chernobyl reactor.
Many humans have also returned to the disaster zones. About 400 people, mostly elderly people, have moved back into the 30 km “exclusion zone” defiant of Ukrainian authorities. Since then governments have been nice enough to give them electricity and bus service.
Many things happened during the yearssince the Chernobyl meltdown. Only some of which I discussed. What happened to the communities surrounding Chernobyl? How far did the radiation cloud spread? That is for you to find out.
I found this article very interesting, I knew about Chernobyl and how it was a radio active plant, but I never knew how the plant’s reactors blew up, or leaked radioactive material. According to http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Chernobyl-Accident/ the turbine power went down to a slow speed very rapidly. Another cause of this horrible event was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. Overall the accident itself killed 31 workers, but it has caused about 40,000 additional cancer deaths. I really liked learning more about your article and how Chernobyl happened 29 years ago just on April 25th.
I really liked this post about Chernobyl. An article I read said that there was about 350,000 people evacuated from the area when this accident happened. It also said that poverty, mental health issues, alcoholism, and tobacco pose greater threats to the citizens in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, than the radiation exposure. Overall this blog was really interesting and it was cool to read about what they are doing to help in the present.
https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/nuclear/chernobyl-25-years-later
I liked this blog about Chernobyl because it got my attention easily and I was interested in reading it all.
According to this website, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Chernobyl-Accident/ , all of the workers died the night of the accident, followed by 28 more people due to poisoning. This was the largest uncontrolled radioactive release into the environment ever recorded. Researching and writing this blog must’ve been fun. I enjoyed reading and researching about this topic.
I’ve seen movies about this place and everything around the area is hugely affected by the radiation like the animals. There was about 500,000 workers involved in this accident and another article says that they are funding for a huge dome the size of a football field around the area. I don’t know who would want to move back into the radiation zone because it probably spreaded out many miles and more. I wouldn’t want anyone to move out there because the wildlife would flourish without any humans being over there to ruin it. It could also be a historic place where they can look at in the future with that huge dome around it. There was 57 species of birds that are around Chernobyl and I wouldn’t want all of the plants, trees, or animals to get their homes taken away from them again. I cant believe that only happened about 30 years ago I would think it would be longer.
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html
This was an interesting article. I’ve known about the Chernobyl disaster for a while and this sparked my interest again. In the article I read, it said that the sarcophagus they’re funding is supposed to last up to 100 years once built, as opposed to the existing concrete structure that radioactivity was damaging. The new sarcophagus should be able to confine the still existing radioactive material from nearly 3 decades ago. http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html
Children in the contaminated area were exposed to high radiation levels up to 50 grays. Children in Belarus have had severe increases in thyroid cancer. All of the people living in a 19 mile radius were evacuated immediately. That has been known as the zone of alienation. About 135,000 people were evacuated. About 200 people were hospitalized immediately after the meltdown. The cloud of radiation reached as far as Canada to the eastern part of Russia. Deep sea fishing in Finland and Sweden could not be for resale and was not advised to consume. Various types of animal mutations and radiation exposure effected animals in the zone of alienation. All of the trees in the zone died and was cut down. I liked reading about your blog. It was very interesting.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html
I liked your blog post about the Chernobyl meltdown.
An article I read showed that the fallout area was very big.
It went mostly to the west and the north. The weather pattern started pushing the fallout mostly north for the first day then to the west the next day.
http://www.chernobylee.com/blog/2008/10/chernobyl-fallout-greater-in-s.php