The Chernobyl: Then and Now

Ghost Town Series : 

The Chernobyl: Then and Now

The Chernobyl Power plant designed graphite-moderated nuclear power 1K nuclear reactors, a design that is now universally recognized as inherently flawed. The reactors had been of a pressure tube design that used an enriched uranium dioxide gasoline to heat water, creating steam that drives the reactors' turbines and generates electricity, in accordance to the World Nuclear Association. In most nuclear reactors, water is additionally used as a coolant and to average the reactivity of the nuclear core by removing the excess heat and steam. But, the reactors used graphite to moderate the core's reactivity and to hold a non-stop nuclear reaction taking place in the core. As the nuclear core heated and produced more steam bubbles, the core became more reactive, developing a positive-feedback loop that engineers refer to as a "positive-void coefficient."

The explosion occurred on April 26, 1986, during a routine maintenance check. Operators had been planning on checking out the electrical systems when they turned off essential control systems, going against the safety regulations. This triggered the reactor to reach dangerously unstable and low-power levels. According to the Nuclear Energy Agency, reactor #4 of the Chernobyl power plant had been shut down the day before in order to perform the maintenance checks to safety systems during potential power outages. While there is   some disagreement over the authentic cause of the explosion, it is commonly believed that the first was caused with the aid of an excess of steam and the second was influenced through hydrogen. The additional steam was once created with the aid of the reduction of the cooling water which caused steam to build up in the cooling pipes, the positive-void coefficient, which triggered tremendous power surge that the operators should no longer shut down. The explosions happened at 1:23 AM on April 26, destroying reactor four and initiating a booming fire, in accordance to NEA. Radioactive debris of fuel and reactor components rained over the region whilst fire spread from the building housing reactor four to adjoining buildings. Toxic fumes and dust had been carried via the blowing wind, bringing fission products and the noble gasoline inventory with it.

In the USSR, the worst disaster in the historical record of nuclear power generation. The Chernobyl power station was located at the settlement of Prypyat, 10 miles north-west of the city of Chernobyl and 65 miles  north of Kiev, Ukraine. The station consisted of four reactors, every capable of producing 1 Gigawatt (GW) of electric power; it had come on-line in 1977–1983. The catastrophe took place on April 1986, when technicians at reactor four attempted a poorly designed experiment. Workers shut down the reactor’s power-regulating gadget and its emergency safety systems, and they withdrew most of the control rods from its core whilst permitting the reactor to continue running at 7% power. These errors had been compounded by others, and at 1:23 AM on April 26 the chain reaction in the core went out of control. Several explosions triggered a massive fireball and blew off the heavy steel and concrete lid of the reactor. This and the ensuing fire in the graphite reactor core released massive amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere, the place where it was carried great distances by means of air currents. A partial meltdown of the core also occurred. On April 27 the 30 thousands inhabitants of Prypyat began to be evacuated. A cover up was once attempted, however on April 28 Swedish monitoring stations reported abnormally excessive levels of wind transported radioactivity and pressed for an explanation. The Soviet government admitted there had been an accident at Chernobyl, consequently putting off a global outcry over the risks posed by means of the radioactive emissions. On May 4, both the heat; the radioactivity leaking from the reactor core have been being contained, albeit at great hazard to workers. Radioactive debris was buried at some 800 temporary sites, and later in the year the pretty radioactive reactor core was enclosed in a concrete and steel sarcophagus which was later deemed structurally unsound.

Some sources state that two people had been killed in the preliminary explosions, whereas others report that the figure was nearer to 50. Dozens more contracted serious radiation sickness; some of these human beings later died. Between 50 and 185 million curies of radio-nuclides (radioactive forms of chemical elements) escaped into the atmosphere,      countless instances more radioactivity than that created by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in World War II. This radioactivity was spread by way of the wind over Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and soon reached as far west as France and Italy. Millions of acres of forest and farmland had been contaminated, and, though many hundreds of humans had been evacuated, thousands of thousands more remained in contaminated areas. In addition, in subsequent years many cattle had been born deformed, and among people several thousand radiation-induced illnesses and most cancers deaths had been expected in the long term. The Chernobyl catastrophe sparked criticism of unsafe procedures and design flaws in reactors, and it heightened resistance to the building of more such plants. Chernobyl reactor two was shut down after a 1991 fire.  Reactor #1 remained online till 1996. Chernobyl reactor three continued to operate till 2000, when the nuclear energy station was officially decommissioned. Although, Chernobyl is primarily a ghost city today! A small number of people still live there. The homes marked with signs that read as "Owner of this house lives here", and a small number of animals stay there as well. Workers on watch and administrative personnel of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are also stationed in the town. The town has two general stores and a hotel.