During the accident, a real nuclear explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant turned out to be nuclear. There was a nuclear explosion in Chernobyl.
Them. V.I. Lenin is a Ukrainian nuclear power plant that stopped operating due to an explosion at power unit No. 4. Its construction began in the spring of 1970, and 7 years later it was put into operation. By 1986, the station consisted of four blocks, to which two more were being built. When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, or rather, one of the reactors, exploded, its work was not stopped. The construction of the sarcophagus is currently underway and will be completed by 2015.
Description of the station
1970-1981 - during this period of time, six power units were built, two of which were not launched until 1986. To cool the turbines and heat exchangers, a filling pond was built between the Pripyat River and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Before the accident, the station's generating capacity was 6,000 MW. Currently, work is underway to transform the Chernobyl nuclear power plant into an environmentally friendly design.
Start of construction
To select a suitable site for the construction of the first nuclear power plant, the design institute of the capital of Ukraine examined the Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia regions. The most convenient place was the territory on the right side of the Pripyat River. The land on which construction soon began was unproductive, but fully complied with the requirements for maintenance. This site was approved by the State Technical Commission of the USSR and the Ministry
February 1970 marked the beginning of the construction of Pripyat. The city was created specifically for energy workers. The fact is that in the first years, the personnel serving the station had to live in dormitories and rented houses in villages close to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. To provide work for their family members, various enterprises were built in Pripyat. Thus, over the 16 years of the city’s existence, it was equipped with everything necessary for people to live comfortably.
1986 accident
At 01:23 at night, a design test of the turbogenerator of the 4th power unit began, which caused the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to explode. As a result, the building collapsed, causing more than 30 fires. The first victims were V. Khodemchuk, an operator of circulation pumps, and V. Shashenok, an employee of a commissioning plant.
A minute after the incident, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant security guard was informed about the explosion. Firefighters arrived at the station as soon as possible. V. Pravik was appointed head of the liquidation. Thanks to his skillful actions, the spread of the fire was stopped.
When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, the environment was contaminated with radioactive substances such as:
Plutonium, uranium, iodine-131 lasts about 8 days);
Cesium-134 (half-life - 2 years);
Cesium-137 (from 17 to 30 years);
Strontium-90 (28 years).
The whole horror of the tragedy lies in the fact that for a long time they hid from the residents of Pripyat, Chernobyl, as well as the entire former Soviet Union, why the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded and who was to blame.
Source of accident
On April 25, the 4th reactor was supposed to be shut down for another repair, but they decided to conduct a test instead. It consisted of creating an emergency situation in which the station itself would cope with the problem. By that time there were already four such cases, but this time something went wrong...
The first and main reason for the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is the careless and unprofessional attitude of the personnel towards the risky experiment. Workers maintained the power unit's output at 200 MW, which led to self-poisoning.
As if nothing had happened, the personnel watched what was happening, instead of removing the control rods from operation and pressing the A3-5 button to emergency shutdown the reactor. As a result of inaction, an uncontrolled chain reaction began in the power unit, causing the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to explode.
By the evening (at approximately 20.00) a more intense fire took place in the central hall. People were not involved this time. He was eliminated using helicopters.
Over the entire period, in addition to firefighters and station personnel, about 600 thousand people were involved in rescue operations.
Why did the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explode? There are a number of reasons that contributed to this:
The experiment had to be carried out at any cost, despite the sudden change in the behavior of the reactor;
Decommissioning of working technological protections that would shut down the power unit and prevent an accident;
Silence by the plant management of the scale of the disaster that occurred, as well as the reasons why the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded.
Consequences
As a result of eliminating the consequences of the spread of radioactive substances, 134 firefighters and station employees developed radiation sickness, 28 of them died within a month after the accident.
Signs of exposure were vomiting and weakness. First, first aid was provided by the station’s medical staff, and only after that the victims were transported to Moscow hospitals.
At the cost of their own lives, rescuers prevented the fire from spreading to the third block. Thanks to this, it was possible to avoid the spread of fire in neighboring blocks. If the extinguishing had not been successful, a second explosion could have been 10 times more powerful than the first!
Crash September 9, 1982
Before the day the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, a case of destruction was recorded at power unit No. 1. During a test run of one of the reactors at a power of 700 MW, a kind of explosion occurred in the fuel assembly and channel No. 62-44. The result of this was the deformation of the graphite masonry and the release of a significant amount of radioactive substances.
The explanation for why the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in 1982 can be as follows:
Gross violations of the workshop personnel when regulating water flow in the canals;
Residual internal stress in the walls of a zirconium channel pipe, resulting from a change in technology by the plant that produced it.
The USSR government, as usual, decided not to inform the population of the country why the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. The photo of the first accident has not survived. It is even possible that it never existed.
Station representatives
The following article presents the names of the employees and their positions before, during and after the tragedy. The post of station director in 1986 was Viktor Petrovich Bryukhanov. Two months later, E. N. Pozdyshev became manager.
Sorokin N.M. was a deputy operating engineer in the period 1987-1994. Gramotkin I.I. from 1988 to 1995 served as head of the reactor workshop. Currently he is the General Director of the State Enterprise Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Dyatlov Anatoly Stepanovich - deputy chief operating engineer and one of those responsible for the accident. The reason for the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was a risky experiment led by this engineer.
Exclusion zone currently
The long-suffering young Pripyat is currently contaminated with radioactive substances. They most often collect in the ground, houses, ditches and other depressions. The only operating facilities left in the city are a water fluoridation station, a special laundry, a checkpoint and a garage for special equipment. After the accident, Pripyat, oddly enough, did not lose its status as a city.
With Chernobyl the situation is completely different. It is safe for life; people servicing the station and so-called self-settlers live in it. The city today is the administrative center for managing the exclusion zone. Chernobyl concentrates enterprises that maintain the surrounding area in an environmentally safe condition. Stabilization of the situation consists of controlling radionuclides in the Pripyat River and airspace. The city has personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine who protect the exclusion zone from illegal entry by unauthorized persons.
April 26 is the Day of Remembrance for those killed in radiation accidents and disasters. This year marks 33 years since the Chernobyl disaster - the largest in the history of nuclear energy in the world. A whole generation has grown up without this terrible tragedy, but on this day we traditionally remember Chernobyl. After all, only by remembering the mistakes of the past can we hope not to repeat them in the future.
In 1986, an explosion occurred at Chernobyl reactor No. 4, and several hundred workers and firefighters tried to put out the fire, which burned for 10 days. The world was enveloped in a cloud of radiation. About 50 station employees were killed and hundreds of rescuers were injured. It is still difficult to determine the scale of the disaster and its impact on people’s health - only from 4 to 200 thousand people died from cancer that developed as a result of the received dose of radiation. Pripyat and the surrounding areas will remain unsafe for human habitation for several centuries.
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1. This 1986 aerial photo of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, shows the damage from the explosion and fire of reactor No. 4 on April 26, 1986. As a result of the explosion and fire that followed it, a huge amount of radioactive substances was released into the atmosphere. Ten years after the world's worst nuclear disaster, the power plant continued to operate due to severe power shortages in Ukraine. The final shutdown of the power plant occurred only in 2000. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Repik) 
2. On October 11, 1991, when the speed of turbogenerator No. 4 of the second power unit was reduced for its subsequent shutdown and removal of the SPP-44 steam separator-superheater for repair, an accident and fire occurred. This photo, taken during a journalists' visit to the plant on October 13, 1991, shows part of the collapsed roof of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, destroyed by fire. (AP Photo/Efrm Lucasky) 
3. Aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, after the largest nuclear disaster in human history. The photo was taken three days after the explosion at the nuclear power plant in 1986. In front of the chimney is the destroyed 4th reactor. (AP Photo) 
4. Photo from the February issue of the magazine “Soviet Life”: the main hall of the 1st power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 29, 1986 in Chernobyl (Ukraine). The Soviet Union acknowledged that there was an accident at the power plant, but did not provide additional information. (AP Photo) 
5. A Swedish farmer removes straw contaminated by radiation a few months after the Chernobyl explosion in June 1986. (STF/AFP/Getty Images) 
6. A Soviet medical worker examines an unknown child who was evacuated from the nuclear disaster zone to the Kopelovo state farm near Kiev on May 11, 1986. The photo was taken during a trip organized by Soviet authorities to show how they were coping with the accident. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko) 
7. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev (center) and his wife Raisa Gorbacheva during a conversation with the management of the nuclear power plant on February 23, 1989. This was the first visit of the Soviet leader to the station since the accident in April 1986. (AFP PHOTO/TASS) 
8. Kiev residents queue for forms before being tested for radiation contamination after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Kyiv on May 9, 1986. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko) 
9. A boy reads a notice on the closed gate of a playground in Wiesbaden on May 5, 1986, which reads: “This playground is temporarily closed.” A week after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion on April 26, 1986, the Wiesbaden municipal council closed all playgrounds after detecting radioactivity levels of 124 to 280 becquerels. (AP Photo/Frank Rumpenhorst) 
10. One of the engineers who worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant undergoes a medical examination at the Lesnaya Polyana sanatorium on May 15, 1986, a few weeks after the explosion. (STF/AFP/Getty Images) 
11. Environmental activists mark railway cars containing radiation-contaminated dry whey. Photo taken in Bremen, northern Germany on February 6, 1987. The serum, which was delivered to Bremen for onward transport to Egypt, was produced after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and was contaminated by radioactive fallout. (AP Photo/Peter Meyer) 
12. A slaughterhouse worker places fitness stamps on cow carcasses in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, May 12, 1986. According to the decision of the Minister of Social Affairs of the federal state of Hesse, after the Chernobyl explosion, all meat began to be subject to radiation control. (AP Photo/Kurt Strumpf/stf) 
13. Archival photo from April 14, 1998. Workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant walk past the control panel of the destroyed 4th power unit of the station. On April 26, 2006, Ukraine celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, which affected the lives of millions of people, required astronomical costs from international funds and became an ominous symbol of the dangers of nuclear energy. (AFP PHOTO/GENIA SAVILOV) 
14. In the photo, which was taken on April 14, 1998, you can see the control panel of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/GENIA SAVILOV) 
15. Workers who took part in the construction of the cement sarcophagus covering the Chernobyl reactor, in a memorable photo from 1986 next to the unfinished construction site. According to the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, thousands of people who took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster died from the consequences of radiation contamination, which they suffered during their work. (AP Photo/Volodymyr Repik) 
16. High-voltage towers near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on June 20, 2000 in Chernobyl. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) 
17. A nuclear reactor operator on duty records control readings at the site of the only operating reactor No. 3, on Tuesday, June 20, 2000. Andrei Shauman angrily pointed at a switch hidden under a sealed metal cover on the control panel of the reactor at Chernobyl, a nuclear power plant whose name has become synonymous with nuclear disaster. “This is the same switch with which you can turn off the reactor. For $2,000, I’ll let anyone push that button when the time comes,” Schauman, acting chief engineer, said at the time. When that time came on December 15, 2000, environmental activists, governments and ordinary people around the world breathed a sigh of relief. However, for the 5,800 workers at Chernobyl, it was a day of mourning. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
18. 17-year-old Oksana Gaibon (right) and 15-year-old Alla Kozimerka, victims of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, are treated with infrared rays at the Tarara Children's Hospital in the capital of Cuba. Oksana and Alla, like hundreds of other Russian and Ukrainian teenagers who received a dose of radiation, were treated for free in Cuba as part of a humanitarian project. (ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP)
19. Photo dated April 18, 2006. A child during treatment at the Center for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, which was built in Minsk after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, representatives of the Red Cross reported that they were faced with a lack of funds to further assist the victims of the Chernobyl accident. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images) 
20. View of the city of Pripyat and the fourth reactor of Chernobyl on December 15, 2000 on the day of the complete shutdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Photo by Yuri Kozyrev/Newsmakers) 
21. A Ferris wheel and a carousel in a deserted amusement park in the ghost town of Pripyat next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on May 26, 2003. The population of Pripyat, which in 1986 was 45,000 people, was completely evacuated within the first three days after the explosion of the 4th reactor No. 4. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred at 1:23 a.m. on April 26, 1986. The resulting radioactive cloud damaged much of Europe. According to various estimates, from 15 to 30 thousand people subsequently died as a result of radiation exposure. More than 2.5 million residents of Ukraine suffer from diseases acquired as a result of radiation, and about 80 thousand of them receive benefits. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
22. In the photo from May 26, 2003: an abandoned amusement park in the city of Pripyat, which is located next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
23. In the photo from May 26, 2003: gas masks on the floor of a classroom in one of the schools in the ghost town of Pripyat, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
24. In the photo from May 26, 2003: a TV case in a hotel room in the city of Pripyat, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
25. View of the ghost town of Pripyat next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY) 
26. Photo from January 25, 2006: an abandoned classroom in one of the schools in the deserted city of Pripyat near Chernobyl, Ukraine. Pripyat and the surrounding areas will remain unsafe for human habitation for several centuries. Scientists estimate that it will take about 900 years for the most dangerous radioactive elements to completely decompose. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
27. Textbooks and notebooks on the floor of one of the schools in the ghost town of Pripyat on January 25, 2006. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
28. Toys and a gas mask in the dust in a former elementary school in the abandoned city of Pripyat on January 25, 2006. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
29. In the photo on January 25, 2006: an abandoned gym of one of the schools in the deserted city of Pripyat. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
30. What remains of the school gym in the abandoned city of Pripyat. January 25, 2006. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) 
31. A resident of the Belarusian village of Novoselki, located just outside the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in a photo taken on April 7, 2006. (AFP PHOTO / VIKTOR DRACHEV) 
32. A woman with piglets in the deserted Belarusian village of Tulgovichi, 370 km southeast of Minsk, April 7, 2006. This village is located within the 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO / VIKTOR DRACHEV) 34. Residents of the village of Ilintsy in the closed zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, about 100 km from Kyiv, pass by rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine who are rehearsing before a concert on April 5, 2006. Rescuers organized an amateur concert on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster for more than three hundred people (mostly elderly people) who returned to live illegally in villages located in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images) 
35. The remaining residents of the abandoned Belarusian village of Tulgovichi, located in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, celebrate the Orthodox holiday of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary on April 7, 2006. Before the accident, about 2,000 people lived in the village, but now only eight remain. (AFP PHOTO / VIKTOR DRACHEV) 37. A construction crew wearing masks and special protective suits on April 12, 2006, during work to strengthen the sarcophagus covering the destroyed 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (AFP PHOTO / GENIA SAVILOV) 
38. April 12, 2006, workers sweep away radioactive dust in front of the sarcophagus covering the damaged 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Due to high radiation levels, crews only work for a few minutes at a time. (GENIA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images) The grin of atomic energy
Despite the fact that nuclear energy actually provides people with carbon-free energy at reasonable prices, it also shows its dangerous side in the form of radiation and other disasters. The International Atomic Energy Agency evaluates accidents at nuclear facilities on a special 7-point scale. The most serious events are classified into the highest category, level seven, while level 1 is considered minor. Based on this system for assessing nuclear disasters, we offer a list of the five most dangerous accidents at nuclear facilities in the world.
1 place. Chernobyl. USSR (now Ukraine). Rating: 7 (major accident)
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear facility is recognized by all experts as the worst disaster in the history of nuclear energy. This is the only nuclear accident that has been classified as a worst-case event by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The largest man-made disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, at the 4th block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located in the small town of Pripyat. The destruction was explosive, the reactor was completely destroyed, and a large amount of radioactive substances were released into the environment. At the time of the accident, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the most powerful in the USSR. 31 people died within the first three months after the accident; long-term effects of radiation, identified over the next 15 years, caused the death of 60 to 80 people. 134 people suffered radiation sickness of varying severity, more than 115 thousand people were evacuated from the 30-kilometer zone. More than 600 thousand people took part in eliminating the consequences of the accident. The radioactive cloud from the accident passed over the European part of the USSR, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The station ceased operation forever only on December 15, 2000.
Chernobyl
The “Kyshtym accident” is a very serious radiation man-made accident at the Mayak chemical plant, located in the closed city of Chelyabinsk-40 (since the 1990s - Ozersk). The accident got its name Kyshtymskaya for the reason that Ozyorsk was classified and was absent on maps until 1990, and Kyshtym was the closest city to it. On September 29, 1957, due to the failure of the cooling system, an explosion occurred in a tank with a volume of 300 cubic meters, which contained about 80 m³ of highly radioactive nuclear waste. The explosion, estimated at tens of tons of TNT equivalent, destroyed the tank, a 1-meter-thick concrete floor weighing 160 tons was thrown aside, and about 20 million curies of radiation were released into the atmosphere. Some of the radioactive substances were raised by the explosion to a height of 1-2 km and formed a cloud consisting of liquid and solid aerosols. Within 10-11 hours, radioactive substances fell over a distance of 300-350 km in the northeast direction from the explosion site (in the direction of the wind). More than 23 thousand square kilometers were in the zone contaminated with radionuclides. In this territory there were 217 settlements with more than 280 thousand inhabitants; the closest to the epicenter of the disaster were several factories of the Mayak plant, a military town and a prison colony. To eliminate the consequences of the accident, hundreds of thousands of military personnel and civilians were involved, receiving significant doses of radiation. The territory that was exposed to radioactive contamination as a result of an explosion at a chemical plant was called the “East Ural Radioactive Trace.” The total length was approximately 300 km, with a width of 5-10 km.
From memories from the website oykumena.org: “Mom began to get sick (there were frequent fainting spells, anemia)... I was born in 1959, I had the same health problems... We left Kyshtym when I was 10 years old. I'm a bit of an unusual person. Strange things have happened throughout my life... I foresaw the disaster of the Estonian airliner. And she even talked about the plane collision with her friend, a flight attendant... She died.”
3rd place. Windscale Fire, UK. Rating: 5 (accident with environmental risk)
On October 10, 1957, Windscale plant operators noticed that the temperature of the reactor was steadily increasing, while the opposite should be happening. The first thing everyone thought about was a malfunction of the reactor equipment, which two station workers went to inspect. When they got to the reactor itself, they saw to their horror that it was on fire. At first, workers did not use water because plant operators expressed concerns that the fire was so hot that the water would disintegrate instantly, and as is known, hydrogen in water can cause an explosion. All the tried means did not help, and then the station staff opened the hoses. Thank God, the water was able to stop the fire without any explosion. It is estimated that 200 people in the UK developed cancer due to Windscale, half of whom died. The exact number of victims is unknown, as British authorities tried to cover up the disaster. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan feared that the incident could undermine public support for nuclear projects. The problem of counting the victims of this disaster is further aggravated by the fact that radiation from Windscale spread hundreds of kilometers throughout northern Europe.
Windscale
4th place. Three Mile Island, USA. Rating: 5 (accident with environmental risk)
Until the Chernobyl accident, which occurred seven years later, the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was considered the largest in the history of global nuclear power and is still considered the worst nuclear accident in the United States. On March 28, 1979, early in the morning, a major accident occurred in reactor unit No. 2 with a capacity of 880 MW (electric) at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, located twenty kilometers from the city of Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) and owned by the Metropolitan Edison company. Unit 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant did not appear to be equipped with an additional safety system, although similar systems are available at some of the plant's units. Despite the fact that the nuclear fuel partially melted, it did not burn through the reactor vessel and the radioactive substances mainly remained inside. According to various estimates, the radioactivity of noble gases released into the atmosphere ranged from 2.5 to 13 million curies, but the release of dangerous nuclides such as iodine-131 was insignificant. The station area was also contaminated with radioactive water leaking from the primary circuit. It was decided that there was no need to evacuate the population living near the station, but authorities advised pregnant women and preschool children to leave the 8-kilometer zone. Work to eliminate the consequences of the accident was officially completed in December 1993. The station area was decontaminated and fuel was unloaded from the reactor. However, some of the radioactive water has been absorbed into the concrete of the containment shell and this radioactivity is almost impossible to remove. Operation of the station's other reactor (TMI-1) was resumed in 1985.
Three Mile Island
5th place. Tokaimura, Japan. Rating: 4 (accident without significant risk to the environment)
On September 30, 1999, the worst nuclear tragedy for the Land of the Rising Sun occurred. Japan's worst nuclear accident occurred more than a decade ago, although it was outside of Tokyo. A batch of highly enriched uranium was prepared for a nuclear reactor that had not been used for more than three years. The plant's operators were not trained in how to handle such highly enriched uranium. Without understanding what they were doing in terms of possible consequences, the “experts” placed much more uranium in the tank than necessary. Moreover, the reactor tank was not designed for this type of uranium. ...But the critical reaction can no longer be stopped and two of the three operators who worked with uranium then die from radiation. After the disaster, about a hundred workers and those who lived nearby were hospitalized with a diagnosis of radiation exposure, and 161 people who lived a few hundred meters from the nuclear power plant were subject to evacuation.
“We assume that nuclear explosions caused by thermal neutrons in the lower part of the fuel channels generated powerful jets of molten fuel and reactor matter that rushed upward. They pierced the 350-kilogram “lids” of the channels, pierced the roof of the reactor and rose to a height of 3 kilometers , where they were picked up by the wind and carried to Cherepovets. The steam explosion that ruptured the reactor vessel occurred in 2.7 seconds,” said Lars-Erik De Geer from the Swedish Defense Research Agency.
In the wake of the catastrophe of the century
The accident at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on the night of April 25-26, 1986, when the nuclear plant personnel conducted an experiment in which the rotational energy of the shutdown reactor turbine was used to cool it and power the safety systems that protected the power unit from the development of uncontrolled chain reactions.
The start of these experiments was postponed several times after the shutdown of the fourth power unit, which, coupled with some design features of RBMK-type reactors, led to an uncontrolled increase in power on April 26 at 01:24. It led to explosions, destruction of a significant part of the reactor plant and the release of huge amounts of radioactive substances.
According to eyewitnesses, as de Geer says, at “hour X” at the fourth power unit there were at least two powerful explosions, separated from each other by several seconds. As scientists and historians believe today, both of these explosions were of a non-nuclear nature and were associated with water and disturbances in its circulation.
In their opinion, the first explosion occurred as a result of the fact that a sudden increase in reactor power led to the fact that the water in the cooling system evaporated almost instantly, which sharply increased the pressure in the pipes and led to their rupture. This steam began to interact with the zirconium shell of the fuel cells, which led to the release of huge quantities of hydrogen into the reactor hall and a second, even more powerful explosion.
De Geer and his colleagues came to the conclusion that the first explosion had a completely different nature, analyzing data that was collected by European and Soviet scientists immediately after the Chernobyl disaster.
The attention of Swedish physicists was attracted by data on the isotopic composition of the atmosphere obtained by employees of the Leningrad Khlopin Radium Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the vicinity of Cherepovets four days after the accident. Soviet scientists found two relatively atypical radioactive isotopes in the air - xenon-133 and xenon-133m, which do not exist in nature and have a short half-life.
Both of these xenon isotopes, according to the authors of the article, are not present in the “main” part of the Chernobyl NPP emissions, blown by the wind towards Belarus, Sweden and other Northern European countries, which in the past has already given rise to great controversy between supporters of the “nuclear” and “steam” theories explosions at the fourth power unit.
Isotope detective
De Geer and his colleagues found the first evidence that the source of this xenon was indeed the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and found that it was generated during a nuclear explosion by analyzing how wind flows moved over the western part of the USSR in April 1986, and studying traces of destruction in the reactor itself.
In the first case, scientists took advantage of the fact that xenon-133 and xenon-133m have different half-lives, and their total mass inside the reactor was measured quite accurately earlier. This allowed them to determine the time when they were thrown out of the reactor - it exactly coincided with when the Chernobyl accident occurred.
This time, in turn, indicates an extremely unusual thing - xenon isotopes could reach the vicinity of Cherepovets after 3-4 days only if they were ejected to a height of approximately 2-3 kilometers from the Earth’s surface. Scientists believe that only a small nuclear explosion with a capacity of 75 tons of TNT equivalent, which occurred in two or three fuel elements of the nuclear power plant as a result of a sharp increase in temperature in them, could have thrown them to such a height.
Steam bubbles that appeared in boiling water in the lower part of the reactor played a special role in the birth of this explosion. These void areas, as scientists note, played the role of a kind of amplifiers of the chain reaction, since they did not interfere with the movement of neutrons and accelerated, rather than slowed down, the heating of the fuel and contributed to the formation of even larger quantities of steam.
This is also supported by the fact that only some regions of the lower “lid” of the reactor were melted - neither a steam explosion, nor any other event, as Swedish physicists believe, could have caused such damage, while a jet of hot plasma ejected by a nuclear explosion could completely could have called them.
There is other evidence of this - seismic stations in Norinsk and other nearby cities recorded weak tremors three seconds before the accident, equivalent in strength to the explosion of a bomb with a capacity of 225 tons of TNT. In addition, eyewitnesses reported a loud bang and a blue flash preceding the second explosion, as well as ionization of the air before the destruction of the reactor hall. Both, and the other, and the third, according to De Geer and his colleagues, were caused by a jet of plasma that pierced the roof of the nuclear power plant and rushed into the sky.
As scientists note, their theory can be tested if more detailed data are obtained on changes in the concentration of xenon isotopes in the atmosphere of Germany and other countries through which the “main” cloud of radioactive emissions passed. If differences in xenon concentration persist, then their idea, according to De Geer, will gain full right to life.
Probably for all of us the word “explosion” is rarely associated with something good and positive. An explosion is destruction, the destruction of something, this is something that will not allow life to proceed along the same route. As evidence, one can cite the explosion of an atomic bomb dropped on Japanese cities. The explosion then caused enormous destruction, and the cities had to be rebuilt over the course of many years. And although much more time has passed since the Japanese disaster than since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, they still remember it, realizing that with an explosion, even something that has been built over many centuries can be destroyed in an instant.
No one will argue that the explosion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was terrible. Thousands of people suffered very seriously back then. Those who were at the epicenter of the explosion died on the spot. Others died later due to radiation sickness, which haunted the residents of cities and surrounding areas for a long time.
A similar catastrophe awaited us, but on a much larger scale. This happened when there was an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Thirty years have already passed, but we still remember with a shudder what happened on April 26, 1986.
The world before Chernobyl
Once upon a time, in an area not far from Pripyat, life was in full swing. The city, one of the most promising in the USSR, used the latest technologies of the time. It seemed that nothing and no one could disrupt the planned course of this atomic giant, because it seemed indestructible. But it is impossible to predict the exact fate of certain events. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant entailed terrible consequences that we feel to this day.
Many, many people were forced to leave their homes, hastily evacuate, throw away their usual things and many other things that were expensive. The explosion in Chernobyl caused the city of Pripyat to be completely deserted, turning into a ghost town, about which films are made and articles are written.
Probably, many of us have seen photos of the empty Pripyat - it was the one that was first devastated by the explosion in Chernobyl. When they offer an excursion to Pripyat, they also show a photograph of this neglected, scary city. The first thing we see is a Ferris wheel, abandoned high-rise buildings, abandoned schools where children once studied... Now there is nothing alive there. Dolls, broken furniture, and broken dishes are scattered where children's laughter was recently heard. All this was caused by the explosion in Chernobyl, the consequences of which we still see today.
It would seem that more than 30 years have passed. It seems to many that everything that was just a bad dream that disappeared after a sudden awakening. But the specter of the Chernobyl accident does not go away. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant brought too catastrophic consequences. Largely because of it, the environment has deteriorated and the health of tens of thousands of people and future generations has been undermined.
The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is called the largest nuclear disaster; it is difficult to imagine a more complex and terrible tragedy in this area. But what was the reason, who is to blame for this happening? Could this have been avoided?
The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: a lesson for man
Operation of the nuclear power plant nearby began in 1977. At that time, this project carried great hope, since it was this power plant that supplied energy to 1/10 of the territory of the Soviet Union, which existed at that moment. An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant seemed impossible, because it was a huge structure that looked reliable and indestructible. Nothing foreshadowed that very little time would pass (less than ten years) and a real curse would fall on the world.
However, the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred. It will take many lives with it, seriously harm people's health, destroy a promising economy and cause enormous damage to the entire Soviet Empire.
It must be said that the 20th century is characterized as the beginning of a new era. It was at the beginning of the 20th century that civilization began to actively develop, which made human life much easier, but at the same time, perhaps, made us lose caution somewhere. A person somewhere forgot that he cannot always influence events, and, most importantly, one small mistake can lead to a huge, irreparable tragedy. And one such example is the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the explosion
We are already accustomed to images of desolation, since each of us watched films about the Apocalypse, where entire cities were empty, when entire cities disappeared and people were forced to start life anew. We see on the screen destroyed buildings, broken things, lonely people, broken windows, empty rooms and so on. But the worst thing is that in Chernobyl this is all happening for real.
Pictures of Chernobyl after the explosion tell of desolation and horror reigning there. It has everything that is sometimes even impossible to imagine in the scariest films.
Pictures of Chernobyl after the explosion can be found in abundance on the Internet, but there are even brave souls for whom pictures are not enough, and they go there themselves. However, this is actually prohibited because it is dangerous. Of course, if you really want to see it with your own eyes, then there is always the opportunity to go there on an excursion, where you will be taken to safe places.
The date of the Chernobyl explosion is forever etched in the memory of the whole world and has become one of the most fatal moments on planet Earth, since this disaster caused the destruction of our planet. Our home suffered enormous damage from which Mother Earth still cannot recover. The date of the Chernobyl explosion is a date of mourning for flora, fauna, and indeed for all humanity.
Facts about the Chernobyl explosion that were hidden for a long time
So, the fatal explosion occurred on the night of April 25-26. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant killed many people, and caused criticism towards the Soviet authorities. April 26, 1986 became a fateful date not only for the former Soviet Union, but also for the whole world.
The most interesting thing is that it is no longer possible to name the exact reason why all this happened. The explosion in Chernobyl is considered a consequence of the human factor, in other words, negligence and imprudence. But then in the USSR at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant they were very attentive to various details. The experiment that was carried out on the day of the tragedy was planned and there were no signs of trouble. The explosion in Chernobyl sounded like a bolt from the blue, and for many it became a horror for many years.
Let's look at those facts that were unknown for some time and were hidden for certain reasons. Perhaps these facts will help to better understand the causes of the Chernobyl tragedy. Although, again, it is still impossible to name the exact reasons, because we will not return to the past.
Negligence of builders
There is a version that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was being built at an accelerated pace, even before the accident occurred, raised concerns among both experts and engineers. Already two years after the station went into operation, signals and warnings about technical flaws in the new building began to arrive. It turns out that the destruction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was simply inevitable, but for some reason they did not pay any attention to it. In 2006, declassified archives were found that confirmed the presence of poor-quality installation and construction work, violations of technological discipline, as well as the presence of violations of radiation safety rules. As a result of all this, five accidents and 63 equipment failures occurred at the station even before the latest emergency. The last such message is said to be dated February 1986.
Chasing results
The explosion occurred in the fourth power unit, which was brought to its design capacity three months earlier than planned. This version is also considered as the cause of the explosion in Chernobyl, which occurred on the night of April 25-26 at 1 hour 23 minutes, to be especially precise. The accident occurred while a planned experiment was being carried out. The purpose of the experiment was to study the possibility of using the inertia of the reactor to generate additional electricity in the event of an emergency shutdown of the reactor.
The experiment was to be carried out with a reactor power of 700 megawatts. But before use began, the level suddenly dropped to 30 megawatts. The operator noticed the error and tried to correct it. After some time, the power was restored, and at 1:23 a.m. the experiment continued with a power of 200 megawatts. After just a few seconds, the power began to increase rapidly. Reacting to what was not happening, the operator pressed the emergency protection button, but for a number of reasons it did not work.
A little later, after studying all the facts, it is precisely actions of this nature that will be considered as the cause of the explosion in Chernobyl. However, they also claim that these actions were completely planned, were previously provided for in the briefing and were not carried out in emergency mode when the reactor was shut down. But still, the exact causes of the Chernobyl accident are not known to this day.
Lack of “safety culture”
After the emergency button was pressed, two explosions occurred, the interval being only a few seconds, and as a result, the reactor was almost immediately destroyed. The State Commission blamed the Chernobyl nuclear power plant personnel entirely for the tragedy; everyone supported this version. However, recent facts have made people doubt this.
The year of the Chernobyl explosion became fatal, but versions are constantly changing, and it is very difficult to come to one thing. It is clear that the human factor played an important role here, but you cannot rely on this alone. Perhaps there was something else here that could not be predicted. And as proof, 20 years later, a new report confirmed that such a categorical opinion turned out to be wrong.
It was confirmed that the actions of the personnel fully complied with the necessary rules, so it was difficult to influence the course of the accident. In addition, nuclear energy experts stated that safety at the nuclear power plant was low, or rather there was no safety culture as such. We can talk a lot about this, but the truth is one: the explosion took place, and its consequences are catastrophic.
Lack of staff awareness
Experts claim that personnel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were not aware that there was a danger in the changed working conditions. Before the accident, the ORM was less than the value allowed by the regulations, but the personnel who took over the shift were not aware of the current ORM, and therefore did not know that they were violating the regulations.
Perhaps the most terrible thing is that even after the explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the first ones - the firefighters who came to put out the fire - were not aware of the further danger. Few ordinary people could imagine that radiation could be very life-threatening. At that moment, they thought only about destroying the fire, saving what could still be saved. As a result, something terrible happened: out of twenty firefighters, only six survived. This is all very terrible.
Illiterate actions of personnel when working with the reactor
Just 20 years later, KGB officers found themselves at the site of the Chernobyl accident and were able to claim that the clear cause of the explosion was the fourth power unit, some kind of error that was not corrected in time. Perhaps it happened that the block had to be stopped at a certain moment in order for it to come out of the iodine pit, but for some reason this was not done. One of the reasons was that the block began to be raised.
Why were they hiding the causes of the accident?
The causes of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were classified in order to prevent mass panic. After all, the lives and health of many people depended on it. Knowing the true causes of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, people would lose their composure and panic, and this is very undesirable, especially before evacuation.
The year of the Chernobyl explosion seemed like a very ordinary year, but then it became clear that this was not so. However, such a truth could not be hidden for long; the cause of the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had to come out sooner or later. The terrible ones appeared within a few days, when people began to die from radiation sickness. Soon, when the radioactive cloud reached Europe, the whole world learned about the great atomic disaster. The cause of the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant could not be ignored, but at the same time, it is impossible to accurately answer this question even now.
The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a death sentence
On April 27, 1986, after the explosion, more than 100 people were sent to hospital, and already at two o’clock in the afternoon a mass evacuation began, during which more than 45 thousand people were evacuated. People were forced to leave everything they loved, give up their usual way of life and go into the unknown. The Chernobyl accident deprived people of their home, their favorite atmosphere and a sense of personal security. In total, by the end of 1986, about 116 thousand people from 188 settlements were evacuated.
In May 1986, the USSR government decided to mothball the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This was done in order to avoid the release of radionuclides into the environment and prevent further contamination in the station area. Already in November 1986, the so-called “Sarcophagus” was built, that is, an insulating concrete shelter designed to stop the further spread of radiation.
In the first three years after the accident, more than 250 thousand workers visited Chernobyl, sent there in order to minimize the consequences of the disaster. Subsequently, the number of employees increased further. And although the causes of the Chernobyl accident are still unknown, much has been done to minimize the terrible consequences.
If you want to know more, you can enter “Chernobyl NPP causes of the accident” in the search engine. However, do not forget that the Internet is not a very reliable source of information. For example, some sources claim that the death toll from the accident is in the thousands, although this is absolutely not the case.
In 1993, the second power unit was installed at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and in 1996 the first power unit, and already in 2000 the third was installed, which became the last in this matter.
December 15, 2000 was the last day for Chernobyl, and this marked the end of everything. The great, once powerful nuclear power plant ceased to exist forever.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine came to a decision to completely liquidate the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 2065. In addition, in the very near future it is planned to build a special storage facility for draining spent nuclear fuel. This project will make the destroyed nuclear power plant safe.
Consequences of a deadly experiment
Quite a lot has already been said about the consequences of the fatal explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but the essence remains the same. An Exclusion Zone was formed 30 kilometers around the station. Along with this territory, the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant especially affected villages and cities within a radius of 100 kilometers. The lands where it was raining at that moment were especially contaminated with radiation. After all, radioactive elements contained in large particles fell along with precipitation. More than five hectares of land were taken out of agricultural use.
It should be noted that the Chernobyl disaster surpasses the notorious Hiroshima and Nagasaki in terms of the power and scale of damage. According to some experts, the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant provoked the development of diseases in people such as cataracts and thyroid cancer, increased the risk of cardiovascular problems, leukemia and other terrible problems that cannot be avoided even 30 years after the accident.
The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant turned the idea of human power upside down, since it was then that proof was presented that not everything in this world is subject to man, sometimes what is destined to happen cannot be avoided. But let's take a closer look at what exactly caused the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, whether it could have been avoided, and in general, what should be expected in the future. Will we never get rid of the consequences of the terrible event that happened in the eighties of the 20th century?
Echoes of Chernobyl today
The Chernobyl zone, the explosion in the area of which shocked the whole world, became famous throughout the world. Even now, not only Ukrainians are interested in this problem, but also residents of other countries who are interested in ensuring that such a tragedy does not happen again. After all, no matter how sad it is, this tragedy even now poses a danger to every inhabitant on Earth. Moreover, some scientists agree that the biggest problems are just beginning. There is, of course, some truth in this, because the main global catastrophe did not occur on the day of the explosion, but only later, when people began to develop radiation sickness, which is still rampant today.
The event that occurred on April 26, 1986 once again proved that it is stupid to divide people into countries and nationalities, that if some terrible disaster occurs, then everyone around them can suffer, regardless of skin color and material wealth.
The Chernobyl explosion is a clear example of the need to be careful when dealing with nuclear energy, because one slight mistake will lead to a catastrophe on a global scale. Unfortunately, the Chernobyl explosion has already occurred, so we cannot return time and stop this disaster, but at the same time we can protect ourselves and others from the same mistakes in the future.
No one will argue that there is very little positive in the events that occurred on April 26, 1986, however, our task is not only to remember, but also to prevent something like this from happening again. We never know what will happen next, but we must act in such a way as not to harm nature and the environment.
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