Chernobyl


 

Chernobyl is a small town in Ukraine that is widely known for being home of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. This town is mainly farmland with about 12,000 residents and the plant was built in 1977 with four reactors. On April 26, 1986, operators of the nuclear plant were running a test on backup generators and a new cooling system. During the test, the reactors overheated creating an explosion and fire which destroyed the fourth reactor and released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Two people died the night of the accident due to the explosion and 28 other operators and fireman died due to radiation poisoning. To prevent more deaths, Chernobyl created the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation forcing everyone living within a 19 mile radius to be evacuated. A containment structure was also built and captured about 200 tons of nuclear fuel and debris. This disaster was more of speculation and assumption rather than facts and evidence. Even though 6,000 cases of cancer are linked to the exposure, people panicked and feared the worst when it couldn't do that much harm to a person. But, there are many environmental effects caused by the disaster. Trees died and turned a bright ginger color, forest food products had the highest level of radiation, many animals died from exposure and radioactive materials were deposited into rivers. After the disaster, the power plant continued operation until being permanently closed in 2000. The exclusion zone is one of the most radioactive areas in the world but many thriving animals live in these areas. A new containment structure was built over Chernobyl to prevent anymore contamination in 2016 and tours are available.



Isaiah Whitaker