Chernobyl – April 26, 1986 1:23am…..The Day the Entire World Changed
“In our youth, we have concern for that which pertains to our own immediate lives, shutting out the ugliness of the world around us.”
In 1986. I was just 22 years old when the news projected the events of the Chernobyl Nuclear meltdown, I was oblivious. Now, at age 49, do I really grasp the true tragedy and depth of this tragic disaster. Or do I really? After reading the testimonies of those that endured the deaths of loved ones due to radiation poisoning, I truthfully cannot say that I really grasp the pain and hopelessness of this horrible event.
While the town of Pripyat slept, engineers at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant experimented. The engineers set forth a test to see if electricity could be drawn from the turbine generator of Reactor Number 4 to run water pumps in an emergency while the turbine was not being driven by the reactor, but still spinning internally. Due to energy demands during the afternoon of the 26th, the test began at the late hour of 11:00pm. Feeling pressured to complete the test, the engineers made the fatal mistake of reducing the power level too quickly, causing a build up of neutron-absorbing fission by-products in the reactor core, the was the same as radioactive poison. Those conducting the test also withdrew the majority of the control rods which should have caused an increase in power, but resulted in the power level not rising above 30 megawatts. This placed the reactor’s instability potential at it’s worst. This low level of power had even been addressed in Chernobyl’s own safety manual as unacceptable. At this juncture a choice had to be made, either shut the reactor down for 24 hours to clear the poisonous build up or increase the power and proceed. Shutting the reactor down would have been the safe decision, but those performing the test decided to proceed by increasing the power. By 1:00am, the reactor, still poisoned, had been stabilized at 200 megawatts, although very difficult to control. The first problem was that the reactors were of poor design, fundamentally faulty, accompanied by a built in design for instability. Unprotected by containment structures as the reactors in the U.S. were, these reactors had the propensity to lose their coolant under diverse circumstances and increase in reactivity and operate progressively faster and hotter without shutting themselves off. In addition to the reactors faulty construction, those performing the test that night had ignorantly bypassed and disconnected the emergency core-cooling system and the backup electrical system, including the diesel generators, which would have enabled the reactor controls to be operable in the event of an emergency. At 1:23am, the experiment proceeded by shutting down the turbine generator, reducing the electrical supply to the reactor’s water pumps and minimizing the flow of cooling water through the reactor. This caused the water intended to cool to actually boil. In addition, a minimum reserve of 30 control rods were needed within the reactor, 205 had been removed, leaving just 6 within. A chain reaction began within the reactor, causing a power surge. The operators instantly inserted all 205 missing control rods, which increased the reaction, rather than reduce it. The reactor could take no more………..
Interaction of exceedingly hot fuel accompanied by the cooling water led to fuel fragmentation and accelerated steam production which caused an increase in pressure. The enormous amount of pressure caused the dislocation of the 1000 ton cover plate of the reactor to rupture the fuel channels and jam the control rods. Consuming steam generation swept throughout the entire core, resulting in highly concentrated pressure, resulting in the first explosion. Burning material, flames, sparks and chunks of sweltering graphite shot from the reactor as well as 50 tons of nuclear fuel which evaporated into the atmosphere. Two to three seconds after the first explosion, a second explosion followed, spewing out fragments from the fuel channels accompanied by incandescent graphite. The molten radioactive mass of boiling plutonium and uranium oozed through the shattered reactor, threatening to melt through the floor and into the soil beneath. Several chemically charged fires resulted from these two explosions, spewing billowing smoke filled with radiation into the sky above. But this was not the first accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. On September 9,1982, Reactor #1 had a partial meltdown, which had remained a well kept secret of the Soviet Unions until their dissolvement in 1991. In the partial meltdown in 1982, Radionuclides were discharged from the ventilation chimney during rainy weather; fallout created activity levels as high as 10 times background in the high-tension switch yard and rained intensely-radioactive “hot particles” on the village of Chistogalovka, which resulted in greatly elevated radiation levels in the plant itself. All the while, Chernobyl Plant Director Viktor Bryukhanov held firm to his statement that “no radiological contamination had occurred.” As a result of the 1986 explosion, two workers were killed immediately, followed by twenty-eight more deaths linked directly to exposure to the extreme doses of radiation. The casualties included six firefighters that had fought the initial fires on the roof of the turbine building. One of the firefighters that later died from the radiation exposure, described a sensation all over his face, like that of pins and needles and a strong taste of metal in his mouth, while spraying down the fire on the roof. Excessively high doses of radioactivity dumped into the atmosphere for more than a week after the meltdown. The fires burned non-stop until May 10, 1986, 14 days after the explosion.
While the town of Pripyat slept, the explosions occurred with the radiation secretly seeping into the atmosphere and soil at an alarming rate. This continued for nearly two days before the residents were notified of the extreme danger to their health, the health of their pets/livestock and especially children, including unborn children. The Soviet Union, reeling from catastrophe, tried to keep it a secret from not only the entire world, but their own citizens, the citizens of Pripyat. The following day the Soviet newspaper, Pravda, released a propagated, minuscule announcement of two sentences about the disaster, stating that there was no danger to the inhabitants nearby. while the thriving city of Pripyat readied themselves for the coming May Day celebration, excitedly awaiting the opening of the new amusement park, Apollo Park, complete with Ferris wheel and bumper cars, they were being quietly poisoned. By April 27, the Soviets had not alerted the population of the deadly radioactivity they had been ingesting with each breath they remained in the contamination. The silence of the government lasted more than 36 hours after the meltdown, while Reactor #4 continued to spew enormous masses of radiation. When asked what the smoke coming from the reactor was, the people were told by officials “Aren’t you used to that? It is a steam discharge coming from the plant.” As the rest of the world went about their daily activities, the officials secretly decided they were forced to alert the people living in Pripyat by sending one person from each apartment building to hand out flyers and iodine pills to the occupants. Unbeknownst to the residents, taking the iodine pills was of no use. The pills had been administered too late to be of any effect. (iodine packs the thyroid to avoid absorbing as much of the radioactive isotopes) The flyer announced that the following morning the residents would be evacuated on April 28th, due to an accident. There was no explanation as to what type of accident was initiating the evacuation. The people were instructed to bring items only necessary for three days, this was done to avoid panic. The occupants of Pripyat left everything behind, not knowing they would not be allowed to return. Photo albums, family heirlooms and even pets were left behind. The family pets, dogs and cats, left behind to starve or die from radiation, were ordered to be hunted and killed by the Liquidators as it was thought the animals fur had soaked in large amounts of radiation. The officials feared that the cats and dogs would travel out of the Zone. The more than 49,000 occupants of Pripyat, which included 15,400 children had already been exposed to severe amounts of radiation by the time they were evacuated.
The surrounding villages were then evacuated within a 19 mile radius surrounding the melted reactor, this area would be later known as the Zone. And still, the Soviet Union released no news of the disaster to the outside world. As the days followed, the winds carried the radiation to other countries. Four days after the incident, the radioactivity had already been carried as far as Africa and China. Radiation was first detected in the outside world by the Swiss, when a radiation detector was set off at a nuclear power plant in Switzerland. Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltic States, Southern Germany, Northern France and England also detected the disaster through the detection of radiation, within the following week. While Europe had experienced radioactivity in the days that followed the disaster, it was Pripyat and especially Belarus that experienced the significantly enormous amounts of radioactive poison.
While the fires at Reactor #4 blazed for approximately 14 days. The evacuation of Pripyat and the surrounding villages took nearly 1200 buses, spanning a 15 mile convoy to take the residents away. According to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the population evacuated from the most heavily contaminated areas was approximately 115,000 in 1986 and another 220,000 people within the next two years. Consequent reports stated that the evacuees had been relocated to distant areas of the Soviet Union, when in truth most had been relocated to areas just north and eventually south of the 19 miles radius (the zone) surrounding the explosion. A human infant (found alive by a Liquidator) was even abandoned in the evacuation. Today, family photographs, toys, books, furniture and even unused gas masks riddle the countryside as remnants of a previous life left behind. The children of the evacuees sent to summer camps, called Pioneer camps. In one of the regions where the evacuees were relocated to (Gomel area of southern Belorussia, just north of Ukraine), the newspaper promised that 4,000 – three room houses were to be built by October 1986. A small number, considering that 115,000 evacuees needed housing that year alone.
The clean-up of #4 began immediately, first with robots performing the job. Robots were used at the plant to clear the highly radioactive debris. But the robots ran on transistors, which malfunctioned in the presence of radioactivity, as a result, the robots crashed into walls and in one case ran head long off the roof. In the days, months and years to follow, “Liquidators” were drafted from the private and military sector to initiate a clean up of the area in the Zone and especially at the site of reactor #4. The first Liquidators (also known as clean-up workers) were over 40 firefighters. Those that followed were medical personnel, construction workers, transportation workers, military and coal miners as well as Nikolai Melnik an Soviet pilot who was awarded a medal and title of “Hero of the Soviet Union” for his heroic act of placing radiation sensors on the power plant near reactor #4. Together they razed houses in the nearby villages and buried deep in the ground any movable object, including trucks, tractors and even top soil. They sprayed down over 60,000 buildings with chemicals, roofs were replaced, streets and sidewalks were sprayed with chemicals to prevent radioactive dust from blowing into the atmosphere and trees within the zone were cut down and buried in concrete pits. For days after the explosion, helicopters buzzed in a frenzy above, spraying decontaminate over the explosion site and filling the gaping, smoldering hole of the eternally burning fire at the site of the explosion. The glowing core of the reactor was doused with Boron Carbide, Led, Clay and Sand. The boiling mass finally extinguished itself when the core melted, flowed into the lower area of the building, solidified and sealed off the entry. About 71% of the radioactive fuel in the core (about 135 metric tons) remained uncovered for approximatley14 days until cooling and solidification completed. 400 coal miners completed a cooling slab under the reactor by digging a 168m tunnel, which was completed by June 24. A concrete sarcophagus was then constructed by construction workers around Reactor #4 to encase and trap the escaping radiation. Around the city,a once green, thriving forest had now turned as red as blood due to the effects of the radiation. The radiation that emanated from Reactor #4 was said to be 100 hundred times more powerful than the exposure in Hiroshima. One of the last tasks of the Liquidators was to built a barb wire fence and checkpoint stations around the entire plant. The Liquidators could only work for a few minutes at a time around the extreme radiation with out permanently damaging their health and risking their lives. 20-60 minutes within close proximity to the high doses of radiation would bring imminent death. The roof of Reactor #3 held the highest readings. It was not unusual in the week that followed the explosion to obtain readings of 1,500 R (Roentgen) on the roof of Reactor #3. Although the work of the Liquidators went on for a few years, each individual Liquidator worked for days and no more than a couple of months to alleviate the effects of radiation. And then they were gone………………..
And the once inhabited villages and town, full of life, sat in desolate silence. The once bustling town of Pripyat with it’s cryptically empty high rise buildings sat quietly with the remaining reactors looming heinously over the Pripyat River. The damage had been done and now all there was to do was wait. Wait to see what the effects were, the effects on those exposed and the effects on the land. The world waited too. Medical professionals checked those exposed. Women were instructed by Doctors to have abortions as the consequences of radiation exposure to the unborn was unknown. The Liquidators were regularly checked, but with the former Soviet Unions propensity to conceal records, in many instances, the true findings were not documented. And then, the truth was exposed……………………
It could no longer be covered up or lied about. It was only a matter of time before the effects of the exposure to radiation on workers, residents and their offspring became evident. The largest health factor documented so far has been cancer of the thyroid, particularly in children. Of the Liquidators initially exposed to high doses of radiation, one of the most common health ailments found was deterioration of the nervous system causing stress related issues. Due to the secretiveness of the Soviet Union, there were no public studies performed at the onset of the disaster. In the years after the cold war ended in 1991, it has become evident that thousands of exposed individuals and their offspring have suffered death by cancer, birth defects, circulatory damage, mental issues and damage to the nervous system. Thousands of the Liquidators died of cancer, some within months of having been contaminated. Yet, hundreds of evacuated villagers have since returned to the Exclusion Zone. They are living in contaminated homes, raising and eating livestock raised on contaminated feed and water and farming in the contaminated soil. The effects of the radiation are said to last 100,000 years. The sarcophagus covering the melted, radioactive mass has been cracking for years due to the weight of snow and effects of time. Radioactivity is being released through the fissures, with rain water running into the cracks. The rain water will lay in a pool of radiation in the sarcophagus and evaporate into the atmosphere, taking all that radioactivity with it to be rained down from the clouds above. As of 2012, the Chernobyl plant no longer generates electricity or plutonium, several thousand workers are present at the plant, cleaning and maintaining. Due to radiation exposure, the workers can stay on site for two weeks, followed by two weeks off. The last reactor stopped operating in 2000. The workers earn triple the normal wage due to the health hazards. There are also others employed as guards at the checkpoints. One of the employees at the stations job is to spade cement over the cracks in the sarcophagus and sweep radioactive dust from the sidewalks. The sarcophagus has worn out and is scheduled to be replaced in first, 2012, then 2013 and now 2015, but with the lack of funding, it is doubtful that the $1 billion replacement will ever transpire. Despite the fact that the area in and around the Exclusion Zone still has dangerously high radiation readings, the government has opened it up to guided tours with a permit. The entire area has become somewhat of a wildlife sanctuary, reminiscent of the movie “I Am Legend.” High rise apartment buildings stand towering over deserted streets overgrown with vegetation. Over the years looters have taken many of the belongings left behind in the evacuation, but some of the old hammer and sickle signs of the Soviet Union are still standing. Feral dogs and cats roam the area, no doubt ancestors of those orphaned in the evacuation. Wolves, foxes, moose, elk, wild boars and beavers thrive in the unpopulated ruins, often taking shelter in the abandoned buildings. Bison and horses have been released in the area to keep the grass from overgrowing and causing a fire hazard. In the absence of people, wildlife and vegetation are thriving, but less notated, are the animal and plant mutations that still, twenty-six years later, existent. Don’t be fooled though, Pripyat and the Evacuation Zone are still very dangerous, especially if a person were to spend any amount of time there.
In 2011, tourism has become appealing to site seers. These site seeing tours are sponsored by the Ukrainian government. “We want to dispel the myth that Chernobyl still remains dangerous for Ukraine and the world” remarked Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Yulia Yershova. If the area around the Chernobyl station is safe, why are these following rules enforced by the tour guides?
During your Chernobyl tour it is totally prohibited to:
Carry any kind of weapons;
Drink liquors or take drugs;
Have meal and smoke in the open air;
Touch any structures or vegetation;
Sit or place photo and video equipment on the ground;
Take any items outside the zone;
Violate the dress code (open-type shoes, shorts, trousers, skirts);
Stay in the exclusion zone without the officer responsible for the envoy.
It seems that the soil must still hold high amounts of radiation, as it is advised above, in the tour rules, not to place items on the ground, nor sit on it. Is it safe or have we become desensitized? In the 26 years since the accident, not seeing the adverse effects immediately, have we fallen asleep? If the sarcophagus at Chernobyl is not repaired soon, we could have another incident of radiation leaking into the atmosphere and what of the remaining nuclear reactors? The world has experienced two meltdowns and a partial meltdown with Three Mile Island in the United States, Chernobyl and Fukushima in Japan, just since 1979. As of March 30, 2012, there are 436 nuclear power plants in operation and 63 more being built.
Yes, it happened while the town of Pripyat slept…………..is the world in a state of sleep, complacently and obliviously waiting for the next meltdown? Will it be in your backyard next time?
Voices of Chernobyl – a book
on the link below for Amazon – the book featured is “Voices of Chernobyl” – Amazon allows the viewer to LOOK INSIDE – I highly recommend this, or better yet, purchase the book. The testimonies of the victims are heart wrenching. Reading about these poor victims and what they went through, put me far more in touch with what truly happened at Chernobyl than anything else.
, Chernobyl Revisited: 26 years later, the heartbreak and loss of life continues www.ozeldersin.com bitirme tezi,ödev,proje dönem ödevi