Nuclear reactors Chernobyl disaster

In terms of safety culture, there is a range of definitions cited by public enquires and research bodies. These definitions invariably cite poor management control as a key factor leading directly to serious accidents or disasters. For example, the absence of a safety culture is said to have played a major part in the nuclear reactor disaster at Chernobyl in 1986. 

The anthropogenic radionuclides of most concern are those produced as fission products from nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. The most devastating release from the latter source to date resulted from the April 26, 1986, explosion, partial meltdown of the reactor core, and breach of confinement structures by a power reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine. This disaster released 5 x 107 Ci of radionuclides from the site, which contaminated large areas of Soviet Ukraine and Byelorussia, as well as areas of Scandinavia, Italy, France, Poland, Turkey, and Greece. Radioactive fission products that are the same or similar to elements involved in life processes can be particularly hazardous. One of these is radioactive iodine, which tends to accumulate in the thyroid gland, which may develop cancer or otherwise be damaged as a result. Radioactive cesium exists as the Cs+ ion and is similar to sodium and potassium in its physiological behavior. Radioactive strontium forms the Sr2+ ion and substitutes for Ca2+, especially in bone. 

It should also be remembered that most evolving technologies, whether boilers during the 19th century, airplanes in this century, or nuclear plants, entail some accidents from which lessons are learned. Both the Three Mile Island accident, from which only limited radioactivity escaped to the environment, and the Chernobyl disaster, have led to the introduction of new safety features in nuclear reactors, in plant operating procedures, and in regulations. 

The risks associated with the operation of nuclear reactors are small but not negligible, as the failnre of the Three Mile Island reactor in the United States in 1979 and the disaster at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in 1987 demonstrated. If a reactor has to be shnt down quickly, there is danger of a meltdown, in which the heat from the continning fission processes melts the uranium fuel. Coolant mnst be circulated until heat from the decay of short-lived isotopes has... 

On April 26, 1986, one of four nuclear reactors exploded more at the Chernobyl power station in Ukraine, a country that used to be a part of the old Soviet Union. The explosion burned for nine days, proving to be the worst nuclear accident in history. The disaster released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Much of the fallout fell close to Chernobyl,... 

Certain chemical disasters have prominent places in medical history. In 1976, a chemical reactor explosion in Seveso, Italy, released 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, which contaminated thousands of acres, killed 100,000 animals, and caused the evacuation of hundreds of people (Melius and Binder 1989). In 1984 in Bhopal, India, a carbamate pesticide plant released 30 tons of methyl isocyanate, causing more than 3,000 deaths and 50,000-300,000 injuries (Melius and Binder 1989). The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear accidents during the 1980s were the culmination of a string of eight nuclear accidents since 1952 (Melius and Binder 1989). Other chemical disasters severely affected local communities but did not generate widespread attention (De La Paz 1997 Withers 1988). 

Important data on the efficiency of oral AC in heavy metal removal have been obtained after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident on April 26 1986. During the first 7 days after the accident significant amounts of radionuclides were released from the nuclear reactor to the environment, which required extensive measures and man-power to prevent further spretiding of the radioactive contamination and clean-up of the contaminated territories [49,50]. The military personnel who worked in the Chemolyl exclusion zone, known as liquidators because they liquidated the consequences of this disaster, were exposed to elevated levels of radioactivity. Although these levels could not cause the radiation sickness disease, they were sufficiently high to affect health of liquidators particularly if the radionuclides became incorporated in the body... 

The Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster started in the early hours of 26 April 1986. It was claimed by the Soviets that this was the first major accident in the 30 years of operation of this type of reactor, which has only been built in the Soviet Union and which is a major component in the rapid increase in electrification of that country. 

The artificial or human-made radioactive elements were discovered by I. Curie and F. Joliot in 1934 [1]. Since then, many of these elements have been produced by nuclear explosions and nuclear reactors. The primary sources of radionuclides produced by fission process and foimd in the environment are atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and nuclear accidents, such as the well-known Chernobyl accident in April 1986 [2,3]. After the Chernobyl disaster, the initial widespread radioactivity that was most noticeable was due to however, its contribution became negligible after about two months because of its half-life of only 8 days. The remaining Cs and Cs were then the dominant radionuclides, with half-lives of 30 years and 2.1 years, respectively. Table 3.1 lists some of the cosmogenic, natural, and artificial radionuclides in the envirorunent. 

Another nuclear disaster rated equal to Chernobyl happened at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan on the 11th of March 2011. Nuclear reactors were damaged by strong earthquakes and tsunami. Crisis level at the Fukushima nuclear plant was raised to level 7 after 1 month of the disaster. Level 7 is classified by IAEA as the worst level on an international scale. 

Lithuania is more dependent on nuclear power than any other country in the world. Its two 1500-megawatt reactors produce more than 80 percent of the country s electricity. The reactors, however, are the same design as the unit that caused the Chernobyl disaster. With both reactors working, Lithuania can produce almost twice as much energy as its domestic demand, allowing the country to sell the excess to other nations. If one unit were shut down, however, the country... 

On April 26, 1986 at Chernobyl, Ukraine, a nuclear reaction went wrong and resulted in the explosion of one of the reactors in a nuclear power plant. These reactors were constructed without containment shells. The release of radioactive material covered hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. More than 3 million people in the surrounding suburbs suffered from this disaster. While 36 people died in the accident itself, the overall death toll has been estimated at 10,000. 

The worse nuclear power plant disaster on record occurred when the Chernobyl reactor in the Ukraine had a hot gas explosion. If this occurred in a Western nuclear power plant, the explosion would have been contained because Western plants are required to have a containment building. This a solid dome of steel reinforced concrete that contains the reactor. The Chernobyl plant did not have this containment feature, so the explosion blew through the roof of the reactor building allowing radiation and reactor core parts to escape into the air. 

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