Historic Nuclear Disasters

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Above is a picture that shows what the Chernobyl plant and the city of Pripyat looked like after the disaster occurred. This picture was taken on April 26, 1986.

The Chernobyl plant was created and officially opened in 1977. It was located in the city of Pripyat, Ukraine. The plant was energized by nuclear energy, which was intended  to become a new source for energy and turning the energy into electricity for the nation and across the world. The Chernobyl plant only lasted from 1977 to year 2000 when it was closed. Within the year 1986, the plant became a disaster in the city of Pripyat. The cause of the disaster was concluded by investigators that there was a designed reactor that had flaws. Not only was the flawed reactor was one of the issues but it was also being operated by personnel that was not train enough. This was one of the largest nuclear power plants in the world.

The release of radiation that was released into the atmosphere from the nuclear explosion had a huge negative impact on the environment and the people on the planet, especially the people who lived around the area. The people that lived in the city of Pripyat were not evacuated until 36 hours after the disaster happened. It caused thousands of people to die.The workers who were currently inside the plant when the disaster occurred were contaminated and killed. It also caused thousands of women to have defective births. The radiation affected everyone and everything that was within the range of 800,000 miles from the plant. About 150,000 people’s homes had to be relocated. It is estimated by experts that around 70,000 people were dangerously poisoned both in and out of their body. Millions acres of farms and forests were contaminated, being a bad thing because crops already produced had to be thrown away. Forests that may have been used for projects or even animal housing was contaminated, harming animals.

Above i have attached a simple map of what Ukraine looks like and where exactly Pripyat was located. It is clear that other nations that were next to the city of Pripyat were effected. Nations such as Poland, Belarus, and maybe even Russia.

A more recent nuclear disaster that occurred was the explosion that occurred in Japan during March 2011. The plant was named Fukushima Daiichi, located in Okuma, Japan. What triggered the disaster was the earthquake, which was caused by the tsunami that caused the plant to overheat and begin to function incorrectly.  The plant began to over heat which cause the reactors to explode. Even the backup diesel generators were not able to function correctly because of the high temperature within the plant. When comparing to previous nuclear disasters, this has to be the most prepared incident that was well handled.  Fortunately the worst thing that happened during the disaster was that about 100,000 people who were evacuated and their homes were relocated. Unfortunately around 1,000 people who were allowing the evacuation to happen died.

This is a picture of the explosion of the nuclear disaster. Remember that this disaster happened within a decade ago. The technology that has been developed compared to the technology from the passed is a lot more advanced. This is part of the reason why it was easier to control and decrease the number of people who were and would have been effected.

References :

http://www.history.com/news/historys-worst-nuclear-disasters

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-accident.aspx