It is impossible to uncover the topic of the Chernobyl disaster (as the largest accident at a nuclear power plant) and its consequences without understanding what the whole region was like before the tragic accident. Therefore, this article should begin with the history of the Chernobyl district of the Kiev region, or rather, even with the history of the town of Chernobyl. The accident at the nuclear power plant firmly connected this city with a man-made disaster, but the first mention of it dates back to the 15th century (in Lithuanian sources), and it has its own long history.
History of Chernobyl and its surroundings
During the colonization of Ukrainian lands by Polish tycoons in the 16th century, a huge castle was erected in the vicinity of Chernobyl, from which only a moat has survived to this day. Chernobyl itself (as a city remote from the Rzeczpospolita’s capital) was inhabited mainly by Jews, thanks to which it became one of the centers of Hasidism (one of the movements of Judaism) after the settlement of Menachem of Tver in the place of the Hasidic rabbis. After Chernobyl became part of the Russian Empire, the Ukrainian culture began to develop in the town. Chernobyl became the center of the Ukrainian song of North Polesie. During the fascist occupation, the city ceased to be the center of Jewish life for obvious reasons. After the end of the war in Chernobyl, a period of industrial development began. The town acquired the status of a city, and its population grew.
Thus, Chernobyl existed long before the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The city has long been associated not only with a nuclear power plant, but also was an industrial center, as well as a place for the development of Ukrainian and Jewish cultures.
Construction of the Chernobyl NPP and development of the region
In 1970, the first nuclear power plant in the territory of modern Ukraine was built in the Chernobyl region, named after the leader of the world proletariat V.I. Lenin. Of course, Vladimir Ilyich had nothing to do with the Chernobyl region, and Lenin himself was unlikely to be in these places. But since the Chernobyl NPP was actually built in a wasteland, which was not famous for either famous events or outstanding people, it is true that the nuclear power plant built as part of the Soviet Union’s nuclear energy development program, the course of which was determined by the CPSU Congress, was named after the most revered in the Soviet state of man.
Ten kilometers to the nearest city is a long distance for the resettlement of employees of the power plant. Therefore, next to the notorious Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the village of Pripyat nuclear workers was founded, which received city status in 1979. The entire population of the city that has grown in a matter of years was involved in a nuclear power plant, or it served its employees in the city. All urban industry was aimed exclusively at meeting the needs of nuclear scientists and the station. At the time of the accident, the population of Pripyat reached almost 50 thousand people.
The city of Chernobyl itself has nothing to do with a nuclear power plant, except for its territorial proximity. He lived his life for centuries. But it was the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, connected with the city only by territorial proximity, that made it the center of attention of the world community.
1986 accident
In 1983, as they say, the fourth Chernobyl power unit was built in haste. A few years earlier, Soviet scientists built a nuclear power plant in Iraq, which was destroyed from the air by Israeli air force fighters. This attack demonstrated the absolute defenselessness of Soviet nuclear energy before a surprise attack, so the Soviet nuclear engineers began to think about how to provide electricity to cities and villages in the event of a sudden attack on a nuclear facility. For carrying out experiments in this direction, the fourth power unit was built, hiding in itself many shortcomings and shortcomings made during its construction.
On the night of April 26, 1986, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred in the fourth power unit of the power plant. In the process of conducting experiments with the reactor, two powerful explosions occurred that determined the further unenviable fate of the entire thousand-strong population of the city of Pripyat and its environs, including the city of Chernobyl. The explosion was caused by overheating of the reactor, which tore off its lid and released a huge amount of radiation into the air.
Causes of the Chernobyl accident
The causes of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are a controversial topic to this day, many versions are put forward, both admissible and absolutely fantastic. But there are two obvious reasons for the unfolding events at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - political and technical.
Political reason
In the Soviet Union, undoubtedly, great attention was paid to education. Soviet universities graduated highly qualified specialists in all fields of science and culture. But to advance through the ranks, a red diploma was of secondary importance, much more important was success in political preparation, as well as devotion to the party and its high ideals. For this reason, the post of chief engineer of the Chernobyl NPP was received by an active and executive party worker, Nikolai Fomin, who was a specialist in the field of thermal power plants, but was completely ignorant of nuclear energy. He practically did not interfere in the activities of his subordinates and completely trusted his deputy Dyatlov, who was appointed to this position in the year of the Chernobyl accident. Dyatlov was an experienced nuclear scientist, but he came to Pripyat specifically to conduct experiments with the reactor that were acceptable to the government that fateful night. Fomin himself was quietly sleeping in his bed at that time.
And Dyatlov, and Fomin, and the director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had one common goal - to curry favor with their party leadership in order to rise higher in the career ladder. And Dyatlov’s subordinates, who assisted him in the operator’s room during the experiments, realizing the possible danger of manipulations with the reactor, were afraid to disobey the orders of their immediate superiors, since the dismissal threatened the atomic workers with a move from warm Pripyat to the much colder cities of atomic workers in Siberia.
Thus, one of the main reasons for the Chernobyl accident was, on the one hand, the negligence of the plant’s top management, and on the other, the indecision of the staff to refuse to comply with clearly dangerous instructions of the management.
Technical reason
As already mentioned, on the night of the accident at the power plant, an experiment was conducted by order from Moscow itself. The technical goal of the experiment was to completely stop the steam turbines of the power plant and switch to power supply from the generators at low reactor power. Thus, in theory, it is possible to avoid radiation leakage during the bombing of a nuclear power plant, while continuing to provide electricity for some time.
To start the experiment, it was necessary to lower the reactor power to 700 megawatts. But in the process of lowering the reactor power fell almost completely. According to the instructions, nuclear scientists were obliged to completely stop the reactor and only then start it again. But Dyatlov wanted quick results, so he ordered his engineers to withdraw all control rods from the reactor, providing control over the power, thereby causing a sharp rise in it. But flaws in the construction of the reactor led to the fact that the sensors on the control rods did not take temperature readings from the very bottom of the reactor, where the temperature began to rise sharply after the rods were removed.
Unaware of this, guided by the readings of the instruments, they continued the experiment at a power of 200 megawatts (contrary to the required 700) and stopped the turbine. Under the influence of high temperature, the water quickly evaporated, and the reactor began to overheat sharply, but the engineers learned about it too late when the worker saw with his own eyes how the steam lifts the control rods.
Realizing the danger of the situation, Dyatlov decided to proceed with an emergency reduction in reactor power. Technically, this meant maximum immersion of all control rods at the same time. In theory, this should have led to a rapid decrease in the temperature of the reactor, but the engineers did not take into account that graphite is located on the tips of the rods with bromine, which initially briefly raises the temperature of the reactor. And since the rods were lowered simultaneously, the temperature of the reactor almost instantly increased tens of times, as a result, the reactor could not withstand the pressure and exploded.
Thus, the technical causes of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are associated with the shortcomings of the reactor made during its construction, as well as with the mistake of the operators and violation of the regulations.
Evacuation of people and assessment of consequences
Since the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred at night, an assessment of its consequences did not begin until the morning of April 27. Prior to that, only a few firefighters were sent to eliminate the fire resulting from the explosion. After a surface analysis and measurements of the level of radiation in the air, which turned out to be more than 120 x-rays (with a norm of up to 20), the need for evacuation of people became clear.
At that time, people were officially notified of the need for temporary evacuation to nearby cities in the Kiev region. Then no one yet realized the magnitude of the incident. In the city, places for evacuation were determined, where the entire city bus fleet was taken. People were evacuated quickly, so citizens were forced to leave everything acquired with honest labor in their homes, and many were completely forbidden to be taken out due to the danger of radiation infection.
Since the Chernobyl accident happened suddenly, in one day people lost almost everything: work, a roof over their heads, earned serious health problems, and many died of radiation sickness in a few years, and lost their loved ones. But the consequences of the disaster were much larger than Pripyat, and indeed the entire Chernobyl region. Radiation went west, raising the background radiation in Belarus and Central Europe. Even Sweden complained about the increase in radiation levels. But not every resident of Pripyat and nearby settlements left the infected zone. Some residents, strongly attached to their native places, remained in their homes. These people had to experience the reverse side of nuclear energy.
Liquidation of an accident
Despite the evacuation of people, it was impossible to leave the reactor, emitting harmful radiation, as there is, moreover, it was completely impossible to completely stop the Chernobyl nuclear power plant immediately after the accident. Therefore, to eliminate the consequences, groups of liquidators were formed.
The liquidators of the Chernobyl accident recorded voluntarily. Among them were both EMERCOM employees and the military, including conscripts, and not indifferent civilians. The Soviet media broadcast on the safety and modernity of nuclear energy, and insisted that it was the future. At that time, people who were ignorant of nuclear energy did not realize the whole danger of the situation, therefore they went willingly to the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident, sincerely wanting to help their compatriots.
Only then did they realize how badly they had undermined their health. One of the priority tasks of the liquidators was to fill up the reactor. As a result, a sarcophagus was built around the reactor by the liquidators, which was supposed to stop the further spread of radiation and give hope that once the Chernobyl region would again become suitable for living.
The dose of radiation received by the liquidators killed many within a few years. Others became disabled, requiring constant expensive medical care. The first liquidators were immediately sent by plane to Moscow to the Institute of Radiation Diseases, the only one in the Soviet Union at that time. Some liquidators who fell into this institution were saved. The rest received state subsidies in the form of pensions and benefits, which are preserved in independent Ukraine to this day.
The consequences of the accident for the Chernobyl region: the creation of an exclusion zone
The consequences of the Chernobyl accident were catastrophic. The entire Chernobyl district of the Kiev region was declared unsuitable for living, as a result of which it was liquidated and transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ivankovo ​​district of the Kiev region. The territory of the Chernobyl region was declared an exclusion zone. Roadblocks were established on the roads leading to the zone, and the territory itself was fenced over time to protect it from looters.
There are many rumors and legends about the exclusion zone, many alternative causes of accidents at nuclear power plants have been voiced. The Chernobyl zone has repeatedly been the focus of attention of writers, journalists and creators of computer games. It also attracts photographers as the site of an accident at a nuclear power plant. Photos of such places, made in a post-apocapaliptic style, attract the attention of not indifferent.
The theory that the Chernobyl zone contains secrets hidden by the government exists today, despite the fact that the entrance to the zone is no longer so strict, and there are legal tourist excursions to Chernobyl.
Tourists from different countries are attracted by the city of Pripyat, which is a museum city in which the Soviet era froze in the late eighties. Since then, nothing has changed in it. Forests near Chernobyl, which have become pristine, have become a favorite place for hunters. And ancient Chernobyl (the accident at the nuclear power plant affected him to a lesser extent) has about ten residents who returned to their homes.
The directors were also interested in the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The film "Moths", shot in Ukraine in 2013, has become a real cinema masterpiece, which allows the viewer to plunge into the world of emotions of people who fell into the cycle of events of that time.
The consequences of the accident for the whole world. Global response
The forced evacuation led to the irretrievable loss of the authentic culture of the Chernobyl region, whose inhabitants dispersed not only in the Kiev region, but throughout the country. The Soviet Union was forced to reconsider its attitude to nuclear energy and its widespread use. Also, some historians believe that the consequences of the Chernobyl accident undermined the authority of the authorities in the eyes of the population.
The world, especially capitalist, public, politicized by the Cold War, expressed a huge protest against the USSR in connection with the increase in its radiation background. Western media were full of articles about the inhumanity of the leadership of the Soviet state, that the consequences of accidents at nuclear power plants were the result of a secret experiment, which in fact was not so far from the truth. Japan spoke out particularly sharply against the Soviet Union, calling Soviet scientists barbarians who could not be trusted with atomic energy. Perhaps the journalist who wrote this article revised his views after the Fukushima accident.
Major accidents at nuclear power plants in the world
Although the Chernobyl disaster is considered the largest accident at nuclear power plants in the world, other equally serious incidents have occurred.
Three Mile Island accident
Seven years before the Chernobyl accident, on March 28, 1979, a nuclear accident occurred in the United States, at Three Mile Island Power Station in Pennsylvania. At that time, this accident was considered the largest in the world. Radiation leakage occurred as a result of a breakthrough of the heat-generating unit pipe.
Despite the magnitude of the accident at the nuclear power plant, state authorities did not force evacuation, as they did not consider the accident dangerous. But children and pregnant women were still advised to temporarily leave the nearby city of Harisberg. Actually, people left the streets adjacent to the nuclear power plant for fear of radioactive rays.
Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant has not stopped its operation and continues to operate today, being the largest US nuclear power plant.
Fukushima accident
The second place in the scale of consequences (after the Chernobyl accident) is occupied by the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant located in the north-eastern part of Japan. The catastrophe happened on March 11, 2011. As a result of a strong earthquake of 9 points on the Richter scale , an 11-meter tsunami rose, the waves of which flooded the Fukushima-1 power units. This caused a failure of the reactor cooling system and led to several explosions of hydrogen in its core.
The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused a large-scale emission of radiation, which is 20 times higher than its Chernobyl counterpart. About 30,000 people received radiation contamination. Of course, it was only thanks to the timely reaction of the Japanese authorities and the preparedness for emergency situations that the worst consequences were avoided, which was caused by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. Nevertheless, according to experts, at least 20 years must pass before the consequences of the accident are completely neutralized. The catastrophe affected not only Japan, but also the west coast of the USA, on which a few days after the explosion, an increase in the radiation background was also observed.
In Japan, as in the United States, no evacuation was carried out, since modern protection systems for nuclear power plants allow you to quickly localize the source of emissions, to prevent the transformation of entire cities into deserted deserts. Nevertheless, Japan had to put up with the increased level of radiation in food, water and air in the territory of Fukushima Prefecture, in close proximity to the emergency reactor. The sanitary standards for radiation levels for many products have been changed due to the fact that it has become impossible to adhere to them.
Undoubtedly, nuclear energy is inexpensive and promising, but the operation of nuclear power plants requires increased caution, since the causes of accidents at nuclear power plants may be the most unexpected. But even with all the requirements, no one can guarantee that someone’s negligence or disgrace of nature will not cause an accident. And the consequences of accidents at nuclear power plants have to be eliminated for more than a decade. Therefore, today the best minds in the world are thinking about creating powerful alternative nuclear power plants.