The Disaster of 1986

In 1986 a nuclear reactor caught fire in Chernobyl and caused a large explosion that took several plant workers lives as well as release 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere, essentially coating anything near the reactor in radiation. This tragic accident was caused by ill equipped workers and a lack of any strict safety codes. Behind the iron curtain, Chernobyl was one of the Soviet Union’s largest nuclear plants and had to accommodate housing for the workers and their families. Chernobyl was growing in size, and becoming a community. On the day of the accident, workers wanted to test out the reactor and see how long the turbines would spin and continue to move without the aid of electricity. The workers shut down all power and the reactor immediately showed signs that it would not old. The reactor uses the turbines to pump water through and keep the reactor core cool so it doesn’t over heat. Without the turbines spinning the reactor got hotter and hotter and exploded killing one worker immediately and severely wounding another resulting in his death at a hospital. The entire population of Chernobyl evacuated, taking with them very little except for the clothes on their backs and their family members, and they have never been able to go back home. Radioactive substances were released into the air for ten days resulting in many people contracting Acute Radiation Poisoning and killing several. Chernobyl is still radioactive and deadly, but many scientists believe that in the next 300 hundred years or so Chernobyl will be able to be repopulated because the harmful radiation will have been diluted into the soil, air, and water. Full eradication of radiation is seemingly up for debate, many have said 50,000 years or more for Chernobyl to truly go back to normal.

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