Chernobyl disaster: Difference between revisions

The '''Chernobyl disaster''' was a [[nuclear accident]] that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 [[nuclear reactor|reactor]] in the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]], near the city of [[Pripyat]] in the north of the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]] in the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/chernobyl|title=Chernobyl Nuclear Accident|date=14 May 2014|website=www.iaea.org|access-date=24 April 2019|archive-date=11 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611102751/http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/Chernobyl/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/10807030802387556|title=A Comparative Analysis of Accident Risks in Fossil, Hydro, and Nuclear Energy Chains|journal=Human and Ecological Risk Assessment|volume=14|issue=5|pages=947–973|year=2008|last1=Burgherr|first1=Peter|last2=Hirschberg|first2=Stefan|s2cid=110522982}}</ref> It is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history both in cost and casualties.<ref name="BBCWorse">{{Cite news |last=Black |first=Richard |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13048916 |title=Fukushima: As Bad as Chernobyl? |date=12 April 2011 |website=BBC News |access-date=20 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816212750/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13048916 |archive-date=16 August 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is one of only two nuclear energy accidents rated at seven—the maximum severity—on the [[International Nuclear Event Scale]], the other being the 2011 [[Fukushima nuclear disaster]] in [[Japan]]. The initial emergency response, together with later [[decontamination]] of the environment, involved more than [[Chernobyl liquidators|500,000 personnel]] and cost an estimated 18 billion [[Soviet ruble]]s—roughly US$68 billion in 2019, adjusted for inflation.<ref name="OECD02-Ch2"/><ref name="GorbachevBoC">{{cite AV media |people=Johnson, Thomas (author/director) |date=2006 |title=The battle of Chernobyl |url=https://www.andanafilms.com/catalogueFiche.php?idFiche=255&rub=Toutes%20les%20fiches%20films |publisher=Play Film / Discovery Channel}} (see 1996 interview with Mikhail Gorbachev)</ref>

 

 

The [[Nuclear meltdown|meltdown]] and explosions ruptured the reactor core and destroyed the reactor building. This was immediately followed by an open-air reactor core fire which lasted until 4 May 1986, during which airborne [[radioactive contamination|radioactive contaminants]] were released which were deposited onto other parts of the USSR and Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCall|first=Chris|date=April 2016|title=Chernobyl disaster 30 years on: lessons not learned|journal=The Lancet|volume=387|issue=10029|pages=1707–1708|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(16)30304-x|pmid=27116266|s2cid=39494685|issn=0140-6736}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|chapter=Chernobyl-Born Radionuclides in Geological Environment|date=10 October 2014|pages=25–38|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc|isbn=978-1-118-96222-0|doi=10.1002/9781118962220.ch2|title=Groundwater Vulnerability|series=Special Publications}}</ref> Approximately 70% landed in [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Belarus]], {{convert|16|km}} away.<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 August 2020|title=Belarus: Five things you may not know about the country|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53727243|access-date=15 August 2020|website=BBC|archive-date=15 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815191132/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53727243|url-status=live}}</ref> The fire released about the same amount of radioactive material as the initial explosion.<ref name="OECD02-Ch2">{{cite web|url=https://www.oecd-nea.org/rp/reports/2003/nea3508-chernobyl.pdf|title=Chernobyl: Assessment of Radiological and Health Impact, 2002 update; Chapter II – The release, dispersion and deposition of radionuclides|year=2002|publisher=OECD-NEA|access-date=3 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622010856/https://www.oecd-nea.org/rp/reports/2003/nea3508-chernobyl.pdf|archive-date=22 June 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In response to the initial accident, a {{convert|10|km|mi|adj=on}} radius [[Chernobyl Exclusion Zone|exclusion zone]] was created 36 hours after the accident, from which approximately ~49,000&nbsp;people were evacuated, primarily from [[Pripyat]]. The exclusion zone was later increased to {{convert|30|km}} and an additional ~68,000&nbsp;people were evacuated.<ref name="Nuclear Disasters pp 55">{{cite book |title=Nuclear Disasters & The Built Environment: A Report to the Royal Institute |last1=Steadman |first1=Philip |last2=Hodgkinson |first2=Simon |date=1990 |publisher=Butterworth Architecture |isbn=978-0-40850-061-6 |page=55}}</ref>