Chernobyl was a nuclear power plant completed in 1977 and home to four nuclear reactors which together produced roughly 10% of the electricity in what was then referred to as the U.S.S.R.
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| Google Images |
Nine years later #4 exploded due to a sudden power surge caused by the flawed reactor design, and human error. The reactor design rejected by other countries using nuclear energy was unstable during startup and shutdown, and when operators tried to reduce power, it would drastically
increase power production; as overheating became more unsafe, power increased even more.
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| Gerstein, Marc & Ellsberg, Michael & Ellsberg, Daniel. (2010). Flirting With Disaster: Why Accidents Are Rarely Accidental. |
On the morning of April 26, 1986 operators ran the plant at very low power thus inadvertently accelerating the nuclear chain reaction and leading to the power surge which ruptured some of the pressure tubes containing fuel. The initial release of hot fuel reacted with water causing a steam explosion that blew the cover off the top of the reactor (quick reference: the cover weighed 1,000 metric tons), and also ruptured the 1,660 pressure tubes in Reactor #4, causing another explosion that exposed the reactor core to the environment.
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Courtesy Archive.org
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The aftereffects of this explosion was catastrophic to the people and environment around them. Below you will see a large mass of corium leaking out of the nuclear reactor. Corium is comprised of nuclear fuel, fission products, and other structural material which melted as a result of the explosion. It was nicknamed "The Elephant's Foot".
It is said that anyone exposed to this mass for more even 5 minutes would not live more than two days. S
o not only was the government criticized for the incident itself, but also the lack of training for the safety workers who were charged with containing and cleaning the area.
Click on the screenshot below to see a 10 minute Public Information Film, which is all in Russian, however it is interesting to note that even after all of the death and destruction, the government was still attempting to to assuage any fear the public may have had regarding safety. This clearly shows any cover-up discovered was not just to abate the culpability of their actions to the world, they also did this to their very own citizens.
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| Fair Use |
If I had all the money in the world I would also license parts of the HBO documentary for inclusion to this story, as I heard they got some really good information regarding the attempts Russia made to cover up the incident.
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