chernobyl

Where is Chernobyl?

• Small town in Ukraine hen part of USSR
• 130 km north of Kiev the capital
• 20 km south of the country of Belarus
• 3km away from the city of Pripyat
• Chernobyl had 12,500 people 

What happened there?

• April 1986 a power surge destroys Unit 4 of nuclear station
• 2 explosions and fires released radioactive material in air  
• 30 people died as a result of the accident 
• 5% of radioactive core was released into the atmosphere 
• This was 100 times stronger than  Hiroshima and Nagasaki 

efforts to contain the accident

• Originally firefighters used water to take out fires
• Then they used boron, dolomite, sand, clay and lead 
• USSR didn't confirm the accident until 2 days after it occurred 
• This was an attempt to clean up the plant before it was found out 
• The fires took 2 weeks to put out 

Evacuation

• Officials close off the area 30km of the plant 
• 115,000 people initially evacuated
• Another 220,000 people evacuated in later years
• These people were relocated to less contaminated areas

Long term effects

• It is too soon to tell the long term of various habitats
• There has been an increased rate of thyroid cancers
• UNSCEAR says there isn't enough proof of a major health impact  

Chernobyl today

• Resettlement of less contaminated areas is still going
• Unit 4 is covered in large concrete shelter
• The exclusion zone is unlivable to this day  
• A better built confinement area will be made in 2016
• Belarusian food in contaminated areas are safe to eat 

Conclusion

• Due to Chernobyl many safety measures are improved 
• Stronger structures that hold radioactive material 
• German atomic safety agency says another Chernobyl is unlikely 
• The IAEA was formed after Chernobyl

"Chernobyl Accident 1986." Chernobyl. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.Click to Edit