About..

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that

occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine .

An explosion and fire released large quantities of

radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western USSR and Europe.
It is widely considered to have been the worst nuclear

power plant accident in history.

Where is Chernobyl?

-In Northern Ukraine -10 miles away from Belarus -80 miles North of Kiev

http://students.vassar.edu/mezegen/Eastern%20Europe%20Map.gif http://studiohousebooks.co.uk/chernobyl/Chernobyl/chernobyl.html

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

Located 11 miles north of the city of Chernobyl Plant consisted of 4 reactors Produced 10% of Ukraines electricity Construction began in the 1970s Reactor #4 was completed in 1983

At the time of

the accident, reactors #5 and #6 were in progress.

What happened?
Saturday, April 26, 1986: -Reactor #4 was undergoing a test to test the backup power supply in case of a power loss. -The power fell too low, allowing the concentration of xenon-135 to rise. -The workers continued the test, and in order to control the rising levels of xenon-135, the control rods were pulled out.
http://www.ukrainianweb.com/images/chernobyl/chernobyl_reactor.jpg

What happened? contd

-The experiment involved shutting down the coolant pumps, which caused the coolant to rapidly heat up and boil. -Pockets of steam formed in the coolant lines. When the coolant expanded in this particular design, the power level went up. -All control rods were ordered to be inserted. As the rods were inserted, they became deformed and stuck. The reaction could not be stopped. -The rods melted and the steam pressure caused an explosion, which blew a hole in the roof. A graphite fire also resulted from the explosion. -To save money, the reactor was constructed with only partial containment, which allowed the radiation to escape. 13%-30% of the material escaped.

Experiment..
The reactor that exploded in Chernobyl consisted of about 1,600 individual

fuel channels, and each operational channel required a flow of 28 metric tons (28,000 liters ) of water per hour. There had been concerns that in the event of a power grid failure, external power would not have been immediately available to run the plant's cooling water pumps. Chernobyl's reactors had three backup diesel generators. Each generator required 15 seconds to start up but took 6075 seconds to attain full speed and reach the capacity of 5.5 MW required to run one main cooling water pump. This one-minute power gap was considered unacceptable, and it had been suggested that the rotational energy of the steam turbine and residual steam pressure could be used to generate electricity to run the main cooling water pumps. while the emergency diesel generators were reaching the correct rotational speed (RPM) and voltage.

Test..
In theory, analyses indicated that this residual momentum and steam

pressure had the potential to provide power for 45 seconds which would bridge the power gap between the onset of the external power failure and the full availability of electric power from the emergency generators. This capability still needed to be confirmed experimentally, and previous tests had ended unsuccessfully. An initial test carried out in 1982 showed that the excitation voltage of the turbine-generator was insufficient; it did not maintain the desired magnetic field after the turbine trip. The system was modified, and the test was repeated in 1984 but again proved unsuccessful. In 1985, the tests were attempted a third time but also yielded negative results. The test procedure was to be repeated again in 1986, and it was scheduled to take place during the maintenance shutdown of Reactor Four

Test

The test focused on the switching sequences of the

electrical supplies for the reactor. The test procedure was to begin with an automatic emergency shutdown. The Chernobyl power plant had been in operation for two years without the capability to ride through the first 6075 seconds of a total loss of electric power, and thus lacked an important safety feature. The station managers presumably wished to correct this at the first opportunity, which may explain why they continued the test even when serious problems arose, and why the requisite approval for the test had not been sought from the Soviet nuclear oversight regulator

Procedure..
The experimental procedure was intended to run as

follows:
1. 2.

3.
4.

5.

The reactor was to be running at a low power level, between 700 MW and 800 MW. The steam-turbine generator was to be run up to full speed. When these conditions were achieved, the steam supply for the turbine generator was to be closed off. Turbine generator performance was to be recorded to determine whether it could provide the bridging power for coolant pumps until the emergency diesel generators were sequenced to start and provide power to the cooling pumps automatically. After the emergency generators reached normal operating speed and voltage, the turbine generator would be allowed to freewheel down.

Enggs
. Alexander Akimov was chief of the night shift
Leonid Toptunov was the operator responsible for the

reactor's operational regimen, including the movement of the control rods. Toptunov was a young engineer who had worked independently as a senior engineer for approximately three months.

Test begins
The conditions to run the test were established before the day shift of

25 April 1986. The day shift workers had been instructed in advance and were familiar with the established procedures. A special team of electrical engineers was present to test the new voltage regulating system. As planned, a gradual reduction in the output of the power unit was begun at 01:06 on 25 April, and the power level had reached 50% of its nominal 3200 MW thermal level by the beginning of the day shift. At this point, another regional power station unexpectedly went offline, and the Kiev electrical grid controller requested that the further reduction of Chernobyl's output be postponed, as power was needed to satisfy the peak evening demand. The Chernobyl plant director agreed, and postponed the test According to plan, the test should have been finished during the day shift, and the night shift would only have had to maintain decay heat cooling systems in an otherwise shut down plant.

 At 1:23:04 a.m. the experiment began. Four (of eight total) Main

Circulating Pumps (MCP) were active. The steam to the turbines was shut off, and a run down of the turbine generator began. The diesel generator started and sequentially picked up loads, which was complete by 01:23:43. During this period, the power for the four MCPs was supplied by the turbine generator as it coasted down. As the momentum of the turbine generator decreased, the water flow rate decreased, leading to increased formation of steam voids (bubbles) in the core. This caused yet more water to flash into steam, giving yet a further power increase. However, during almost the entire period of the experiment the automatic control system successfully counteracted this positive feedback, continuously inserting control rods into the reactor core to limit the power rise.

Explosion begins .
At 1:23:40, as recorded by the SKALA centralized

control system, an emergency shutdown of the reactor, which inadvertently triggered the explosion, was initiated

Immediate Impact
- 203 people were hospitalized immediately. 31 of them eventually died. Most of these people were workers in the plant or local firefighters. - NW winds from the Black Sea carried the radiation for miles in the following days. Scandinavian detectors picked up on the abundance of radiation, but the Soviet government denied everything.

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Death s
A UNSCEAR report places the total confirmed deaths

from radiation at 64 as of 2008. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the death toll could reach 4,000 civilian deaths while the Union of Concerned Scientists estimate that for the broader population there will be 50,000 excess cancer cases resulting in 25,000 excess cancer deaths. Other reports from environmental groups have put the predicted death toll at between 30,000 and 200,000 deaths

The Clean Up
Liquidators
These were firemen who helped put out the fires and helped

Robots

clean up the radiation Most did not realize the dangers of radiation. Many later died from radiation, because they didnt wear protection. An estimated 8,000-20,000 to date have died (20% from suicide)

United States supplied Specifically designed to enter reactor core and help build the

sarcophagus Approximately 300,000 to 600,000 liquidators were involved in the cleanup of the 30 km evacuation zone around the plant in the years following the meltdown.

Containment

Cement sarcophagus built in the months after disaster 5,000 tons of sand thrown on top of reactor core
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Effects of Radiation

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 Belarusian doctors identify the following effects

Effects of Radiation

from the Chernobyl disaster on the health of their people:

100% increase in the incidence of cancer and

leukemia 250% increase in congenital birth deformities 1,000% increase in suicide in the contaminated zones
Chernobyl AIDS--the term doctors are using to

describe illnesses associated with the damage done to the immune system

OtherWater problems Food &

MilkFarmers have to

Lives ruined Suicide and depression Even healthy people were disturbed
http://www.spacedaily.com/images/chernobyl-airview-bg.jpg http://library.thinkquest.org/3426/data/local-effects/agriculture.effects.html

watch the radiation level in milk. FishCannot be eaten, as water absorbs radiation and fats concentrate it Radioactive Floods every spring

Living in the contaminated zone in Belarus today

People must change their clothes twice a day, and may not

walk in the woods for more than two hours a month. Radiation level charts are printed in the newspapers and dictate decisions such as whether children can be allowed out to play. People are told to wash food at least five times in clean water, but nobody is told where this clean water is to be found. Cattle are not supposed to graze in areas where the grass is less than 10cm high so their mouths will not touch the earth. Most people find it impossible to follow these nearly impossible instructions, so they simply give up trying. There are also housing shortages in Belarus and the rest of the ex-Soviet Union. This is a problem because people have a hard time moving out of the contaminated zone, since there are no other places to live.

 The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located next to the

Pripyat River, which feeds into the Dnipro River reservoir system, one of the largest surface water systems in Europe. The radioactive contamination of aquatic systems therefore became a major problem in the immediate aftermath of the accident. In the most affected areas of Ukraine, levels of radioactivity (particularly radioiodine: I-131, radiocaesium: Cs-137 and radiostrontium: Sr-90) in drinking water caused concern during the weeks and months after the accident. After this initial period, however, radioactivity in rivers and reservoirs was generally below guideline limits for safe drinking water.[92]

 Bio-accumulation of radioactivity in fish resulted in concentrations

(both in western Europe and in the former Soviet Union) that in many cases were significantly above guideline maximum levels for consumption. Guideline maximum levels for radiocaesium in fish vary from country to country but are approximately 1,000 Bq/kg in the European Union. In the Kiev Reservoir in Ukraine, concentrations in fish were several thousand Bq/kg during the years after the accident. In small "closed" lakes in Belarus and the Bryansk region of Russia, concentrations in a number of fish species varied from 100 to 60,000 Bq/kg during the period 199092. The contamination of fish caused short-term concern in parts of the UK and Germany and in the long term (years rather than months) in the affected areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia as well as in parts of Scandinavia.[92]

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