For Ukraine, nuclear power plants are the main source of electrical energy. About 15 reactors are settled in Ukraine. They generate about half of Ukrainian energy, so it depends on nuclear energy very much. In 2009, about 40% of electrical energy came from thermal stations and more than 47% from nuclear stations (82.9 TWh). According to IAEA, the same year, nuclear power stations have produced 77.9 billion kWh net. One of the biggest nuclear power plants was settled in Chernobyl. One night, due to a human mistake catastrophe at Chernobyl took place.
On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant had a terrible accident and released huge amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere over the large area, including Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. This accident had an unprecedentedly heavy impact on the environment and caused as many as about 4000 death by invoking radiation poisoning and different kinds of cancer. More than 600000 recovery workers and emergency were trying to liquidate casualties. They have received the highest radiation doses. Many of the areas were designated as contaminated and were isolated. Local residents of the most contaminated areas were evacuated to nearest safe regions. Most of them have received small doses of radiation.
The accident happened on a Friday night, 25 April 1986. The routine procedures were to be carried out, the nuclear station was about to shut down, but it was decided to carry out some tests. Chernobyl’s reactors had 3 emergency generators because cooling pumps need electricity to operate and cool down a reactor after a SCRAM (safety control rod ax man). It usually took from 60 to 70 seconds for the main pump to reach full speed. To solve this problem a huge safety risk has been taken. The automatic emergency shutdown was dismounted by station operators and some engineers. Due to human error, the accident had happened. Alexander Akimov was a shift foreman. He was standing at the main control board together with young engineer Leonid Toptunov. They were nervous because emergency systems would not turn on automatically if something went wrong. They have got the order to postpone the shutdown of the station. Later on, station personnel have received permission to recommence the procedure. Akimov and Toptunov noticed that the power level was too low to proceed. They knew that it was the best time to finish the test and shut down the reactor. But their superior Dyatlov has interfered. He told them to continue the procedure and carry on the test. He did not want to postpone the test again, so he ordered to draw the rods to increase the power. The power level became high enough to continue the test.
Quite soon staff noticed that something was going wrong. The energy level has surged too high. The water pressure on the pumps has quickly risen so that pipes started to vibrate. Akimov and others were confused. They did not know, what was happening. At about 1.20 a.m. Akimov decided to react quickly and lower all the rods into the core to reduce the increasing power and radiation level to a minimum. Akimov activated the emergency AZ button, but the descending control rods stuck and the horrible tremor had appeared. The fourth reactor had exploded a moment after. The explosion was so strong, that it could be compared with several nuclear bombs the size of Hiroshima. The 2000-ton steel top was blown off and the concrete was dislodged by it. The explosion also caused the spread of 50 tons of radioactive materials. An overwhelming fire followed.
As yet, no one believed this was real. None of the personnel could assume this could ever happen. Some of the confused and scared staff was sent to lower the rods manually. That was an impossible mission.
Some others were sent to start the emergency cooling system. They were supposed to turn the huge valves while standing deep in the radioactive water. Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station looked like a burning crater that night. The firefighters, emergency, and liquidators of the catastrophe at Chernobyl were exposed to the deadly doses of radiation. Most of them had blackened skin by the morning. The burning pieces of graphite ignited the asphalt and it was melting under the feet of firefighters. Only by 5 a.m., the fire was quenched. On Saturday morning, experts from Moscow have arrived to deal with the consequences. The reactor temperature was above 2,500 degrees on a Celsius scale. The experts decided to try to stifle the fire with the sand mixed with dolomite, lead, boron, etc. This mixture was supposed to block the fire and radiation, which was spreading in fume.
The Soviet Union tried to keep this horrible disaster in secret for as long as it was possible. All kinds of news were totally blocked out. On April 28, a high level of radiation was detected in Sweden. At first, Swedes assumed that it was radiation from Soviet nuclear weapons. Shortly they realized that it was radioactive materials from a nuclear reactor. The level of radiation was 100 times higher than supposed to be. When it became impossible to hide the truth, the Russian news agency made an announcement to the world.
On May 1, the level of radiation increased. Several men were sent on a dangerous mission to drain the bubbler pool. On May 7, as the pumping of radioactive water was completed, the radiation level suddenly decreased. On May 9, the fire was finally put out. Eventually, the Chernobyl disaster caused a lot of environmental problems, as well as political tensions. The high radiation level was detected in many European countries. The highest contamination was in Ukraine (5% of land), Belarus (23% of land), Russia (1.5% of land). The radiation increase was noticeable even over the ocean. Even now, thousands of people are still living in areas with high radiation levels. A lot of soldiers were sent to liquidate the casualties. All of them received huge doses of radiation. They also got genetic damage caused by radiation, as well as their children in the future. Officially, there are about 31 men died in a day of an accident. Alexander Akimov and Leonid Toptunov were among the first victims. A huge forest area was burned down. A lot of wildlife was laying dead all over the area.
The contamination was comprehensive and irremediable and there was no simple solution for that. Radiation materials settled on open surfaces and the huge area became uninhabited and empty. Roads, parks, squares, and walls became radioactive. There was total contamination of all kinds of food and goods.
The radiation caused many illnesses, such as cancer. Also, it caused deformities and divergence in appearance.
The radiation caused cancers and deformities or an abnormal appearance. It also caused many illnesses. The accident caused a lot of severe consequences and had a terrible impact on the environment. The rains with radioactive materials destroyed a lot of food in many nearby countries. The horrible consequences of one experiment at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant were huge.