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Chernobyl, Ukraine - Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown

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Chernobyl, Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown The accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukrainian produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over parts of the western USSR, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. The accident, which occurred on April 26, 1986, was the worst nuclear power accident in history. Large areas of the Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Russian republics of the USSR were contaminated, resulting in the evacuation of roughly 200,000 people. The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, slowing its expansion for a number of years, while forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive. The Chernobyl' Nuclear Power Plant was one of the largest in the USSR. It …show more content…

The evacuation of Pripyat' (where 35,000 people lived at the time of the accident) and the immediate surrounding area began roughly 36 hours after the accident, on the afternoon of April 27. Evacuation within a larger, officially designated evacuation zone of 2800 sq km, including parts of Belorussia began on May 3. That area became known as the "30-km zone" because it is a circle with a 30-km radius from Pripyat'. At least 50,000 people were relocated in Ukraine and 25,000 in Belorussia during this second-stage evacuation, which continued into June. The principal environment effect of the Chernobyl' accident has been the accumulation of radioactive fallout in the upper layers of soil, where it has destroyed important farmland. The second most important impact has been the threat to surface water and groundwater. The cleanup in some of the most heavily contaminated areas within the evacuation zone, such as Pripyat', involved the stripping and burying of topsoil and vegetation, the sealing of wells, and the building of structures designed to prevent surface water from entering streams and rivers that drain into the Dnieper River system, which provides Kiev's water supply. Earlier in 1990 the Ukrainian parliament had voted to close the Chernobyl' plant permanently within five years, but closing the plant was repeatedly postponed because of the country's shortage of electricity. After a turbine fire in October 1991, the No. 2 reactor at Chernobyl'

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