Nuclear Power : The Chernobyl Disaster

The disaster had more of an effect on eastern Europe’s nuclear experimentation and use but “While no-one in the West was under any illusion about the safety of early Soviet reactor designs, some lessons learned have also been applicable to Western plants” (World Nuclear Association). Since the Chernobyl disaster was majorly caused by human error and under qualified scientists, to work with nuclear reactors today you need to be insanely qualified. Since the accident, Soviet-designed reactors’ safety has improved greatly, even in smaller ways. Automatic shutdown mechanisms now work faster, and other safety mechanisms have been sped up. Even new equipment has been installed such as automated inspection equipment. Several scientist and reporters have even said an accident like Chernobyl is virtually impossible with today’s technology (World Nuclear Association).

Stemming from new technologies such as the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb, atomic power was a new, clean source of power. This technology was ultimately executed poorly by the USSR and help lead to its decline. In 1986, the reactor at Chernobyl exploded, which was the worst nuclear meltdown that had happened up until that point (and is still considered the worst in history, rivalled only by the Fukushima disaster in 2011). The fallout was blown into other nations, eventually affecting millions of people. This disaster reflected poorly on the Soviet government, leading many to question its legitimacy. According to Mikhail Gorbachev (the leader of the USSR at that time), “[t]he country will never recover. [Chernobyl] cost us 18 billion rubles.

Fukushima catastrophic is a warning to the world about the hazards of nuclear power and contained lessons for the other governments who plan new generation of nuclear power stations. First lesson is the full disclosure on potential risks and share creditable information with the public. Furthermore,

rypiat and Chernobyl. The biggest and most dangerous nuclear power plant. Chernobyl finished construction in 1977. This was the most modern nuclear power plant in the world at this time. They used the Prypiat river to cool the reactor core. If not cooled enough it will create steam witch would make the plant explode and every one dies of either radiation of the blast . If it explodes and you are around it a lot of things might happen. You could get all this radiation and get poisoned. Unfortunately This is what happened to all of the civilians that were and worked and lived in this town. All of the animals, plants, and every living thing that didn’t escape the nuclear waste radius were either poisoned or killed. The most common case

Nuclear power requires high safety level as demonstrated by the commercial operation and accumulated experience of nuclear power plants. Over the years, three serious accidents, the Chernobyl in 1986, Three Mile Island in 1979, and the Fukushima leak 2011 have characterized the industrial use of nuclear energy

Tragic, devastating nuclear events occurred in Chernobyl and Fukushima negatively impacting the environment and health of people in the surrounding area. As the result of oversight and human errors, these issues could be categorized as megadisasters caused by manmade catastrophe. This essay will highlight the issues with nuclear power plants that lead to incidences and horrific fallout, as is featured in both highlighted nuclear events. Through a comparison of the nuclear events at Chernobyl and Fukushima, this essay hopes to shed light on the value and dangers of nuclear energy. Through identifying issues with nuclear power, issues such as the lack of preparedness, contingency planning, and adequate public awareness can be challenged and

Fukushima Daiichi joins the ranks of nuclear disasters that include Chernobyl (1989) and Three Mile Island (1979). Fukushima Daiini, sat alongside Daiichi, and was not damaged during the earthquake or tsunami. It is still operable.

Chernobyl and Piper Alpha Case studies are two of the engineering failures that has happened in the world. The world worst civilian disaster happened when the Chernobyl nuclear power explode in soviet plant located in Ukraine. Soviet nuclear plant was one of the most advanced facilities that included four reactors. The Chernobyl accident happened on 26 April 1986 when the technician wanted to test the backup cooling system for the reactor number four without following the safety procedure. Due to explosion in reactor number four, eight tons of radioactive debris spread into the atmosphere that caused 115000 people to evacuate from 30 kilometers around the area. As a result of this explosion, thirty-one of the plant personnel and the initial fire workers who involved in extinguishing the fire were died shortly from acute radiation sickness. The main issue causes Chernobyl disaster is complex since some people blame the Chernobyl tragedy on the power plant operator, the other blame on the design of the reactor itself (UNSCEAR, 2008).

An earthquake centered 130 km off shore of the city of Sendai in Miyagi caused 11 nuclear reactors that were operating at 4 different nuclear plants to shut down on March 11, 2011(Fukushima Accident, 2015). The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0, which is classified as one of the worst earthquakes/ greatest earthquakes on the earthquake scale, the tsunami following the earthquake was about 560 sq km resulting in over 19,000 human deaths. The earthquake and tsunami caused the following nuclear units to shut down, Tokyo Electric Power Company 's (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi 1, 2, 3, and Fukushima Daini 1, 2, 3, 4, Tohoku 's Onagawa 1, 2, 3, and Japco 's Tokai, total 9377 MWe net (ibid).

Moreover, The first mistake made at the Chernobyl nuclear plant was not following the regulations. In the nuclear plant, the power input was supposed to be set from seven hundred to one thousand megawatts. However, the deputy chief engineer that was in charge wanted to save the amount of water to cool down the nuclear reactor after a test was completed, and not allow the reactor to overheat. He insisted that the input should be no more than two hundred megawatts. The

On April 26th 1986 located in Ukraine the catastrophic and disastrous nuclear accident occurred labeled “The Chernobyl Disaster” occurred. The catastrophe is recorded to be the worst nuclear power-plant accident to date and the first classified as a level seven event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The estimated cost of the damage inflicted is a total of eighteen billion rubles. The loss of life sparked by the ordeal official thirty-one people by direct cause. The disaster has had a prolonged effect to environmental and health fields. The total damaged of “The Chernobyl Disaster” is unknown and remain in the process to be accounted for.

More evidence shows the dangers created by nuclear power plants due to meltdowns caused by accidents. “Chernobyl Accident 1986”

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station is located approximately 3.6 kilometres from the city of Pripyat in the Soviet Union (now part of Ukraine, close to the border with Belarus) [4]. The power station was the site of four completed nuclear reactors, as well as two further reactors under construction. In the early hours of the 26th of April 1986, Reactor 4, which had been running for approximately 2 years prior, was undergoing maintenance checks in order to review emergency procedures [5]. In a test to examine whether the cooling pump system could function in the event of the failure of the auxiliary electricity supply, too many control rods were lowered, causing a near-complete shutdown of the reactor. Engineers raised the rods in an attempt to restart the system, but raised too many rods, resulting in a great increase in power output. At 1.23am, the emergency

Nuclear power plants have a history of disaster. Three well known nuclear disasters are the incidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the recent disaster currently being dealt with at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Events like this deter the advancements of the nuclear energy industry. The Fukushima Daiichi power plant was a boiling water nuclear reactor wherein the water boils to create pressure used to turn a steam turbine. The steam is then cooled and condensed to be used repeatedly in a closed loop recirculated through the

The instantaneous and the most direct cause of the Chernobyl disaster was most definitely a mismanaged electrical-engineering experiment. The electrical and mechanical engineer were interested in investigating and finding out if they could obtain electricity from the turbine generator in the 4th reactor unit to run the water pumps during an emergency when the turbine was no longer being driven by the reactor but was still spinning initially. This was all done by engineers and technologists that had no knowledge of reactor physics. The engineers needed the reactor to wind up the turbine; then they planned to idle it to 2.5 percent power. There was an unexpected electrical demand on the afternoon of April 25th which actually delayed the entire experiment until 11:00 pm. When the experiment had finally started, they thought that they had to make up for lost time due to the delay, so they reduced the reactor's power level too rapidly. This was their first major mistake which led to a rapid and immediate buildup of neutron-absorbing fission within the reactor. This was done by the products in the reactor core, which poisoned the reaction. In order to recompense for the poisoned reaction, the operators and engineers had to take back a majority of the reactor's control rods. Even with the rods withdrawn, they were unable to increase the power level to more than 30 megawatts. This caused steam to be produced and an