Geography
2016-06-22
Introduction
This paper is devoted to the issue of Chernobyl nuclear disaster. This accident has happened in 1986, 26th of April on the eve of the May Day holidays. It has happened on the territory of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (now it is the territory of Ukraine).
The place of the accident is the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that is located three kilometers from the city Pripyat, eighteen kilometers from the city Chernobyl and eighty three – from Kiev, current capital of Ukraine. According to the official data more than 600 thousands of people have been injured by this disaster. Radiation exposure has suffered almost 8.4 million people in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia (Baverstock & Williams, 2006).
This accident has negatively impacted on the large territory of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and neighboring seventeen European countries through the increased level of radiation. Nowadays, this disaster is considered by experts as one of the most dangerous accidents in the world’s history of nuclear energy.
Discussion
It should be noted that from the first day of the accident and for a long time the lion’s share of primary data about the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were kept secret. All information about causes of the accident on the block number four, full details of the nature and scope of destruction, the data on the composition of the mixture ejected by the explosion, information about radiation background in the premises Chernobyl and a 30-kilometer zone, data on the exposure of plant personnel and liquidators, aggregate data about the disease, even salary fund of the construction management salaries that has engaged in the construction of the “Sarcophagus” over the destroyed reactor, have not been available for social organizations and the public until Ukraine has become an independent country.
Nowadays, different scientists conduct researches about this disaster, interview people, who have been a witness of this catastrophe or even have participated as liquidators. The experts identify two main reasons, which can cause the Chernobyl accident:
there were enough messages, comments about violations of construction and installation work technologies that can lead to accidents at the nuclear power plant during the building of power units number 1 and 2. One can say that there were huge preconditions of the Chernobyl accident;
according to another version, the main causes of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant became non-technical reasons, but the lack of safety culture. Professional carelessness, arrogance, reinforced by the closed nature of the Soviet nuclear power industry, the lack of public control and the weakness of government regulation were the root causes of the accident. The inordinate politicization of nuclear energy also played the crucial role in this disaster (Baverstock & Williams, 2007).
The risk level after the accident has been increased artificially due to the absence of informing the public about the serious consequences until June 1986. Thus, during the first month people do not know about accident seriousness, possible consequences and methods of protection. Even parade on May 1 has not been canceled and all its participants have been subjected to the increased level of radiation (Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, 2016).
At the same time, party leadership and officials immediately took away their children from Ukraine after the accident. According to experts, the lack of information about the disaster in the first weeks has caused irreparable damage to people, who lived in Kiev and related regions (Bird & Little, 2013).
According to the report of Greenpeace, the forests around Chernobyl also remain a source of radiation and threaten nearby settlements by recontamination. Nowadays, more than five million people live on the territory of contaminated areas. They are still exposed to both external radiations from the environment, and the internal through local products and goods (What is Chernobyl, 2013).
Thirty years have passed after the Chernobyl accident, but it still has a significant impact on the environment of Ukraine. Around seven tons of nuclear fuel has been emitted in the environment for a short period of time due to the explosion of the nuclear reactor and the fire on it. Emissions of the radioactive element cesium-137 have been similar to the radiation from the explosion of several tens of atomic bombs in Hiroshima (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2016).
Special 30 km exclusion zone has been created around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is called the Chernobyl zone. Many people have been resettled from this zone in Ukraine and Belarus. The big part of Chernobyl zone is located in Ukraine. There are deserted 75 settlements, and 90 thousand people have left their houses. For example, Pripyat has become the deserted ghost town (Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, 2016).
According to various estimates, from fifteen to thirty thousand people have died later, in several years after the radiation exposure. More than 2.5 million Ukrainians have suffered from diseases acquired as a result of exposure, and about 80 thousand people receive an allowance. It should be noted that current additional payments to people, who have suffered from this accident, and their families, do not exceed one hundred dollars per month. Such situation is negatively perceived by the social organization and the public. The main serious disease, which has been diagnosed among people after the Chernobyl accident, is the thyroid cancer. More than six thousand of children have suffered from this disease in Ukraine in the 1990s (Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, 2016).
One can say that the government of the Soviet Union and later Ukraine cannot resolve all issues, which has appeared after the Chernobyl accident. European countries and international organizations have invested large monetary resource in building protective constructions above the fourth reactor. At the same time, the main problem that concern disposal of radioactive emissions is still not solved. Each disposal of these substances threatens groundwater pollution and half-life products can seep into the drinking water (Daniloff, 2004).
Conclusion
In conclusion one can say that the Chernobyl accident is the consequence of the politicized economy and lack of control work Chernobyl, regular violations in construction and assembly of work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the low culture of safety and lack of qualified personnel. As a result of emissions of large quantities of radioactive substances was a steady and long-term contamination of areas by radionuclides, which have the ability to accumulate in the soil, water, organisms and harmful impact on the environment, humans and animals. Thus, the territory of Ukraine and adjacent areas will be under the threat of repeated radionuclide contamination for a long time.
One of the main consequences of this accident is the awareness of all members of the community about a serious rethinking of the safety requirements as a basic condition for the further development of nuclear energy. It became apparent that any violations in the nuclear energy field could cause at any time, grandiose, and not only economic losses.
References
Baverstock, K. & Williams, D. (2006). The Chernobyl Accident 20 Years On: An Assessment of the Health Consequences and the International Response. Environ Health Perspect, 114(9), 1312-1317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.9113
Baverstock, K. & Williams, D. (2007). The Chernobyl Nuclear Catastrophe: Baverstock and Williams Respond. Environ Health Perspect, 115(5), A239-A240. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.115-a239
Bird, W. & Little, J. (2013). A Tale of Two Forests: Addressing Postnuclear Radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima. Environ. Health Perspect., 121(3), a78-a85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.121-a78
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident,. (2016). Scientific Facts on the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident. Greenfacts.org. Retrieved 22 June 2016, from http://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/
Daniloff, N. (2004). Chernobyl and Its Political Fallout: A Reassessment. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal Of Post-Soviet Democratization, 12(1), 117-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/demo.12.1.117-132
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission,. (2016). NRC: Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Nrc.gov. Retrieved 22 June 2016, from http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html
What is Chernobyl?,. (2013). What is Chernobyl? The Chernobyl Gallery. The Chernobyl Gallery. Retrieved 22 June 2016, from http://chernobylgallery.com/chernobyl-disaster/what-is-chernobyl/
