Background of the Disaster
The Chernobyl disaster is one of the historical nuclear disasters that happened in April 26, 1986. It is referred as the world’s worst nuclear accident that moved the entire earth. The accident resulted to deaths of people both from the nuclear power plant at the time of the incident and also a number of people afterwards. Accordingly, one of the four nuclear reactors of the Chernobyl power stationed exploded due to operational defects, flawed reactor design and inadequate training of personnel (Chernobyl).
The nuclear power plan explosion instantly released radioactive materials into the atmosphere. This created a deep impact to the environment and to the civilization from the core of the event up to several miles farther. Radioactive materials coming from nuclear power plants are highly persistent in nature. They last for long periods of time where their effects are seen from generations to generations. Soil contaminations due to radioactive materials continue to affect the rest of the ecosystem as they are transferred to the plants, animals and humans. Until now more than 20 years after the event, there are sicknesses, diseases and environmental issues that traced back to the said accident. The agricultural and environmental aspects also suffered continually due to the blast of radioactive materials.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
The V.I Lenin Memorial Chernobyl Nuclear power Station was found in Ukraine. It had four nuclear reactors capable of producing one Gigawatt of electric power. It used to provide 10% of electricity in the entire Ukraine (West). The RBMK-1000 designed nuclear reactors were constructed in 1970 and commissioned in 1977. It was built 130 km north of Kiev and 20 km south Belarus. About 3 km away from the power plant, was the city Pripyat where around 49,000 inhabitants lived. On the southern part, around 12,500 people lived in the town of Chornoboyl. Basically, the population that used to live in the 30 km radius of the power plant was around 115,000 to 135,000 people (Chernobyl).
The volcano of radioactivity showered in the places near the power plant such as Byelorussia, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Poland and other nearby countries. Workers of the nuclear plant struggled to keep the molten radioactive uranium from getting down the earth as this greatly affects the environment. Around 18 miles around the vicinity of Chernobyl, signs are posted warning the public not to eat the fruits growing in the vicinity (New York Times). Places that received the radioactive materials were instantly evacuated. People around the vicinity were mandatorily relocated. Affected towns and villages in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were refrained from human habitation.
The Blast
The Chernobyl Disaster accordingly was caused by human errors as the operators operating the plant lack training. There was a deliberate violation of the operating rules forgetting the safety of the entire plant. The features and design of the power plant were also scrutinized as lacking in control rods and safety systems. The plant’s physical characteristics, designs features and control elements, and the procedures followed by the operators contributed to the devastating event. As reported, the said power plant was unstable and operated wrongly (Chernobyl).
The accident caused massive deaths both instantly and many others later. Two workers instantly died due to the explosion. Severe radiation coming from the plant killed around 28 on site-workers. Four months thereafter, around 600 more people died and more than 106 people were found to have acute radiation sickness. Around 200,000 clean-up workers were also found out to have high levels of radiation (“Backgrounder”).
The Chernobyl disaster was considered to be the most devastating accidents in nuclear power plant throughout history. It caused a massive release of radionuclides in many areas nearby the plant. The emergency workers and the personnel on the power plant received the highest doses of radiation. Instant deaths occurred as well as other diseases were traced back due to the event from then on (“The Chernobyl Forum”).
Environmental Effects of the Chernobyl Disaster
The blasting off of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Reactor resulted to a chain of effects. It affected the human population as there are health diseases and sicknesses that have been associated with the disaster. Also, the environment, like the forests, marshlands, and the bodies of water has never been the same after the horrific tragedy. It has contaminated about 125,000 km2 of the nearby lands where most of these lands rely on agriculture for living.
The agriculture sector experienced traumatic effects after the incident. The soil ground of Ukraine absorbed most of the radionuclides in great extent. Nucleotides such as Cesium-137, Plutonium-239 and Strontium-90 contaminated the soil. These nucleotides remain in the soil for a very long period of time. Nutrients from the soil are taken up by the plants, eaten by animals and finally reaching human bodies by virtue of the food web (Barbalace).
These radionuclides join up with other earth minerals such as graphite, silicate rare earth uranium dioxide and others. At the height of the event, the soil was found out to be contaminated with 137Cs in the top layer that further crept lower underground. Furthermore, cattle feeding from the soil were found out to have high level of radiocaesium. This affected the meat and milk for human consumption. By virtue of food web, these radioactive materials somehow reach the human bodies and several adverse health effects can happen.
Contaminated soils also transfer to various places due to water and wind erosion. This movement of nature further led to expansion of the vicinity of contamination. As reported, Caesium hot spots were found out in Belarus and Kaluga, Tula. They are found out to have almost the same level of contamination in nearby places where the nuclear power was found. This transfer of radioactive materials were due to the natural weathering processes such as snow melting, rainfall and other human activities such as traffic movement, street cleaning and washing. The continuous human activities had dispersed the contamination to various places (IAEA).
Effects to Human Health
The soil radionucleotides contamination is directly affecting the human health. It resulted to adverse health effects ranging from nausea to death. Many of the people around the vicinity during the blast of Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed signs of radiation syndromes. These later developed to serious diseases such as bone marrow failure, radiation burns, leukemia and other diseases (Cesium, Radioactive).
Ingestion of contaminated foods resulted to diseases in contaminated areas. They are found out to have significant doses of thyroid, which varied with ages and milk consumption rate. This is caused by drinking milk from cows that eat the contaminated grasses around the vicinity after the accident contributed to the high doses of thyroid which later developed to thyroid cancer especially among children (“The Chernobyl Forum”).
The children and adolescent consuming the milk coming from cows contaminated with radioactive iodine contributed to thyroid gland related disease. Around 6,000 cases related to thyroid cancer has been recorded. Around 15% of this population died while the rest was successfully treated. Medical experts still conclude that the deaths of people were due to the effect of the Chernobyl disaster especially to the lifetime of the emergency workers, on site personnel and residents around the power plant (“Backgrounder”).
Continuous and long term exposure to radiation can cause cancer. The long term effects of radioactive materials are due to human internal dose of the material coming from meat, milk and vegetables. However, the contamination level has slowly decreased. The contribution of radioactivity to the soil gradually diminishes but not entirely forgotten as these isotopes are long-lived and continues to influence the food chain.
The Chernobyl incident happened a long time ago. However, the effects of the nuclear blast left a deep footprint to humanity. The persistent and long lasting radioactive materials coming from the nuclear plant has scarred not only the place where it occurred but the whole world. The Chernobyl Accident caused lasting effects to the environment, both in the past and also in the future.
Works Cited
Barbalace, Roberta. Chernobyl’s Disaster’s Agricultural and Environmental Impact. Environmental Chemistry.com. 2014. Web. 13 March 2014.
“Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident”. United States Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. June 2013. Web. 14 March 2014.
Cesium, Radioactive. Toxicology Data Network. 2006. Web. 15 March 2014.
Chernobyl Acciden 1986. World Nuclear Association. February 2014. Web. 15 March 2014.
“The Chernobyl Forum: 2003-2005”. Chernobyl’s legacy: Health, Environmental and socio-
Economic Impacts and Recommendations to the Governments of Belarus, the Russian
Federation and Ukraine. Web. 14 March 2014
IAEA. International Atomic Energy Agency. Environmental Consequences of the Chernobyl
Accident and their Remediation: Twenty Years of Experience. 2006. Web. 14 March
2014.
New York Times. Chernobyl Nuclear Accident (1986). March 17, 2014. Web.
West, Larry. “Chernobyl Nuclear Accident”. About.com:Environmental Issues. (n.d). Web. 16 March 2014.
Executive Summary:
The Lasting Effect of Chernobyl Disaster in the Environment
The Chernobyl disaster is one of the worst nuclear events that happened throughout history. The blasting off of the nuclear power plant in Ukraine cause massive effects to the human population as well as to the environment. There were instant deaths that occurred while there are also sicknesses and diseases that were reported as effects of the radiation explosion in the areas near the power plant and the nearby places and countries.
The effect of the radioactive contamination due to the Chernobyl disaster was no joke. The soil was greatly contaminated spreading further to other parts of the world by virtue of natural weathering processes and human activities. Soils were found out to have high degree of radionucleotides such as Caesium.
Radionucleotide contamination in soil is directly affecting human health. As reported, large percentage of the human population in Ukraine and other parts are diagnosed with thyroid contamination further leading to sicknesses such as thyroid gland cancers. This contamination of the soil crept to human metabolism via the food web.
The effect of the contamination is not limited to the time of event. Instead, the residents, the workers and the neighboring population are continuously haunted by the after effect of the nuclear blasts. Indeed, the Chernobyl disaster carried a lasting effect to humanity and the environment.
