2007

Thursday, May 3, 2007

My Family History

Chernobyl

what happened

The Chernobyl accident was the worst nuclear accident in history, being categorized in the Level 7 on the INES scale. On April 26, 1986, in a surge of power in the reactor 4 Lenin nuclear plant in Chernobyl, the explosion of hydrogen accumulated in the core from overheating during an experiment that simulated a court power supply. The plant was closed in December 2000.

Scientific Report Conscuencias

Soviet scientists reported that the reactor 4 containing between 180 and 190 tons of uranium dioxide and fission products. Estimates of material released in the exhaust ranging from 5% to 30%, but some receivers who were inside the sarcophagus and the reactor containment is not say that in more than 5 or 10% of the fuel. Photographs of the reactor shows that this actually is empty. Due to the intense heat caused by fire, much of the nuclear fuel released in the atmosphere increased, and then spread.

what happened what happened what happened

The explosion caused the greatest catastrophe in the history of civil exploitation of nuclear energy. Allegedly caused by the conduct of an experiment, 31 people died at the time of the accident, about 350,000 people were evacuated from the 155,000 km ² affected large areas remain uninhabited for many years. The radiation spread to most of Europe, the levels of radioactivity remained at dangerous levels for several days. It is estimated that freed about 500 times the radiation of the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima in 1945.

The explosion caused the greatest catastrophe in the history of civil exploitation of nuclear energy. Allegedly caused by the conduct of an experiment, 31 people died at the time of the accident, about 350,000 people were evacuated from the 155,000 km ² affected large areas remain uninhabited for many years. The radiation spread to most of Europe, the levels of radioactivity remained at dangerous levels for several days. It is estimated that about 500 times released radiation from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Conscuencias consequences of what happened

Immediately after the accident, the greatest concern focused on the radioactive iodine with a half-life of eight days. Today, concerns are focused on soil contamination with strontium-90 and cesium-137, with half-lives of about 30 years. The highest levels of cesium-137 found in the surface layers of soil are absorbed by plants, insects and fungi, entering the food chain.

Some people in contaminated areas were exposed to large doses of radiation (up to 50 Gy) in the thyroid, due to absorption of iodine-131, which is concentrated in the gland. Radioactive iodine come from contaminated milk produced locally, and would have been particularly in children. Several studies show that the incidence of thyroid cancer in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia has risen greatly.

Cosecuencias of what happened at Chernobyl currently

The April 26, 2006 marked the twentieth anniversary of the tragic nuclear accident history.
In 2005, work was carried out for replacing the sarcophagus for some time to isolate the reactor from contact with the environment, which cost U.S. $ 1,600 million and be completed in 2008.

This is the image of the Chernobyl nuclear power before of the explosion

This image shows up where the explosion was expanded