TO 25 YEARS OF THE CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR ACCIDENT
On the morning of April 26 1986 occurred at Chernobyl nuclear power plant (now Ukraine) an accident that is considered one of the worst in history. The blast reactor and fire killed 31 workers and firefighters. In addition to the Soviet government forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from several miles of the plant. Early versions of this, in sections of The cloud that touches the world , note People magazine , No. 1085, May 8, 1986 .
"The world was in serious danger. And he learned almost by accident. Paradox. Irony. Crazy, but it was so. On Monday 28 April, as every day, routinely, a worker at Swedish nuclear plant Formsmark passed by the detectors radiation. That morning was different. The alarms sounded. The radioactivity level was in the sleeves of his shoes, was 100 times greater than normal. It was still dangerous. But if disturbing. Much more when Swedish scientists detected isotopes of krypton, iodine, xenon, cesium and cobalt in the atmosphere. For them it was only one explanation: an uncontrolled nuclear experience or an escape from a nuclear plant. This made them to know, emergency communication, the United States. They added a hypothesis: this may come from Russia . Matched.
For three days, Friday 25, Chenobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine had flown through the air, leaving open the radioactive material and a lethal cloud walk freely through the atmosphere. For three days, and nothing was known in the West. American satellites were finally photographed and stripped of that terrible reality. Ensure that when these photos came to the offices of the men in Washington, they could not believe what they saw: as a barn down the roof and walls of a plant sectors were on the ground, and fire equipment graphite were uncontrollable. Were confronted with the greatest nuclear disaster in history.
Why did this happen? Western experts have a hypothesis very strong: it all started with a massive loss of coolant in the nuclear reactor core, producing a fission in the fuel, with further warming. Obviously, the high temperature water converted to steam, it passed through the walls and in contact with the graphite blocks was highly toxic and explosive gases. A series of explosions destroyed part of the reactor, the walls and ceiling flew through the air, leaving it a glowing mass of graphite. The radioactive material containing 100 tons of uranium had a free hand to the atmosphere.
plant such as Chernobyl -a graphite-were left to use in the West for many years. In addition, this plant did not have a basic safety measure: a large bell that covers the reactor and avoids an accident, the radioactive material passes to the outside
From there, Moscow sought to minimize the fear that transmitted the news from the West. And he concluded his brief tragedy: 2 dead and 197 people hospitalized. Clear that a security cordon of 30 miles around the plant and evacuated nearly 50,000 people speak of a much more serious. Europe thought so.
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To all this the Soviet Union has maintained its control over information. For satellites, graphite fire is already controlled, but it is not known when. Helicopters also observed operating in the disaster area, which after an official in Moscow confirmed. These drivers were throwing sand, particles of lead and boron to control the fire. Not far from the plant, the photos show people to work normally, perhaps in their daily task. In Washigton can not understand those images, because, given the proportions of nuclear accident, all those people-drivers and peasants were doomed to almost certain death. Experts believe that up to 7 kilometers of the outbreak, a person has only a 50 percent chance of survival. Those who are about 10 kilometers will suffer respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders, but are more likely to survive. Of course, these distances are always in relation to the amount of hours a person is exposed to radioactivity. This time soon. Because the consequences can act much further in time. It is estimated that nearly 100 kilometers of the potential catastrophe of leukemia or cancer remain latent in the next three decades. "
Visions of Chernobyl
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