Remembering an Accident: Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
In the city of Chernobyl, Ukraine in April of 1986, there was a major accident in the city’s largest nuclear power plant. The inadequately trained personnel paired with a flawed reactor design did not produce smooth results. The lack of safety precautions caused a steam explosion and fire that released 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the environment. Onsite death toll totaled to two plant workers, however, the overall death toll, due to the release of the radioactive poison, totaled to 56. In order to decrease the amount of poison released and put the fires out, officials poured sand and boron over the entire site. Additionally, they covered the plant with a concrete structure, but that still did not prevent all the residents from relocating and over 9,000 of them being diagnosed with cancer several months later.
Read this article from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission for more detailed information: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html
Below is a video of the 20 year anniversary news story that ABC News covered in 2006. Take a look at just how deadly and devastating this accident was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldYeFLZqh3Q
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