Chernobyl - Part 1
To the east of Europe lies Ukraine, which is bordered to the north by Belarus, to the south by Romania and Moldova, to the east by Russia and to the west by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. In Ukraine there is a city called Chernobyl, as well as the name of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station which is located approximately 16 kilometers from the border with Belarus and this power station is about 3 kilometers from the city of Pripyat.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was also known as "Vladimir Ilich Lenin". Thirty-three years ago, on April 26, 1986, at about 1:20 am, the worst nuclear catastrophe in history happened, and according to the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), it is considered to be at level 7, where the accident that occurred on March 11, 2011 in Fukushima is also located.
Why is it considered to be at INES level 7?
This scale measures disasters after they happen and the consequences they leave behind. In this disaster it was estimated that the amount of radioactive and/or toxic materials expelled was about 500 times greater than that released in the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima in August 1945.
Among the materials he expelled are:
Uranium dioxide: It is a black, radioactive, crystalline powder that appears naturally in the uraninite ore. It is used in nuclear fuel rods in nuclear reactors.
Boron Carbide: It is a solid black crystalline almost as hard as diamond. It is used for cutting and also as a material for the construction of resistant objects.
Europium oxide: is a white powder, insoluble in water and is used as a nuclear poison. Poisons are materials added to the nuclear reactor to balance excess reactivity at start-up.
Erbio: is a silver coloured solid, used as a neutron buffer.
Some of the alloys are:
Graphite: is a mineral used mainly to create the tip of pencils, it is also used as a moderator in nuclear reactors.
Zirconium: is a corrosion resistant metal, it burns in contact with air and heat, it is used for nuclear weapons.
At the time of the disaster, 31 people died and 116,000 were evacuated. Something curious about the people who died is that their bodies were buried in a large hole in the ground, but not only that, but after closed their coffins were deposited in other coffins but lead, and these in turn were closed with solder around the contour and then were covered with tons of cement.
This measure is so that never again in history will they be opened since it is estimated that the poisons that contaminated the bodies can last up to 24 thousand years, according to experts in the matter.
How did the tragedy happen?
It was produced by an uncontrolled overheating produced in reactor 4 which blew its lid and let escape materials that formed a radioactive cloud that affected 13 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Norway, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Greece, Slovenia, Italy and Moldova.
What is the Red Forest and why is it called that?
The red forest is about the trees located on about 10 km² in the vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Its name comes from the reddish and yellowish color of the pines that died after absorbing an intense dose of radiation from the Chernobyl accident. In this place, after the explosion of reactor 4, the soil and water that remained there were severely contaminated.
During the cleaning days of some people (approximately 600,000) called liquidators, most of the trees (pines) were felled and buried in ditches that were later filled with a thick layer of sand and then planted new pines. Today it is estimated that 90% of the radiation is in the soil.
Impresionante vi la serie y me impresiono, en el momento del accidente me faltaban pocos meses para tener a mi segundo bebe, pero claro estábamos muy lejos. Cuanto sufrimiento, tuvieron que abandonar todo hasta la vida. Muy doloroso este episodio, buen tema para no olvidar nunca @suanky apoyado #toptres del día.
Guao!, excelente reseña de un evento que no debería volver a ocurrir, una tragedia de marca mayor que aún tiene sus extensiones y consecuencias en el mundo actual. Gracias por como siempre compartir información tan interesante, @suanky. Apoyado en el #toptres de hoy.