Chernobyl Accident of 1986

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Recommended: Chernobyl disaster and its effects

In order to understand the Chernobyl accident 1986, we must understand a little bit about the background of the Chernobyl power complex and the surrounding area. The Chernobyl power complex sat about 210 miles north of Kiev, Ukraine and somewhere around 32 miles south of the Belarus border. The power complex consisted of a total of four RBMK-1000 nuclear reactors and at the time of the accident two more reactors where being built nearby. Reactors one and two were built between 1970 and 1977. The third and fourth reactors were built in 1983. The plant also consisted of a man-made lake that covered some 35 square miles that was built to supply cooling water to the reactors. The area around the power complex is described as woodland with very few people living in the area. There is a city about three km away from the complex named Pripyat which is also known as the new city. It has a population of somewhere around 49,000 people. There’s also the old town of Chernobyl located about 24 miles to the southeast of the nuclear plant. It has a population of about 13,000 people. The total number of people living within a 50 mile radius of the nuclear power plant exceeds 115,000. Just so we have a better understanding of the type of reactors that were being used at the nuclear power plant we will explore just how the RBMK-1000 works. The RBMK-1000 is a Soviet design and built from graphite. It is a moderated pressure tube type reactor that uses slightly enriched uranium dioxide fuel. (World Nuclear 2014) It has a water reactor, with two loops feeding steam directly to the turbines, without an intervening heat exchanger. The water is pumped into fuel channels to begin the start the boiling process. As the process continue the... ... middle of paper ... ... an outstanding job; they basically gave their life for the rest of the country. This may seem insensitive but the world is better because of the accident in Chernobyl. It has thought the world what happens when things go wrong with nuclear power. Works Cited (NRC 2013). Retrieved from http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html UNSCEAR.org. (UNCSCEAR 2008). Retrieved from http://www.unscear.org/unscear/en/chernobyl.html United Nations, UNSCEAR (2011). UNSCEAR 2008. Retrieved from New York website: NATIONS, U. (2011). Sources and effecy of ionizing radiation. 11, 179. Retrieved from (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Chernobyl-Accident/ (World Nuclear 2014). Retrieved from http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Chernobyl-Accident/

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