➢ The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was

operated with inadequately trained personnel.

➢ The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive
reactor core into the environment, with the deposition of radioactive materials in
many parts of Europe.
➢ Two Chernobyl plant workers died due to the explosion on the night of the
accident, and a further 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute
radiation syndrome.
➢ The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has
concluded that, apart from some 6500 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities),
"there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation
exposure 20 years after the accident."
➢ Some 350,000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident, but resettlement of
areas from which people were relocated is on-going.
 The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl a
nuclear power plant in Ukraine was the product of a
flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious
mistakes made by the plant operators. It was a direct
consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting
lack of any safety culture.
Background
On April 26, 1986, a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test destroyed
Unit 4 of the nuclear power station at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. The
accident and the fire that followed released massive amounts of radioactive material into the
environment. Emergency crews responding to the accident used helicopters to pour sand and
boron on the reactor debris. The sand was to stop the fire and additional releases of
radioactive material; the boron was to prevent additional nuclear reactions. A few weeks after
the accident, the crews completely covered the damaged unit in a temporary concrete
structure, called the "sarcophagus," to limit further release of radioactive material. The Soviet
government also cut down and buried about a square mile of pine forest near the plant to
reduce radioactive contamination at and near the site. Chernobyl's three other reactors were
subsequently restarted but all eventually shut down for good, with the last reactor closing in
1999. The Soviet nuclear power authorities presented their initial accident report to an
International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Austria, in August 1986.
 After the accident, officials closed off the area within
30 kilometers (18 miles) of the plant, except for persons
with official business at the plant and those people
evaluating and dealing with the consequences of the
accident and operating the undamaged reactors. The Soviet
(and later on, Russian) government evacuated about
1,15,000 people from the most heavily contaminated areas
in 1986, and another 2,20,000 people in subsequent years
(Source: UNSCEAR 2008, pg. 53).
Health Effects from the Accident
The Chernobyl accident's severe radiation effects killed 28 of the
site's 600 workers in the first four months after the event. Another 106
workers received high enough doses to cause acute radiation sickness. Two
workers died within hours of the reactor explosion from non-radiological
causes. Another 2,00,000 clean-up workers in 1986 and 1987 received doses
of between 1 and 100 rem (The average annual radiation dose for a U.S.
citizen is about .6 rem). Chernobyl clean-up activities eventually required
about 6,00,000 workers, although only a small fraction of these workers
were exposed to elevated levels of radiation. Government agencies continue
to monitor clean-up and recovery workers' health. (UNSCEAR 2008, pg. 47,
58, 107, and 119)
 The Chernobyl accident contaminated wide areas of Belarus, the Russian
Federation, and Ukraine inhabited by millions of residents. Agencies such as the World Health
Organization have been concerned about radiation exposure to people evacuated from these
areas. The majority of the five million residents living in contaminated areas, however,
received very small radiation doses comparable to natural background levels (0.1 rem per
year). (UNSCEAR 2008, pg. 124-25) Today the available evidence does not strongly connect
the accident to radiation-induced increases of leukaemia or solid cancer, other than thyroid
cancer. Many children and adolescents in the area in 1986 drank milk contaminated with
radioactive iodine, which delivered substantial doses to their thyroid glands. To date, about
6,000 thyroid cancer cases have been detected among these children. Ninety-nine percent of
these children were successfully treated; 15 children and adolescents in the three countries
died from thyroid cancer by 2005. The available evidence does not show any effect on the
number of adverse pregnancy outcomes, delivery complications, stillbirths or overall health of
children among the families living in the most contaminated areas. (UNSCEAR 2008, pg. 65)
 Experts expected that some cancer deaths might eventually be
attributed to Chernobyl over the lifetime of the emergency workers, evacuees
and residents living in the most contaminated areas. While cancer deaths
have generally been far lower than initial considerations of tens of thousands
of radiation-related deaths, a recent study of a cohort of emergency workers
found a statistically significant relative risk of solid cancer incidence and
mortality.
There are also psycho-social impacts on residents and evacuees from
the disaster including higher rates of depression, alcoholism and anxiety over
potential health effects. Residents report very negative self-assessments of
health, unexplained physical symptoms, and expectations of a short life.
(IAEA, 2006, and World Health Organization, 2016)
What is the Ozone Hole?
The ozone hole is not technically a “hole” where no ozone is present, but is actually
a region of exceptionally depleted ozone in the stratosphere over the Antarctic that happens at
the beginning of Southern Hemisphere spring (August–October). Satellite instruments provide
us with daily images of ozone over the Antarctic region. The ozone hole image below shows
the very low values (blue and purple colour area) centered over Antarctica on 4 October 2004.
From the historical record we know that total column ozone values of less than 220 Dobson
Units were not observed prior to 1979. From an aircraft field mission over Antarctica we also
know that a total column ozone level of less than 220 Dobson Units is a result of catalysed
ozone loss from chlorine and bromine compounds. For these reasons, we use 220 Dobson
Units as the boundary of the region representing ozone loss. Using the daily snapshots of total
column ozone, we can calculate the area on the Earth that is enclosed by a line with values of
220 Dobson Units (the white line in the figure below).
Chlorofluorocarbons and ozone
Many people have heard that the ozone hole is caused by chemicals called CFCs,
short for chlorofluorocarbons. CFCs escape into the atmosphere from refrigeration and
propellant devices and processes. In the lower atmosphere, they are so stable that they persist
for years, even decades. This long lifetime allows some of the CFCs to eventually reach the
stratosphere. In the stratosphere, ultraviolet light breaks the bond holding chlorine atoms (Cl)
to the CFC molecule. A free chlorine atom goes on to participate in a series of chemical
reactions that both destroy ozone and return the free chlorine atom to the atmosphere
unchanged, where it can destroy more and more ozone molecules. For those who know the
story of CFCs and ozone, that is the part of the tale that is probably familiar.
The part of the story that fewer people know is that while the chlorine atoms freed from CFCs
do ultimately destroy ozone, the destruction doesn’t happen immediately. Most of the roaming
chlorine that gets separated from CFCs actually becomes part of two chemicals that under
normal atmospheric conditions are so stable that scientists consider them to be long-term
reservoirs for chlorine. So how does the chlorine get out of the reservoir each spring?
Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and ozone
Under normal atmospheric conditions, the two chemicals that store most
atmospheric chlorine (hydrochloric acid, and chlorine nitrate) are stable. But in the
long months of polar darkness over Antarctica in the winter, atmospheric conditions
are unusual. An endlessly circling whirlpool of stratospheric winds called the polar
vortex isolates the air in the center. Because it is completely dark, the air in the vortex
gets so cold that clouds form, even though the Antarctic air is extremely thin and dry.
Chemical reactions take place that could not take place anywhere else in the
atmosphere. These unusual reactions can occur only on the surface of polar
stratospheric cloud particles, which may be water, ice, or nitric acid, depending on the
temperature.
 The frozen crytals that make up polar stratospheric clouds provide a surface for the
reactions that free chlorine atoms in the Antarctic stratosphere.
 These reactions convert the inactive chlorine reservoir chemicals into more
active forms, especially chlorine gas (Cl2). When the sunlight returns to the South
Pole in October, UV light rapidly breaks the bond between the two chlorine atoms,
releasing free chlorine into the stratosphere, where it takes part in reactions that
destroy ozone molecules while regenerating the chlorine (known as a catalytic
reaction). A catalytic reaction allows a single chlorine atom to destroy thousands of
ozone molecules. Bromine is involved in a second catalytic reaction with chlorine
that contributes a large fraction of ozone loss. The ozone hole grows throughout the
early spring until temperatures warm and the polar vortex weakens, ending the
isolation of the air in the polar vortex. As air from the surrounding latitudes mixes
into the polar region, the ozone-destroying forms of chlorine disperse. The ozone
layer stabilizes until the following spring.