Chernobyl disaster

The worst manmade disaster in human

history
 Chernobyl disaster
The worst manmade disaster in human
history

- Muhammad Haris
- Muhammad Muzammil
- Noor Muhammad
-Faizan Munir
-Talha Ali shah
Where is Chernobyl?

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Chernobyl

• Built in
1978-1979
• Chornobyl

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 Reactor Plant Scenario
1. As the reaction occurs, the uranium fuel
becomes hot
2. The water pumped through the core in
pressure tubes removes the heat from the fuel
3. The water is then boiled into steam
4. The steam turns the turbines
5. The water is then cooled
6. Then the process repeats
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 -Day of disaster-
- April 26th, 1986, The technicians planned a safety drill to
test the cooling system of the then newly built Reactor 4.
- As a part of the test, the control rods, which are placed
between the uranium rods in the core of the reactor, were
removed.
- Technicians lost control of the flow of the coolant in the
reactor, Which directly lead to an acute rise in
temperatures.
- The Core of the reactor exploded at 1:23 am the next day.

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• External fires around the plant were extinguished within 5
hours, but fires within the reactor continued until 10th May
1986.
• 8 tons of Radioactive debris was released into the
atmosphere, the cloud later spread out to as far as western
Europe.
• Immediate operations began to evacuate the 134,000
inhabitants of the nearby city, Pripyat.
• Immediate work also began on getting the situation under
control. Over half a million personnel were hired for this
task.
• 31 of the initial workers died to acute radio-active sickness. A
number that looks not as bad when considering the fact that the
explosion had 400 times the toxicity of the bombings in
Hiroshima in 1945.

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 Summary of Facts
• April 26, 1986:
– Chernobyl nuclear power plant
• Operator errors cause a reactor
explosion
• Explosion releases 190 tons of
radioactive gasses into the
atmosphere
• Fire starts that lasts 10 days
• People:
– 7 million lived in
contaminated areas; 3 million
were children
• Wind:
– Carries radiation far distances
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 Radioactive fallout

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 Direct Casualties
• 5.5 million people still live in
contaminated areas
• 31 people died in 3 months of
radiation poisoning
• 134 emergency workers suffered
from acute radiation sickness

• 25,000 rescue workers died since

then of diseases caused by
radiation
• Cancer afflicts many others
• Increased birth defects,
miscarriages, and stillbirths

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 Indirect Casualties
– By the year 2000 there
were 1800 case of thyroid
cancer in children and
adolescent
– High number of suicide and
violent death among
Firemen, policemen, and
other recovery workers

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 Environment Impact
• Areas still impacted
today:
– Soil
– Ground Water
– Air
– Food
• Crops
• Livestock

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 Problems Today
• The Sarcophagus
– After the disaster, a huge cement
box was built around the
radioactive material
– It is falling apart!
– According to a 2003 report by the
Russian Atomic Energy Minister,
Alexander Rumyantsev, "the
concrete shell surrounding the
Chernobyl nuclear reactor is in real
danger of collapsing at any time."
– A new Sarcophagus is scheduled to
be completed in 2009

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