preface
On Saturday, April 26, 1986, at about 1 a.m. Moscow time, people were still sleeping sweetly when one of the greatest disasters of human peacetime suddenly fell on the heads of the Ukrainian people.
Unit IV (the fourth nuclear reactor) of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 130 km from Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, the third largest city of the Soviet Union, suddenly suffered a power blockage while shutting down as planned, and the emergency generator also failed, causing the reactor's main cooling pump to stop working and the backup cooling pump to start in time.
The fourth reactor that happened
The sudden increase in the power of the reactor causes the reactor to overheat, and the large amount of steam emitted and the ensuing reaction cause the hydrogen to over-concentrate and a chemical explosion occurs. The shock wave generated by the explosion destroyed the reactor and the machine room, while causing a fire, the flames reached up to 30 meters, and some of the radioactive material was thrown into the air.
After the nuclear fuel caught fire, the graphite was burned and the uranium oxide in the core weighing 1900 tons and 14 meters in diameter was melted. When the reactor core disintegrated, the radioactive material it produced escaped from the unprotected reactor building, and the filter that supposedly could have captured strontium did not work, directly causing the worst radioactive material leakage accident since the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union in 1954.
Located in Chernobyl, Ukraine
The Soviet government concealed the truth about the Chernobyl nuclear leak from the public
The Chernobyl accident, similar to a nuclear explosion, could also produce four killing factors, namely light radiation, shock waves, early nuclear radiation and radioactive contamination.
Light radiation, also known as thermal radiation, can cause burns. Shock waves are high-pressure, high-speed air streams that spread sharply from the core of the explosion to the surrounding areas during a nuclear explosion, which can cause serious internal and external injuries to people.
Early nuclear radiation can cause three kinds of acute radiation diseases: myeloid acute radiation disease, characterized by hematopoietic function damage; enteric radiation disease is characterized by gastrointestinal tract damage, which is characterized by extremely serious diarrhea and hydrolytic imbalance; cerebral radiation disease, characterized by nervous system damage, manifested as coma, ataxia, convulsions, etc.
Radioactive contamination, also known as radioactive dust. A large amount of radioactive dust generated after the nuclear explosion drifts with the wind and gradually sinks to the ground, causing a large range of contamination of air, surface, water, surface of objects and personnel, which has a destructive effect on the human living environment and damages life and health.
Weeds with high radiation properties
The Chernobyl nuclear accident shocked the world, and the world's major media have reported and commented.
On April 29, 1986, The United Press International News Agency reported in Moscow that the nuclear accident killed 2,000 people, exposed a large number of people to nuclear radiation, and the October Hospital in Kiev was crowded with patients who had been exposed to radiation.
Reuters news from Bonn on the same day said the Russians could not cope with the fire, and the lack of spare safety devices at the Soviet nuclear power plant meant that highly radioactive particles could spill into the atmosphere and cause widespread pollution.
A source from Agence France-Presse New York said the southwest winds that blew the radioactive clouds from the accident into Ukraine's grain-producing areas would have serious and long-term effects on Soviet agriculture and cause water and soil pollution.
The Chernobyl nuclear accident was discussed and declared at the Western Seven Summit in Tokyo in early May of the same year, and the IAEA Board of Governors held a special session in Vienna on 21 May to discuss the accident.
On 28 May, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held another special meeting on the Soviet nuclear power plant accident and decided to draft a binding agreement on nuclear disasters and an agreement on coordinating emergency assistance.
Cooling tower interior
Soon after the accident, the Soviet Union shut down the other 3 units, the rescue work is very difficult, the explosion of the reactor can not use water, can not use chemical extinguishing agent to extinguish the fire, can only take measures such as air-dropped sandbags and concrete sealing, to block the leakage of radioactive materials.
On May 26, Yevgeny Velikhov, vice president of the Ussring Academy of Sciences, announced that 5,000 tons of sand and other building materials dropped from helicopters had reliably sealed the reactor in question.
After the accident, the Soviet government did not immediately inform its citizens of the truth of the nuclear accident, and the Soviet news agencies briefly informed the Citizens of the Soviet Union after the Chernobyl nuclear accident was reported in the media of Western countries, "An accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and an atomic energy reactor was damaged." ”
Robots used to remove rubble still carry high radiation to this day
On 30 April, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a proclamation declaring that "as a result of the measures taken in the past few days, the leakage of radioactive material has decreased, the level of radiation in the area of the atomic power plant and the village has been reduced, the reactor is in a state of extinguishing, the radiation situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and adjacent areas is not dangerous, and the drinking water and the water quality of the river and reservoir meet the standards." ”
Misled by the Soviet government, the Chernobyl nuclear accident did not attract enough attention from ordinary people, and they were not fully aware of the serious consequences of the accident. As a result, vehicles emerging from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant drove into the city of Kiev without any treatment, crossing Kreschak Avenue, the main street in the center of Kiev, causing man-made nuclear dust to spread. The local governments of the USSR not only failed to evacuate the inhabitants of the city of Chernobyl in a timely manner, but also did not propose protective measures to the public.
While Britain, France, Finland, Austria, Poland, Yugoslavia and other countries evacuated their citizens from Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, the citizens of Kiev, who did not know the truth, took to the streets without any precautions, marching and rallying along Kressyak Street to celebrate the annual May Day International Labor Day.
A newspaper from April 1986 left behind in the nuclear radiation zone
On 6 May, Boris Shelbina, Chairman of the Government Committee on the Accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the USSR and Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, announced that "the radiation situation in the Chernobyl region is normalizing." According to systematic monitoring of radioactive contamination in the skies over Ukraine, Belarus and Moldavia, radiation levels do not exceed the radiation safety standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Ministry of Health of the USSR. ”
The minister said the accident only killed workers and exposed more than 100 people to radiation.
Later, in mid-May, under the strong pressure of Western public opinion, the Soviet TASS news agency intermittently announced some relevant information like a toothpaste, warned the citizens of the existence of radioactive dust in the atmosphere, and reminded the people to wear hats when traveling, and nothing more.
At this time, the Polish government had banned shops from selling milk from cows that ate green feed, because radioactive iodine in the air fell on plants and could be transmitted to the human body through milk, thus endangering human health.
Abandoned kindergartens in the radiation zone
The Polish health sector has provided iodine preparations to infants and children in the country's north-eastern provinces to prevent radioactive iodine from entering their bodies.
The Soviet Government's practice of concealing the truth about the potential dangers of the nuclear accident from the people aroused strong resentment among the local population and shook the people's confidence in Gorbachev's preaching of "openness and honesty" to the people on all major issues, that is, just, democratic, open political democracy.
Ukrainians blamed the Soviet government's actions on Russian-Ukrainian Great-Russianism.
The true circumstances of the Chernobyl nuclear accident were not gradually made public until after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
An abandoned Ferris wheel in a nuclear radiation zone
Hazards from the Chernobyl nuclear accident
After the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the beautiful and fertile land of Ukraine has since been shrouded in the shadow of radioactive dust pollution.
Ukrainian scientists estimate that the total amount of radioactive material leaked from the Chernobyl accident was about 90 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
After the explosion of the nuclear reactor, radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere day and night, and it did not stop until May 6. A total of 50 Mku of radioactive material was ejected during this time, accounting for 3.5% of the total radioactive material of the nuclear reactor. The radiation dose measured within 30 km of the nuclear power plant has reached an extremely dangerous level, at 150 roentgen per hour.
An abandoned playground in a nuclear radiation zone
Experts believe that the safe dose of radiation a person receives in a year is 0.2 roentgen, 50 roentgen is the starting point of danger, and 400 roentgen is usually fatal. According to this standard, within a radius of 30 kilometres around Chernobyl, it is designated as a heavily radioactively contaminated area and is no longer suitable for residents to live and engage in agricultural and livestock production.
The land will be dead, with no villages, no towns, only chimneys of destroyed houses. There was no arable land or pasture, no livestock, no human habitation, nothing. The land here is like the moon, and for a long time to come, perhaps for hundreds of years, it will be a barren land of no grass. To this day, this area is still considered a "dead zone".
Entrance to Chernobyl
Experts believe that the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear accident will be difficult to eliminate in nearly 100 years. The process of decay of radioactive material produced by this nuclear accident can be roughly divided into three stages:
In the first stage, from 26 April 1986 to 26 April 1987, the radioactive substances can be attenuated by about 20% of the initial amount;
In the second stage, from 26 April 1987 to 26 April 1990, radioactive substances can attenuate about 40% of the initial amount;
In the third stage, by 2020, the radioactive material can be attenuated to about 50% of the initial amount.
As for reaching 70% of the initial amount of radioactive material decay, it will take more than 300 years. After this, permanent isotopes in radioactive substances (which exist for about 100,000 years) will work for a long time. In other words, the Chernobyl nuclear accident has left a permanent mark on our planet, and all life in Ukraine, such as water, air, soil, animals and plants, is no longer what it was before the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Trees in the radiation zone
According to a 1999 survey by the French Radiological Research and Information Organization, researchers tested 17 species of mushrooms collected from a range of 45 km to 140 km near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, of which 90% of the mushroom radioactive material content exceeded the international limit, and the highest exceeded the standard by 300 times.
The immediate consequence of the Chernobyl nuclear accident was widespread water pollution.
Chernobyl is the center of the district, located on the banks of the Pripyat River, a tributary of the Dnieper River, which is connected to the Kiev Sea, an artificial reservoir that supplies its water.
The artificial sea in Kiev covers an area of 920 square kilometers and holds 3.7 cubic kilometers of water. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is cooled by water (100-150 cubic meters per second) from the Kiev Sea. Because these reactors must continue to cool, it is difficult to stop water with radioactive dust from returning from the plant to the Kiev Sea and finally into the Dnieper River, directly affecting the irrigation of farmland and wildlife in the areas through which the Dnieper River flows.
Statue of Lenin in Chernobyl
According to observations by Ukrainian hydrologists and hydrometeorologists in the decade following the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the water level in the Kiev Reservoir rises to its highest level around 26 April every year, while the water level of the Dnieper River and its tributaries drops to its lowest point, the water in the Kiev Reservoir constantly lapping at the embankment, and a large amount of radioactive contaminants are washed away into the Kiev Reservoir and then flow back to the Dnieper River.
70% of the daily drinking water of Ukrainian residents comes from the Dnieper River, and during this period of the year, the water alkali concentration of the water in the water of the Dnieper River decreases seasonally, and the coagulant used by the waterworks to purify the water also fails with the decrease of the alkalinity of the water, thereby increasing the activity of radioactive substances in the water.
At the end of April, the turbidity of the Dnieper River reaches its peak, and the phytoplankton cells and plankton in the water carry cesium-137 and isotopes along the Dnieper River, and in the process of aquatic life swimming, radioactive materials are constantly gathered, causing water pollution.
The Dnieper River
The Chernobyl nuclear accident not only damaged the ecological environment, but also endangered the lives of millions of people. The first is to affect people's mental and psychological state, many people live in fear, anxiety, people are worried about food and water pollution, worried that their children are endangered by nuclear dust, women and children flee areas that are considered to be contaminated by nuclear dust, normal living order is completely disrupted, and people who remain in polluted areas blindly take self-protection measures without the guidance of experts.
As the press has revealed, some elderly people in Kiev City get prescriptions from nowhere, drinking yogurt with iodine wine to prevent the damage of nuclear dust. As a result, the Kiev Hospital did not treat a single radiation patient, but was filled with heartburn injuries caused by excessive use of iodine.
Memories of the doctor at pripyat hospital
The Chernobyl nuclear accident caused serious pollution in the Polysk District of Kiev Oblast and the Narokych, Obruch, Lugisk and Olevsk districts of Zhytomyr Oblast, and the Ukrainian government needed to relocate 14 villages from the heavily polluted areas, 2,053 households from Polesk and 936 households from Narokich, for a total of about 59,000 people.
The relocation of the population is constrained by the strength of the Ukrainian economy, which has been slow to move during the long-lasting economic crisis in Ukraine.
The life of the inhabitants living in areas heavily polluted by nuclear dust is very difficult, the endless waiting and illness torment the spirit and body of the inhabitants, people feel that the future is confused, they become restless, they worry about the future, they worry about the health of their children. People can no longer live as peacefully as before, cannot go for walks in the forest, pick wild fruits, cannot even enjoy the attractive fruits of the orchard, and cannot swim in the river, people must live carefully.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
In addition, excess radioactive material has the ability to kill cells and hereditary effects (as the content of radioactive isotopes in the biosphere increases, the rate of harmful mutations also increases accordingly, which is one of the hazards of radiation pollution) has become a certainty in the scientific community. Natural radiation to the human body is objectively present, and preventing and escaping natural radiation is not only impossible, but also meaningless.
After the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the number of malignant neoplasms in Ukraine showed an upward trend, and the damage of radioactive substances to children was most obvious. Since about half of the radioactive isotopes spilled from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were iodine-131, the cows' milk already contained this radioactive substance 24 hours after the accident, so minors who were 0-18 years old at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident were highly susceptible to thyroid disease.
Today, the consequences of the tragedy of the nuclear leak are well felt in the medical community. After the Chernobyl accident, the incidence of thyroid cancer in Ukraine increased by a factor of 9, and between 1986 and 1999 1217 people underwent thyroid surgery, who were underage at the time of the accident.
Abandoned school in a nuclear radiation zone
Only 11 of the children born after 1987 (iodine depletion) underwent thyroid cancer resection. According to Ukrainian statistics, the incidence of thyroid cancer in the contaminated areas is 2 times higher than the average incidence level in Ukraine, and 6 times higher than the population evacuated from the contaminated areas.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was completed and put into operation in 1977. It is planned to consist of six water-cooled graphite-moderated reactors with 1 gigawatts of power generation, the RBMK-1000 reactor. Four reactors had already been in operation in 1986 and two others were under construction, and if these two reactors were built, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant would have a capacity of 6 million kilowatts, surpassing the largest nuclear power plant in the United States at that time located outside Los Angeles (with a capacity of 2.2 million kilowatts), and this large-scale construction plan was finally destroyed.
The staff who handled the scene that year
Due to the lack of safety measures, almost no one on site was spared at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. At that time, 176 people were working at the nuclear power plant, and the 6th and 6th nuclear reactors were being built 1.5 kilometers southeast of the nuclear power plant, with 268 construction workers and installation workers on the site, both of whom were the direct victims of the accident.
In the nuclear accident, 31 staff and firefighters were killed in the line of duty, 28 people died of nuclear radiation, a total of 300 people were injured and hospitalized that day, of which 129 were airlifted to Moscow the following day for special first aid and 237 were seriously injured by nuclear radiation.
According to official Soviet figures, 1,209 people were injured in the accident, 92,000 were evacuated and resettled from the contaminated areas, and the direct and indirect damage caused by them has reached 2.9 billion US dollars.
Red Forest of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
The main causes of the Chernobyl nuclear accident were, according to Soviet officials, the poor quality of reactors and other equipment, the lack of appropriate technical management measures and the non-compliance of operators with safety regulations and good training.
After the accident, Chapoval, chief engineer of the Chernobyl Industrial Transport Union, was expelled from the party, and one of his assistants, A. Sicharenko, and A. Gubski, secretary of the party committee of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, were given warnings.
Although it has been 36 years since the Chernobyl nuclear accident, it still threatens the living environment of the Ukrainian people. Because the nuclear reactor of Unit 4, which is sealed in a "sarcophagus" made of reinforced cement, still has the possibility of another accident.
Old photograph of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Now, the exterior of the "sarcophagus" has been naturally eroded, but the inside of the "sarcophagus" is still like an active volcano, which may explode at any time, spewing radioactive dust, triggering another ecological disaster.
As for how to eliminate the hidden dangers of accidents and ensure the safety of the "sarcophagus", it is still an insoluble problem for the Ukrainian government.
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