The Conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, and all kinds of false news are flying around, interfering with people's vision. Not long ago, the International Atomic Energy Organization issued a voice on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, saying that it had lost contact with the sensors at the plant.
As soon as the news came out, it caused suspicion in the world, and many people doubted whether the nuclear power plant that almost buried the whole of Europe because of the nuclear leak had lost control, after all, the ultra-nationalist elements in Ukraine also tried to attack the peripheral service facilities of the nuclear power plant, and the Ukrainian foreign minister also said that the nuclear power plant was at risk of leakage.
Although the Russian state media debunked the false news, saying that the nuclear power plant was still under control, people could not help but think of the tragic past of the Chernobyl accident in that year, and they still had palpitations and were difficult to calm down.
First, the cause of the nuclear leakage
Chernobyl is a small, scenic town located about 130 km north of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. In summer, the place is clear and tree-lined, making it a great place for a break. Many people in Ukraine and Russia prefer to spend their holidays here in the summer, renting a few wooden houses as holiday villas.
Had it not been for the disaster of April 1986, this secluded and beautiful city would have been lost in the tide of history, just like the small cities with a certain professional function scattered throughout the vast lands of the Soviet Union.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in the early 1970s, when the Soviet Union was at the peak of its national power, and it was even more strenuous in the construction of Ukraine's first nuclear power plant, making it the largest nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union, with a total of four nuclear reactors with an installed capacity of one gigawatt, which were connected to the grid in 1977, 1978, 1983 and 1984.
The plant was known as the safest nuclear power plant at the time, and was regarded by the Soviet Union as a symbol of surpassing the United States. However, it was such a nuclear power plant, both technically and politically significant, that caused the worst nuclear leakage accident in human history, causing a heavy disaster.
The cause of the accident is also very simple, the accident investigation report shows as "negative feedback on the test reactivity under low power conditions", in short, human error. On the evening of April 25, 1986, the staff of Unit IV was ordered to stop the test, and the engineers ignored the illegal operation of the computer that had already put forward an abnormal alarm signal, and shut down all safety systems, which eventually led to a rapid increase in steam pressure, and after breaking through the critical value, an earth-shattering explosion occurred.
The shock wave generated by the explosion directly lifted the concrete cover of the reactor, and it ignited a raging fire, the scene was like the end of the world, and the second explosion shook the building of the nuclear power plant to a shaky state, and the reactor machine room was blown open a large hole.
Even more deadly, the explosion of the nuclear reactor caused it to release radioactive material into the air non-stop until May 6. Of course, there are deeper reasons for accidents in addition to operational errors. The Soviet authorities were also to blame for their negligence in the safety of the management of nuclear power plants.
First, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was designed and built with fatal safety issues that laid the groundwork for the disaster that followed. According to documents that have been declassified, many of the materials used in the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are of poor quality or even unqualified.
Moreover, during the construction of the nuclear power plant, the construction process and assembly process used violated the safety regulations, but no one pointed out. In fact, as early as the construction, the Ukrainian KGB had discovered these problems and made a secret report to its superiors, but it did not attract attention, let alone get any feedback.
Not only that, but from 1977 to 1981, there were as many as twenty-nine accidents of all sizes in the entire nuclear power plant, and even in 1982, there were more serious accidents and minor nuclear leaks, but they still failed to attract the attention of the authorities until they finally caused a catastrophe.
It can be said that the Soviet Union at that time was very concerned about the safety status of nuclear power plants, and it was likely that the tragedy would be avoided. What is even more distressing is that in early 1986, the nuclear power plant also underwent a major inspection, the engineers believed that the nuclear power plant was in an extremely dangerous situation, and proposed to the superiors to close the nuclear power plant, still sinking into the sea, and finally watching the disaster come.
So, now that the disaster has occurred, what heavy price has the Soviet Union paid?
2. Emergency rescue and sacrifice
Realistically speaking, the Soviet government's lack of attention to or even disregard for security led to the outbreak of disaster, but the subsequent rescue operations also minimized the impact and consequences. As soon as the explosion occurred, the first firefighters rushed to the scene, and although they did not know it was a reactor explosion, the efficiency and dedication of the dispatch were admirable. Twelve of the first twenty-eight firefighters died of cancer.
Due to the high temperature uranium and magma melted from the cement in the reactor core, it is possible to melt through the floor of the plant and enter the ground, causing a water vapor explosion, which will cause disasters throughout Europe. In order to prevent this terrible consequence, three Soviet technicians, knowing that high radiation would damage the body or even endanger their lives, still chose to wear equipment to dive into the basement of the No. 4 nuclear reactor to carry out emergency operations and open the gate to drain the water.
This kind of behavior is tantamount to suicide, but they have no remorse and are worthy of the title of heroes. At the same time, the explosion also filled the roofs of the nuclear power plant and surrounding houses with high-radiation rubble fragments, and in order to clean up the debris, the Soviet Union initially used more advanced robots, which were designed to work on Mars for several years, but this robot was scrapped in minutes under strong radiation.
Reluctantly, the Soviet Union had to mobilize Red Army soldiers to risk nuclear radiation and dispose of the debris with flesh and blood. In high-radiation environments, each worker can only stay on the roof for a maximum of forty to ninety seconds. General Taraknov, commander of the Soviet Army's engineering corps, after the final mobilization of the troops, said, "I and the commissar will go first!" The Kind of Soviet Red Army of that year seems to be back at this moment.
The day after the explosion of Reactor 4, the Soviet Union urgently mobilized more than a dozen combat divisions to participate in the rescue, and dispatched 300 helicopters to risk fire extinguishing and airdrop sandbags to block the reactor.
According to post-mortem statistics, in addition to more than 90,000 people who died directly from accidents, more than 300,000 people suffered from cancer as a result, and as many as 2.55 million people were affected by various diseases. The hazards caused by the Chernobyl nuclear accident have not been completely eliminated until now, and the proportion of newborn babies in the Chernobyl region is extremely high in cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and congenital malformations; the rate of child mortality is five times higher than elsewhere.
The disaster caused a sense of awe at the use of nuclear energy, and in March 2011, a nuclear accident of the same magnitude occurred at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. However, compared with the fearless sacrifice spirit of the Soviet Red Army, the Japanese were extremely inefficient, and they dragged the disaster level to the terrifying level 7. The Fukushima nuclear power plant accident continues to affect the world today.
It is hard to imagine what would have happened if the Soviet Union had adopted japan's negative attitude. At the very least, reactor No. 3 could have exploded without 3 warriors sneaking into the basement of Reactor 4 to open the floodgates; the disaster would not have been quelled quickly without hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers risking their lives to clean up and rescue. And such consequences are unbearable not only for Europe as a whole, but also for the whole world.