Chernobyl disaster - an accident at the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant at 1:23 am on April 26, 1986. This is the largest nuclear power accident in the world and we can say that the Chernobyl tragedy is the largest technological disaster of the 20th century.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) is located in the city of Pripyat, not far from the center of Chernobyl, practically at the junction of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. That is why these 3 union republics suffered the most from the accident.
Chronology of events
On the night of April 25-26, it was planned to conduct an experiment at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The essence of the experiment was to reduce the power of the power unit from 3200 megawatts (nominal power of the unit) to 700 megawatts. It was because of this experiment that the accident happened.
Before starting to understand what the Chernobyl accident is, I propose to dwell on the chronology of the events of April 25 and 26, 1986. This will allow you to track the real events that took place in those days, as well as get facts for further analysis.
- 01:06 - a phased reduction in reactor power began.
- 13:05 - Reactor power reduced by 50% to 1600 MW.
- 14:00 - at the request of the dispatchers, the power reduction was stopped. A few minutes earlier, the reactor's emergency cooling system had been turned off.
- 23:05 - the beginning of a new reduction in power.
- 00:28 - Reactor power drops to 500 megawatts, goes into automatic mode and suddenly drops to 30 megawatts, which is 1% of the nominal power.
- 00:32 - To restore power, the operators remove the rods from the reactor. At this point, there are less than 20 left.
- 01:07 - power stabilizes at 200 MW.
- 01:23:04 - continuation of the experiment.
- 01:23:35 - uncontrolled increase in the volume of reactor power.
- 01:23:40 - emergency button pressed.
- 01:23:44 - the actual power of the reactor was 320,000 MW, which is 100 times higher than the nominal power.
- 01:24 - the destruction of the upper plate weighing 1000 tons and the release of red-hot parts of the core.
The Chernobyl accident is two explosions, as a result of which the fourth power unit was completely destroyed. The accident itself lasted a few seconds, but led to nightmarish consequences and the largest technological disaster of its time.
From the facts given above, it is clear that an experiment was carried out, that first there was a sharp drop in power, and then a sharp increase in power, which got out of control and led to an explosion and destruction of 4 reactors. The first question that arises in connection with this is what was this experiment and why was it carried out?
Experiment with the 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
On April 25, 1986, preventive maintenance was carried out at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, during which a turbogenerator was tested. The essence of the test is whether the turbogenerator will be able to supply power every 45-50 seconds in case of an accident in order to provide the emergency systems with the necessary energy.
The very essence of the experiment was to ensure further safety of use. There is nothing special about this, since experiments are always carried out and at any enterprises. Another thing is that any experiments at objects of such importance must be carried out under strict control and with full preservation of the regulations. In this case, this was not provided. This is the reason for the Chernobyl accident.
Everything was quiet, going on as usual. Then I heard a conversation, turned around - Toptunov was saying something to Akimov. What Toptunov said, I did not hear. Akimov told him to turn off the reactor. But, in my opinion, Toptunov told him that the reactor had reached a normal level. There is nothing unusual or dangerous about this. Akimov repeated to him - turn off the reactor. I translated in my mind the frequency of 35 Hz into revolutions. After that came the first blow. Following him was the second, stronger. It was long, or it was two blows merged into one.
Dyatlov - Deputy Chief Engineer of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. From the protocols of interrogation.
Causes of the accident
The Chernobyl accident today has acquired a huge number of versions. I will not consider versions that are not supported by anything other than the imagination of the authors, and will focus on the reports of the commissions that were studying the disaster. There were 2 such commissions in total: 1986, 1991. The conclusions of the commissions contradicted each other.
Commission 1986
In August 1986, a commission was established to study the issues of the Chernobyl disaster. This commission was supposed to establish the reasons for the accident. The main conclusion of this commission is the staff is to blame for the Chernobyl accident, who made several gross mistakes at once, which led first to an accident, and then to a disaster.
The main staff mistakes are as follows:
- Shutdown of the reactor protection means. The work regulations forbade any shutdown of protective equipment.
- Withdrawal of 204 out of 211 rods from the work area. The regulations said that if there were less than 15 rods left, the reactor should immediately be shut down.
Staff errors were gross and inexplicable. They turned off the protection and violated all the main points of the Regulations (instructions).
Commission 1991
In 1991 Gosatomnadzor created a new group to study the accident. To understand the essence of the work of this group, you need to know its composition. The group included almost all NPP personnel. The conclusion in the work of this group was as follows - the designers are to blame for the disaster, since 4th reactor had design flaws.
The event after which the explosion was inevitable - pressing the button A3-5 (emergency button), after which all the rods jammed.
Cleanup
4 minutes after the explosion, the local fire brigade, led by Lieutenant Pravik, began to put out the fire on the roof of the reactor. Additional fire brigades were called from the region and from Kyiv. By 4 o'clock in the morning the fire was localized.
It is noteworthy that until 03:30 on April 26, no one knew about the high level of radiation. The reason is that there were 2 devices operating at 1000 roentgens per hour. One was out of order, and the second was inaccessible due to the explosion. By the end of April 26, iodine prophylaxis of the city of Pripyat began. On April 27, it was decided to evacuate the inhabitants of the city of Pripyat. In total, about 50 thousand people were evacuated. Of course, no one told them why. They only said that it was for 2-3 days, so you don’t need to take anything with you.
In early May, the evacuation of residents in nearby regions began. On May 2, everyone within a radius of 10 km was evacuated. On May 4-7, residents were liquidated in a territory with a radius of 30 km. Thus, an exclusion zone was formed. By July 25, this area was completely fenced and closed to everyone. The perimeter of the zone is 196 km.
On November 14, the construction of the Srakofag was completed. This is 100 thousand cubic meters of concrete, which forever buried the 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Evacuation of the city of Pripyat
The most important question is why the evacuation began 1.5 days after the Chernobyl accident, and not earlier? The fact is that the leadership of the USSR was not ready in an emergency. But the main claim here is not that people were evacuated only on the evening of April 27, but that on the morning of April 26, when it was known about the high level of radiation, no one warned the city population about it. In fact, June 26, 1986 was an ordinary day for the city of Pripyat, and on April 27 an emergency evacuation began.
610 buses and 240 trucks were sent from Kyiv. Another 522 buses were sent by the Kyiv region. The evacuation of the city, with a population of about 50 thousand people, took place in just 3 hours: from 15:00 to 18:00. At the same time, residents caught the peak of radiation.
Who participated in the liquidation
The cleanup of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident is an important issue, since these activities involved more than 0.5 million people who worked in very dangerous conditions for health. In total, 240 thousand people were involved in the liquidation of the accident in 1986-1987. Taking into account the subsequent years - 600 thousand. For elimination were used:
- Specialists. First of all, specialists in the field of physics and elimination of consequences.
- Staff. These people were used to work on the site, because they knew its structure very well.
- Military personnel. The regular units were assigned the most widely, and it was the servicemen who suffered the main blow (including radiation exposure) and the main load.
- mobilized composition. Literally a few days after the Chernobyl accident, mobilization was carried out and the civilian population took part in the aftermath.
The liquidators worked in a circular pattern. As soon as people reached the maximum allowable norm of radiation, the group was expelled from Chernobyl, and a new group arrived in its place. And so on until the consequences were localized. Today it is said that the limit value of human radiation a was set at 500 mSv, and the average radiation dose was 100 mSv.
| Group | population | Average dose in mSv | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 1987 | 1986 | 1987 | |
| Chernobyl nuclear power plant personnel | 2358 | 4498 | 87 | 15 |
| Shelter Builders | 21500 | 5376 | 82 | 25 |
| Mobilization personnel | 31021 | 32518 | 6,5 | 27 |
| military personnel | 61762 | 63751 | 110 | 63 |
These are the data that statistics provide today, but it is important to note here that these are averages! They cannot reflect the true picture of the case, since this requires data on each person individually. For example, 1 person worked on liquidation without sparing himself and received a dose of 500 mSv, while the other was at the headquarters and received a dose of 5 mSv - their average value will be 252.5, but in fact the picture is different ...
Consequences for people
One of the worst stories of the Chernobyl disaster is the consequences for human health. Today it is said that 2 people died in the Chernobyl explosion, 134 people were diagnosed with radiation sickness, 170 liquidators had leukemia or blood cancer. Among the liquidators, compared with other people, diseases are more often recorded:
- Endocrine system - 4 times
- Cardiovascular system - 3.5 times
- Psychiatric deviations and diseases of the nervous system - 2 times.
- Diseases of the musculoskeletal system - 2 times.
If you think about these figures, it becomes clear that almost every person who took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffers from one disease or another. People who did not take part in the liquidation also suffered. For example, from 1992 to 2000, 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer were detected in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. It is believed that 99% of these cases are associated with the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Which countries are affected the most
The Chernobyl accident is a catastrophe for the whole of Europe. The following table is sufficient to demonstrate this.
| City | Irradiation power in μR/h | date |
|---|---|---|
| Pripyat | 1 370 000 | April 28 |
| 2 200 | April 30 | |
| Novozybkov | 6 200 | April 29 |
| Gomel | 800 | April 27 |
| Minsk | 60 | April 28 |
| Salzburg (Austria) | 1 400 | May 2 |
| Tavastehaus "Finland" | 1 400 | April 29 |
| Munich, Germany) | 2 500 | April 30 |
If we imagine that the total loss from the Chernobyl disaster is 100%, then the distribution of radioactivity was approximately as follows: Russia - 30%, Belarus - 23%, Ukraine - 19%, Finland - 5%, Sweden - 4.5%, Norway - 3.1%, Austria - 2.5%.
Object "Shelter" and exclusion zone
One of the first decisions after the Chernobyl accident was the creation of an exclusion zone. Initially, the city of Pripyat was evacuated. Then, on May 2, residents were evacuated for 10 kilometers, and on May 7 - for 30 kilometers. This constituted the exclusion zone. This is the zone, the admission to which was carried out only with passes, and which was subjected to the maximum exposure to radiation. Therefore, everything that was possible was demolished and buried in the ground, including civil buildings and residential buildings.
Object "Shelter" - the program of isolation of the 4th nuclear reactor in a concrete structure. Any objects that were somehow connected with the functioning of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and were contaminated were placed in the area of the 4th reactor, over which they began to build a concrete sarcophagus. These works were completed on November 14, 1986. The Shelter object is isolated for 100 years.
Trial of the perpetrators
On July 7, 1987, in the city of Chernobyl, the trial of the Chernobyl employees charged under Article 220, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR (violation of safety regulations that entailed human casualties and other serious consequences) and under Articles 165 and 167 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR (abuse of official position) began. and irresponsibility in the performance of official duties).
Defendants:
- Bryukhanov V.P. - Director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. 52 years old.
- Fomin N.M. - Chief Engineer. 50 years.
- Dyatlov A.S. - Deputy Chief Engineer. 56 years old.
- Kovalenko A.P. - Head of the reactor of workshop No. 2. 45 years.
- Laushkin Yu.A. - Inspector of GAEN at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. 51 years old
- Rogozhkin B.V. - shift manager at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. 53 years old.
The trial lasted 18 days, and the verdict was delivered on July 29, 1987. According to the court's verdict, all the defendants were found guilty and sentenced to 5 to 10 years. I would like to quote the last words of the accused, because they are indicative.
| Defendant | guilty plea |
|---|---|
| Bryukhanov | I see that the staff made mistakes. The staff lost their sense of danger, largely due to a lack of instructions. But an accident is the probability of circumstances, the probability of which is negligible. |
| Fomin | I admit my guilt and repent. Why did I fail to ensure the safety of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant? I am an electrician by training! I didn't have enough time to study physics. |
| Dyatlov | My violations were unintentional. If I had a video danger, I would have stopped the reactor. |
| Rogozhkin | I do not see evidence of my guilt, because the accusations are nonsense, I did not even understand why they were put forward to me. |
| Kovalenko | I believe that if there were violations on my part, they are administrative, but not criminal liability. I could not even think that the staff would violate the Regulations. |
| Laushkin | I didn't do what I'm being accused of. I am completely innocent. |
At the same time, the following people lost their positions: the chairman of Gosatomenergonadzor (Kulov E.V.), his deputy for energy (Shasharin) and the deputy minister of medium machine building (Mashkov). In the future, the issue of responsibility and the transfer of the case to the court against the official was to be decided by the Party, but there was no trial of them.
Literature:
- Transcript of court hearings. Chernobyl, 1987, Karpan N.V.
- 3. Extract from the criminal case No. 19-73 (Vol. 50, pp. 352-360).
- Chernobyl radiation in questions and answers. Moscow, 2005.
Time is relentless. If those born in the USSR painfully recall the events that took place, then for new generations it is, basically, as far mentally and geographically as the Japanese Fukushima. Then the catastrophe at the nuclear power plant attracted the attention of all the inhabitants of the Soviet Union. Newspapers, television, conversations at work and at home during this period often referred to her. Why there was actually an atomic explosion at the Chernobyl plant, the reliability of which no one doubted, who is to blame, how the consequences are eliminated, how far radioactive fallout spread - this is the usual list of questions about the accident. Today, when 30 years have passed, interest has long subsided. There is only a question - do people live in Chernobyl now, what are the conditions there after the radioactive contamination of the area?
This is not a game
Anyone who has ever entered the computer game "Stalker" is familiar with the cities of Pripyat, Chernobyl. This is the case when entertainment gives and - the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the disaster that occurred at the 4th power unit, about whether people live in an abandoned Chernobyl now.
Much has been written about those events. In short:
The current state and future of Chernobyl
After the initial elimination of the consequences of the accident, and then the construction of a protective sarcophagus over the destroyed power unit, the number of people who were in the exclusion zone decreased sharply.
Over time, the need to finance the work, interest in the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant faded away. This was facilitated by the political and economic changes that befell the Soviet Union. I wonder what is happening there, whether ordinary people live in Chernobyl now.
As in the early years, the main residents are the builders of protective structures at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who come here to work on a rotational basis, erecting a new protective sarcophagus. But there are also several dozen permanent residents, including those who returned to their homes after an organized eviction. They are called "self-settlers". Although those who wish, even organized tourists, can get into the exclusion zone only with a specially issued temporary pass, the indigenous people are not disturbed, they lead a normal life. Most of them are elderly people who did not want to part with their native Chernobyl.
Whether people live in Chernobyl now and whether they will live in the future is a matter of time, huge costs for bringing the territory to a safe state, complete disposal of construction sites, technological equipment of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Currently, a new, more reliable sarcophagus-protection is being built - the Shelter object. The work should be completed in 2018.
On April 26, 1986, a series of explosions rocked the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. As a result, a catastrophic amount of radioactive substances got into the environment. Learn some amazing facts about the worst nuclear accident in history, the effects of which are still being felt today.
Reactor safety systems have been disabled
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant consisted of four reactors with a capacity of 1000 megawatts. Two additional reactors were under construction. On the night of April 25/26, 1986, Soviet technicians initiated a turbine test at Unit 4, just before a routine maintenance shutdown. To perform testing, they inadvertently turned off the emergency core cooling system and other key safety equipment. 
This was followed by a chain of operational errors, as a result of which steam began to accumulate, which led to the overheating of the reactor. At 1:23 am, several explosions occurred that destroyed the steel and concrete walls. A huge fireball burst into the sky. This initial release of radioactive material was exacerbated by fires that broke out inside the reactor core and raged for 10 days. It is said that the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant led to the release of so many radioactive substances that their effect is 100 times greater than the effect of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 
The liquidation was much more merciless than the explosions themselves
Although the first explosions at Chernobyl were massive, they only killed two station operators. Three others are reported to have died of heart attacks. For comparison: 28 workers and firefighters died from acute radiation sickness during the first few months after the liquidation, while dozens of people were in critical condition. Heavy radioactive substances, which have even reached the territory of France and the United Kingdom, have also caused many deaths. Thousands of children who drank irradiated milk developed thyroid cancer. At least 15 of them have died. Chernobyl has also caused other deaths from premature cancer, although the exact number has not yet been named. In 2005, the UN, with the support of the Chernobyl Forum, predicted that the consequences of the accident would still take about 4,000 lives, although Greenpeace calls another figure - 93,000. 
Immediately after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Soviet authorities tried to hide what had happened from their own citizens and made no attempt to warn neighboring countries. However, on April 28, the mystery began to unravel when Swedish experts detected massive amounts of radiation in the atmosphere. It turned out that it originated on the territory of the USSR. The Soviet authorities had to admit that two people died as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. However, the situation was said to be under control. It wasn't until May 6 that authorities ordered the closure of schools in Kyiv, about 100 kilometers from the station, and warned residents not to go outside. The full story of what happened at Chernobyl was kept secret even years later. 
A huge number of people still cannot return home
Approximately 36 hours after the accident, the Soviet authorities began evacuating some 115,000 people who lived nearby, although already before that time many had suffered from headaches and vomiting. Assuming that they would soon return home, most people left their material possessions at home, as well as their pets. To everyone's surprise, the entire area within a radius of 30 kilometers was closed, and checkpoints were set up to control access. This so-called exclusion zone was expanded in subsequent years, resulting in the evacuation of another 220,000 people. Although several hundred residents returned illegally, much of the area remains uninhabited. 
Chernobyl may have been a boon for wildlife
In the forests, previously given over to industry and agriculture, many representatives of megafauna began to appear: elk, red deer, wolves, lynxes, bears, eagles. Given the absence of people who would shoot or poison them, the animals took refuge in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This area has paradoxically become a unique biodiversity reserve. In 2005, the Chernobyl Forum stated that while some species are thriving, the radiation has caused significant potentially deadly anomalies such as deformed beaks in birds. 
The station was not closed until years later
When the fourth reactor exploded, the other three were not closed. But they were all restarted within a year and a half or so, despite international opposition due to alleged design flaws and severe environmental pollution. Thousands of Chernobyl operators continued to go to work every day. Only in 1991 was it decided to close the second power unit. Then, in 1995, the government of the now independent Ukraine agreed to close the remaining two blocks in exchange for financial assistance from industrialized countries. The first block stopped its work in 1996, but the third was closed only in 2000. 
Chernobyl has become a creepy attraction for tourists
Although people still cannot live in the exclusion zone, the Ukrainian authorities opened this area for tourism in 2011. Since then, guides have regularly taken in visitors who want to see wild animals, as well as walk around ghost towns, of which there are plenty. The most famous of them is Pripyat, which once had a population of more than 45,000 people. Guides use dosimeters to minimize exposure to radiation and advise their clients not to eat or smoke outside.
Cleanup still going on
At great risk to their own health, station workers dumped sand, lead and boron into the reactor core to stop the release of radioactive substances in the first few days after the disaster. Acres of pine forests that grew in the area were also cut down and buried, villages were destroyed and abandoned domestic animals were killed, because they could leave the zone and cause further pollution. 
The workers then closed the reactor of the giant concrete structure known as the sarcophagus, but over time it began to collapse. If everything goes according to plan, a new arch weighing 32,000 tons will be erected next year. According to the Ukrainian government, the station can be completely cleaned only by 2065. At the same time, radioactive particles will remain in the environment for hundreds of years.
April 26, 2016 marks exactly 29 years since the terrible disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In the modern world, the Chernobyl disaster is the largest in the history of nuclear energy: it has become the largest both in terms of the number of liquidators involved in it, and the largest in terms of the number of victims and damage that was caused to the economy of Ukraine and neighboring countries.
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The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986 - the explosion at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl occurred at 01:23, it was at this time that the fourth power unit was at the epicenter of the accident. Two people died from the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but after the elimination of the fire at the nuclear power plant, the victims did not end: according to the results of the first three months, another 31 people died from the radiation received, and the next 15 years after the Chernobyl disaster, another 60 to 80 people died due to strong irradiation.
The terrible accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant affected the whole world due to its magnitude. In the first days after the explosions in the fourth power unit, people within a radius of 30 km from the nuclear power plant were forced to leave their homes - according to official sources, over 115 thousand people were subject to evacuation. A huge number of people and special equipment was involved in the elimination of the consequences of the explosion - the forces of more than 600 thousand people were needed to minimize the consequences of what happened. As a result of an accident at a nuclear power plant, a radioactive cloud formed due to a burning reactor, which fell in the form of precipitation over a vast territory of Europe, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
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At present, there is no single opinion about what caused the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - experts are still at a loss. Every year on April 26, since 1986, the whole world remembers the victims and the grave consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, mourning exhibitions and minutes of silence are held in schools and other educational institutions.
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: a chronology of events
The prerequisites for the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began on April 25, 1986, when an experiment was planned at the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant without agreement with the block designer and supervisor. According to one version of what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the night of April 26, the participants in the experiment committed a huge number of violations that are unacceptable when working with such a dangerous object.
In particular, the personnel of the 4th power unit wanted to carry out the experiment "at any cost", despite the fact that changes had taken place in the reactor. All violating actions (their full list is not indicated in the sources due to the lack of a unanimous opinion of experts) of the personnel led to the fact that the power unit went into a "dangerous mode", and the technologies that could stop the operation of the reactor were turned off. A prolonged increase in the power of the reactor led to an explosion - as a result of this (some witnesses speak of several explosive strikes), the reactor installation was significantly destroyed, and its walls and roof ceased to exist, forming blockages on the north side of the power unit.
As a result of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a colossal release of radioactive substances occurred, the quantitative indicator exceeded the million mark of Ki (radioactivity of a substance at which 3.7 radioactive decays occur in 1 second), 8 out of 140 tons of reactor fuel were in the air, tens of thousands of Ki were released into the atmosphere at one o'clock. Despite the scale of the catastrophe, in the first days the population and the world community did not know about what had happened, and all information on the scale of the catastrophe and its possible consequences was kept in the strictest secrecy.
Elimination of the Chernobyl accident
In fact, the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident lasted more than one year, during which time numerous measures were taken to eliminate the consequences of what had happened. Immediately after the explosion, only the station's employees took part in the liquidation - they were engaged in sorting out the rubble, turning off the equipment and eliminating the fire. The work was carried out in the reactor and engine room, as well as in other rooms of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The first liquidators of the burning 4th power unit were about 40 firefighters, 300 Kiev police officers, as well as numerous specialists in the field of medicine, the coal mining industry (they pumped out contaminated water to prevent it from entering the Dnieper complex), scientific specialists. At the government level, special commissions and headquarters were created in the RSFSR, the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSR. Fire extinguishing and elimination of the consequences of the explosion were carried out by the involved liquidators in shifts: when one shift received the maximum permissible dose of radiation, other specialists came to replace them.
It is also known that the main work to eliminate the Chernobyl accident was carried out in the period from 1986 to 1987; to help the liquidators, according to sources, over 520 million rubles were collected during that period, and the singer, who held a charity concert in Moscow and a solo concert in Chernobyl, also participated in the fundraising.
The main task of the liquidators who were in the exclusion zone was to reduce the quantitative levels of radioactive emissions. In the first days and months after the explosion at the fourth Chernobyl power unit, engineering troops, miners and other specialists dug tunnels under the reactor, dug in dams near the Pripyat River, pumped out water from the reactor rooms - all this was done in order to stop the spread of contaminated water and alloys in order to prevent the spread infection on groundwater and the Dnieper.
Later, the ignited reactor began to be “buried”, and the area of the disaster was cleaned from radioactive debris ejected from the reactor. The reactor itself was covered with a concrete "sarcophagus", which was built in November 1986, and its direct construction was initiated in July of the same year.
Chernobyl disaster: consequences and modernity
As a result of the explosion at the Chernobyl reactor, Ukraine suffered serious, long-term consequences. Because of the incident, many small towns and cities were buried forever - experts buried hundreds of small settlements with the help of heavy equipment. Due to the fact that the explosion spread to nearby territories, the government was forced to remove over 5 million hectares of land from agricultural circulation.
The radiation that spread far from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant affected, in particular, the Leningrad region, Chuvashia and Mordovia - in these areas, as well as in Belarus and European states, it fell in the form of precipitation. As a result of this catastrophe, an exclusion zone was formed around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant within a radius of 30 km, no one lives in these territories to this day.
In modern times, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not in operation, however, many lovers of "black" tourism - the number of such people, according to travel companies, is in the tens of thousands -. In the exclusion zone, in particular, in the city of Pripyat, it is allowed to stay for a short time, but tourists are prohibited from eating any food that is not brought from outside.
Chernobyl disaster (video):
The well-known international journalist Gerd Ludwig has been filming the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster for many years. In 1986, a series of errors at a nuclear power plant led to an explosion that forced about a quarter of a million people to leave their homes forever to escape radiation and fallout.
Ludwig, on assignment from National Geographic Magazine, visited the accident site and surrounding regions several times in 1993, 2005 and 2011 and documented how people and places were irreversibly changed as a result of the tragedy.
In 2011, his trip was partially funded by Kickstarter. Ludwig has now released an iPad app with over 150 photos, videos and interactive panoramas. Below is a small selection of the photographer's work over the years of the ongoing tragedy.
1. On April 26, 1986, the operators of this turbine room of reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, during a scheduled repair, made a series of fatal mistakes that led to the destruction of the reactor and to the most serious accident in the history of world nuclear energy. Today, the turbine hall of the fourth power unit is still abandoned, there is still a very high level of radiation here.
2. Workers in respirators and plastic protective suits stopped for a short rest. They are drilling holes to install additional piles inside the sarcophagus. This is a dangerous job: the radiation levels here are so high that they have to constantly monitor the readings of Geiger counters and dosimeters, and the allowed hours of work here are limited to 15 minutes a day.
3. For many years, desperate attempts were made to strengthen the roof of the Shelter and prevent it from collapsing. Inside the sarcophagus, dimly lit tunnels lead to gloomy chambers littered with wires, broken pieces of metal, and other debris. Due to the collapse of the walls, everything around is covered with radioactive dust. The work to stabilize the sarcophagus has been completed, and today the radioactive insides of the reactor are waiting to be dismantled.
4. Previously, in order to get to the area below the molten core of the reactor, workers were forced to climb dangerous stairs, although the extremely high level of radiation allows them to stay in this area for only a few minutes. In order to speed up the descent, a gentle corridor was built, the so-called inclined staircase.
5. Workers who build a new Shelter, costing about $2.2. billion, receive dangerous doses of radiation, being close to the sarcophagus. A new structure in the form of an arch weighing 29,000 tons, 105 meters high and 257 meters wide will cover the existing sarcophagus and allow the dismantling of the outdated shelter. To create the most solid foundation for the new structure, 396 huge metal pipes will be driven into the ground to a depth of 25 m.
6. From the rooftop of the Polesye Hotel in the center of Pripyat, you can see the ill-fated Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Previously, 50,000 people lived in Pripyat, now it is a ghost town, gradually overgrown with weeds.
7. Pripyat is located less than three kilometers from the reactor. The city was built in the 1970s. for nuclear scientists and employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Once the population of Pripyat was almost 50,000 people, life was in full swing here. The authorities did not immediately inform the population about the accident, the evacuation began only 36 hours after the explosion.
Abandoned school in Pripyat. Ukraine, 2005. Photo: Gerd Ludwig/INSTITUTE
8. When the authorities of the Soviet Union eventually announced the evacuation, many simply did not have time to pack up. The Soviet Union officially announced the disaster only three days after the explosion, when a radioactive cloud reached Sweden and Swedish scientists in the laboratory found radioactive contamination on their shoes.
9. Nineteen years after the disaster, empty schools and kindergartens in Pripyat - once the largest exclusion zone city of 50,000 - remain a silent reminder of the tragic events. Part of the abandoned school building has since collapsed.
10. On the day of the disaster, unsuspecting children played quietly in a kindergarten in Pripyat, a satellite city of the nuclear power plant. The next day they were evacuated. They had to leave everything, even their favorite dolls and toys.
11. Wind walks in an abandoned city. On April 26, 1986, the amusement park was preparing for the May Day holidays. At this time, less than three kilometers away, the 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded.
12. When the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, this amusement park in Pripyat with a race track and a Ferris wheel was preparing for the May 1 celebration. Since then, 25 years have passed, and the dilapidated park has become a symbol of an abandoned city. Now it is one of the attractions for tourists who have flooded Pripyat recently.
13. In 2011, the government of Ukraine officially allowed tourist trips to the exclusion zone. In the photo: tourists wander through the corridors littered with garbage and empty classrooms of one of the schools in Pripyat. The dining room floor is littered with hundreds of discarded gas masks. One of the tourists brought his own - not for protection from radiation, but for the sake of a funny photo.
14. The nuclear disaster led to radioactive contamination of tens of thousands of square kilometers. 150,000 people within a radius of 30 km were forced to flee their homes in a hurry. Now almost all wooden huts in the villages that have fallen into the exclusion zone are abandoned, and nature is gradually taking over these remnants of civilization.
15. Haritina Decha, 92, is one of several hundred elderly people who have returned to their villages in the exclusion zone. It is important for her to die on her own land, even if it is abandoned and forgotten by everyone.
16. In the sink are tomatoes from their garden of an elderly couple Ivan Martynenko (he is 77) and Gapa Semenenko (she is 82). They are both deaf. After the evacuation, among several hundred elderly people, they returned to their home. These people live mainly on what they can grow on polluted soil.
17. Oleg Shapiro (54) and Dima Bogdanovich (13) are being treated for thyroid cancer at a Minsk hospital. Here such operations are performed daily.
Oleg is a liquidator of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, he received a very large dose of radiation. This is his third operation.
Dima's mother is sure that her son got cancer due to radioactive fallout, but his doctors take a more cautious point of view. Officials are often instructed to play down the dangers of radiation.
18. Sixteen-year-old Dima Pyko is being treated for lymphoma at the Children's Cancer Center (Center of Oncology and Hematology) near Minsk in the village. Forest. The center was built with serious financial support from Austria after the number of children's oncology diseases increased sharply in those regions of Belarus where a lot of radioactive fallout after the Chernobyl disaster
19. Five-year-old Igor was born with serious mental and physical defects. His parents abandoned him, and now he, along with another 150 disabled children, lives in a specialized orphanage.
This is just one of such institutions in southern Belarus, which is supported by the international charitable organization "Children of Chernobyl". It was created by Hedi Rocher in 1991 to help children - victims of the worst nuclear disaster in the world.
20. Veronica Chechet is only five years old. She suffers from leukemia and is being treated at the Radiation Medicine Center in Kyiv. Her mother, Elena Medvedeva (29 years old), was born four years before the Chernobyl disaster near Chernigov - after the explosion, a lot of radioactive fallout fell on the city. According to doctors, the diseases of many patients are directly related to the release of radiation as a result of the accident.
21. A mentally retarded boy smells a tulip in one of the orphanages in Belarus.
It is believed that in regions where radioactive fallout has fallen, more children are born with various malformations and mental disabilities. This belief is shared by many - but not all - in the scientific community. International charitable organizations established after the disaster continue to help families in need of support and orphanages where children affected by radioactive fallout live.
22. Every year on the anniversary of the accident - April 26 - a nightly memorial service is held at the Monument to the firefighters in memory of all those who died as a result of this disaster. Two people died directly during the explosion, another 28 firefighters and nuclear power plant employees - shortly after the disaster, having received a lethal dose of radiation. Since then, many thousands more have died from cancer and social upheaval due to mass evacuations.
Translation from English by Olga Antonova
