Essay On Chernobyl

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BACKGROUND Chernobyl is located in the Ukraine which is about 110 kilometers north of Kiev, near Belarus border. It is a small town with amount of population about 12,500 people. There was a nuclear power station with four reactors that has been built which is located about 15 kilometers to its northwest. A 22 sq. km in size of manmade water reservoir was created in order to cool down the reactor. This power plant was using Soviet-design RBMK-1000 nuclear reactors which are said as old and outdated design. This RBMK reactor are using U-235 fuel to heat water, creating steam that spin the turbines and generate electricity. Graphite is used to controls the core reactivity and also to keep the continuous nuclear reaction occurring in the core. When the core produces more steam and bubbles, it became more reactive and creating positive-feedback loop which is called as positive-void coefficient. Compared to other design of nuclear reactor, water is used as a coolant and to moderate the reactivity of the nuclear core. When the core heats up and produces more steam, the increase in steam bubbles or voids in the water reduces the reactivity in the nuclear core. This is an important safety feature found in most reactors built in the United States and other Western nations. HISTORY On April 26 1986, an accident-related Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl has been occurred. The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident which has resulted in several explosion and fire. This causes the release of large quantities of radioactive particle into the atmosphere and then spread over the nearby area. The Chernobyl disaster is said to be the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. It is classified as level event on Internati... ... middle of paper ... ...ernobyl power plant. The highest doses of radiation were received by the fireman and the personnel of the power station on the night of the accident. About 600 000 persons of recovery operation workers (civilian and military) have received special certificates confirming their status as liquidators. The evacuation of the nearby residents was carried out at different times after the accident on the basis of the radiation situation and of the distance of the populated areas from the damaged reactor. For inhabitants of contaminated areas of the former Soviet Union, they continued to live in the contaminated territories surrounding the Chernobyl reactor although efforts were made to limit their doses. The average doses from 134Cs and 137Cs that were received during the first 10 years after the accident by the residents of contaminated areas are estimated to be 10 mSv.

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