The Chernobyl Disaster

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On April 26, 1986 the worlds worst nuclear disaster happened just outside the town of Pripyat. Located not too far from the capital city Kiev, Ukraine. According to History.com, More than 70,000 people have suffered from the effects of this disaster. Along with much of the land (18 square miles) around that area will not be habitable for the next 150 years, forcing as many as 150,000 citizens to re-locate permanently. At the time of the explosion, Chernobyl was the largest and the oldest nuclear power plant in the world. With four 1,000 megawatt reactors, one reactor explosion and meltdown could affect hundreds, if not thousands of people. Still, the soviet government tried to cover it up or hide this from its own people, as well as the rest of the world. The Soviet Union initially reported the death of two individuals and requested advice for fight graphite fires. Even as Sweden was starting to pick up dangerous levels of radioactivity, the Soviet Union continued to not take responsibility and warn surrounding nations. It wasn't until years later that the full story is released to the public. “Workers at the plant were performing tests on the system. They shut off the emergency safety systems and the cooling system, against established regulations, in preparation for the tests. Even when the warning signs of dangerous overheating began to appear, the workers failed to stop the test. Xenon gases built up and at 1:23 a.m. the first explosion rocked the reactor. A total of three explosions eventually blew the 1,000-ton steel top right off of the reactor” (History). Failing to stop this test resulted in a ball of radioactive fire billowing into the sky, along with 1,000 ft. flames. The fire lasted for nearly 8 days. The History ... ... middle of paper ... ...uty 4: Modern Warfare also has a couple of missions featuring Pripyat. For movies and shows, According to IMDb, the Chernobyl Diaries seems to be the most popular one which revolves around a group of college students who take a tour though Pripyat, only to be stalked and hunted by mysterious creatures. While literature, offers a variety of different titles such as the 1988 Marvel Comic The Meltdown which featured Wolverine and Havok. In conclusion the disaster of Chernobyl was a tragedy that cost thousands of lives. An has effected an entire region of that world. An it will be a very long time before everything will be back to normal there. However it has given us a chance to explore what went wrong, andto make sure it doesn't happen again. An not only that, but as a gamer, I love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, and doing this paper has made the games so much better.

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