Chernobyl Essay examples - 1742 Words

Chernobyl The topic I have chosen for this term paper is quot;Ex-Soviet Blocs Environmental Crisis, Issue C.quot; #2 Upgrading nuclear reactors to meet international standards. I have chosen this topic because nuclear power is not only an environmental issue but also a severe health issue for the citizens around the nuclear site and also for the rest of the country and world because of food products that could be grown there and used as market items. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Nuclear radiation is in no way healthy to anyone. It is much more easier to develop a life threatening disease if you are currently being effected by the radiation or have already been effected. Becoming sick from high amounts of radiation does not only†¦show more content†¦Forty years later, they had found no evidence that there were any genetic problems in any of the survivors children. In contrast, Yuri E. Dubrova of the University of Leicester in England and his colleagues claim that they have found evidence that germline mutation rates in humans can be increased by ionizing radiation. Dubrovas team compared specific gene segments taken from the blood of people in 79 families that lived in a exposed area surrounding Chernobyl. Also they studied 105 members from unexposed families in the United Kingdom. All children in both groups were born 8 years after the melt down. â€Å" The researchers studied gene segments known as minisatellite loci, repeating patterns of roughly 5 to 45 bases, the units that make up DNA. No one knows the genetic purpose, if any, of minisatellites, but their variation from person to person enables scientists to use them as the basis of so-called genetic fingerprinting†.(Dubrova )Because a childs DNA represents a combination of germline DNA from both parents, any sequence in the child that does not have either parents DNA in it, must result from a germline mutation. Dubrovas team therefore looked for minisatelite sequences in the childrens DNA that did not appear in either of the parents DNA. They found twice the number of mutations in children of exposed Belarus parents as in U.K. children. â€Å"We are 99 percent sure that these are real germline mutations and they have been passed from parent to child,†(DubrovaShow MoreRelatedThe Chernobyl Of Chernobyl Disaster1797 Words   |  8 PagesThe Chernobyl Disaster Abstract: On April 26th, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which was under the authorities of the Soviet Union, had a catastrophic nuclear accident. The reactor number four exploded due to gross violations of operating rules and regulations during an experiment. Had greater care and attention been given to the experiment procedure and proper ethical decisions been made, the disaster could have been avoided. This disaster had been both a technical and ethicalRead MoreThe Chernobyl Of Chernobyl Power Complex Essay1835 Words   |  8 PagesThe Chernobyl Power Complex, located about 130 km north of Kiev, Ukraine, and about 20 km south of the border with Belarus, consisted four RBMK-1000 nuclear reactors. The first two units were constructed between 1970 and 1977, while the later were completed in 1983. The RBMK-1000 was a Soviet designed and built graphite moderated pressure tube type reactor, using water as a coolant which also provided the steam to drive the turbine. The graph ite moderator is designed to slow down neutrons to raiseRead MoreChernobyl : The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster1317 Words   |  6 PagesChernobyl was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred April 26th, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the town of Pripyat, Ukraine. Chernobyl is the worst nuclear disaster in the world in terms of cost and causalities. 31 people died as a direct result of the explosion – all of whom were reactor staff and emergency workers. Until the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Chernobyl was the only nuclear accident classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the InternationalRead More Chernobyl Essay863 Words   |  4 PagesChernobyl On April 26, 1986 disaster struck the world. It was not a disaster like any other before. A new type of death was now shown to the world. Although during World War II people encountered radiation sickness and death, that was sadly intended. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear powerstation was undoubtedly the worlds largest nuclear accident. That was the difference. It was accidental, and although innocent people were killed or made sick in the past from radiationRead MoreThe Chernobyl Explosion1403 Words   |  6 Pagespreviously the RBMK’s had several reactor features that made it difficult to justify their operation. Most importantly, the reactors generated excess neutrons during operation which upon further study led to the super criticality that caused the Chernobyl explosion. While Russia suggests that the explanation of the plants failure was ultimately only due to the failure to follow safe operations of shutdown procedures, other studies performed post incident suggest that the reactors were inherently technologicallyRead MoreEssay on The Disaster at Chernobyl844 Words   |  4 PagesThe Disaster at Chernobyl On April 26th, 1986, operators at the Chernobyl Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, ran what they thought to be a routine safety test. But fate was not on the side of these operators. Without warning, reactor #4 became unstable, as it had been operating at a low power for a possible shutdown and the reactor’s design caused it to be unsafe at this level of power. Internal temperatures rose. Attempts to cool the system produced the opposite effect. InstantlyRead MoreChernobyl : A History And A Disaster1182 Words   |  5 PagesHayden Marshall Professor McCree Comm 2200 sec 048 Oct. 20, 2014 Chernobyl: A History and a Disaster Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about Chernobyl, Ukraine. Central Idea: Chernobyl has a rich history which includes a disaster that shocked the world. Introduction I. â€Å"There was a heavy thud. A couple of seconds later, I felt a wave come through the room. The thick concrete walls were bent like rubber. I thought war had broken out. We started to look for Khodemchuk (his coworker) but he hadRead MoreThe Chernobyl Disaster Of 1986 Essay948 Words   |  4 Pagesnuclear reactor explosion in Chernobyl in Soviet Union. The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 is truly one of the worst engineering disasters that have ever occurred. This explosion is the only level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale and also the worst nuclear power plant accident to the day. This disaster occurred due to human error because one of the workers decided to create his rules and not obey the true procedure. On April 26 1986, the fourth unit of 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant wasRead MoreThe Disaster Of The Chernobyl Disaster1076 Words   |  5 PagesOn the day of April 26, 1986, an event that had affected many people took place, The Chernobyl Disaster. The radiation cloud had spread over 27 countries. 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute radiation poisoning. The steam explosion and fires had released 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere. 1,100 square miles around the reactor still remain uninhabitable to this day. Recently documented, it has been said that over 500,000 people have died from radiationRead MoreThe Containment Of The Chernobyl Plant1439 Words   |  6 PagesA big part of the clean up process involved the setting of the sarcophagus. A sarcophagus is a concrete box, usually used for a corpse. In this case the unit 4 of the Chernobyl plant was in a corpse in hoped to be buried for good. Around 7,000 tonnes of steel and 410,000 m3 of concrete were used to cover the reactor. The sarcophagus was designed to halt the release of any radiation being projected into the atmosphere from the reactor. â€Å" The first task in destroying the nuclear reactor was to build