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The beggining of Chernobyl.
The Chernobyl accident was a nuclear accident that occurred on April 26, 1986 at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin nuclear power plant. -
The Causes of the Accident.
The causes and development of the accident are controversial. There is a general consensus that since the previous day a test that required reducing power had been carried out, during which a series of imbalances occurred in reactor 4 of this nuclear power plant. These imbalances led to uncontrolled overheating of the nuclear reactor core and one or two successive explosions, followed by a general fire. -
The materials.
The explosions blew the lid off the 1200-ton reactor and ejected large amounts of radioactive materials into the atmosphere, forming a radioactive cloud that spread across Europe and North America.The amount of uranium dioxide, boron carbide, europium oxide, erbium, expelled graphite and zirconium alloys, radioactive and toxic materials. -
One of the Biggest Disasters in History.
It is considered the worst nuclear accident in history, and together with the Fukushima I nuclear accident in Japan in 2011, as the most serious on the International Scale of Nuclear Accidents major (major accident, level 7). Likewise, it is usually included among the great environmental disasters of history. -
Those affected by radioactivity.
It caused the death of 31 people in the following two weeks and led the Government of the Soviet Union to the emergency evacuation of 116,000 people. -
The countries affected.
The radioactivity reached 13 countries in central and eastern Europe. -
The liquidators.
After the accident, a massive decontamination, containment and mitigation process began, performed by approximately 600,000 people called liquidators in the areas surrounding the accident site. -
The liquidators affected.
Only a small part of the liquidators were exposed to high levels of radioactivity. Two plant employees died as a direct consequence of the explosion and another 29 died in the following three months. -
The Vaccines.
About 1,000 people received large doses of radiation during the first day after the accident, 200,000 people received about 100 mSv, 20,000 about 250 mSv and some 500 mSv. In total, 600,000 people received radiation doses from post-accident decontamination work. -
The closure of the plant.
After lengthy negotiations with the Ukrainian government, the international community financed the costs of the definitive closure of the plant, completed on December 15, 2000.
