On the night of April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which destroyed the reactor of the fourth power unit. The catastrophe became the largest in the history of nuclear energy, its consequences are being eliminated to this day. A huge amount of radioactive substances were thrown into the environment - 500 times more than after the explosion of the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima. The exact cause of the accident has not been established, although most experts believe that the human factor played a decisive role.
Dove on an abandoned building
The nuclear power plant was named after V. I. Lenin and was located in the northern part of Ukraine, 11 kilometers from the border with Belarus and 18 kilometers from the city of Chernobyl (which received this name from the abundance of wormwood, which in ancient times was called Chernobyl), on the banks of the Pripyat River, which flows into the Dnieper.
The construction of the first stage of the nuclear power plant began in 1970, the city of Pripyat was erected nearby for the maintenance personnel, the population of which at the time of the accident was 47,500 people. According to the project, the station was supposed to consist of six power units with a capacity of 1000 MW each. The first and second were fully completed in 1977, the third and fourth in 1983. The fifth and sixth at the time of the accident were under construction, which was never completed.
The annual output of the four operating power units of the Chernobyl NPP was 29 billion kilowatt-hours (for example: from 1932 to 1941, the famous Dnieper hydroelectric power station gave the country 16 billion kilowatt-hours).
On one of the now abandoned buildings of the station, there is a sculptural image of a dove carrying an atom in its beak. This work of art was supposed to emphasize that in this place, atomic energy is used exclusively for peaceful purposes.
Promotional video:
Fatal experiment
On April 25, 1986, a scheduled shutdown of the fourth power unit reactor was carried out. During the subsequent launch, an experiment was planned to test the equipment. On the instructions of the designers (the All-Union Association "Hydroproject"), it was supposed to de-energize the power unit and check how the mechanical energy of rotation of stopping turbine generators can be used to operate safety systems. But the coordination with the dispatchers of the power grid was delayed, and as a result, another shift took over on duty, with the employees of which no additional instructions were given. Nevertheless, the staff began to conduct an experiment. At 1:23:38 am, the operator pressed the emergency protection button, after 12 seconds an explosion occurred and a fire started.
To extinguish the fire, three fire brigades were called in (a total of 240 people). By 6 am the fire was extinguished. It became clear that the reactor was completely destroyed and a huge amount of radioactive substances got into the environment.
In order not to spoil May Day
The first days after the accident were marked by the heroism of ordinary liquidators of the consequences of the accident - and by a chain of management mistakes caused by the unwillingness of each chief to take responsibility.
The decision to evacuate the population from the accident zone was discussed with Moscow for a long time and was made only 36 hours after the accident. Residents of the city of Pripyat were assured by radio that they were leaving only for three days - so you should not take extra things and pets with you. At the same time, people were not warned about radioactive contamination and were not given recommendations on what to do to reduce its impact.
Information about the accident was concealed for several days both from its own people and from the world community. Short reports in Soviet newspapers appeared only in the evening editions of April 28. In the cities of Ukraine and Belarus near the crash site, at the direction of the then leader of the country, Mikhail Gorbachev, demonstrations and festivities dedicated to the May Day holiday were not canceled. Foreigners working in the Gomel region (the most affected by radioactive contamination), who received information through their channels about the need for immediate departure, were released only after the document was signed that they had no claims against the USSR.
Disclosure of state secrets
The liquidation of the consequences of the accident was led by a government commission headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Boris Shcherbina. Academician Valery Legasov became one of the most influential members of the commission. It was he who developed the composition of the mixture with which the exploded reactor was poured. Later, in August 1986, Legasov spoke at a conference of IAEA inspectors in Vienna with a report on the Chernobyl accident. He honestly told about everything that happened, including the actions of the Soviet leadership. As a result, in the USSR, Legasov was accused of divulging state secrets, the academician began to persecute. In April 1988, he committed suicide. Before his death, Legasov made a dictaphone recording, telling about the hidden facts regarding the Chernobyl accident. Based on these materials, the BBC made the film Surviving the Catastrophe:Chernobyl nuclear disaster”. Also, the personality of Legasov and his audio recordings appear in the mini-series of the American channel NVO "Chernobyl", where the academician was played by British actor Jared Harris.
Legasov spent more than 60 days at the crash site and received a dose of radiation four times higher than the maximum allowable norm. But in such heroism the academician was far from alone.
One hundred thousand dead
Firefighters, who arrived at the scene of the accident on April 26, had only protective clothing that did not protect against radiation as means of protection. They had to take off their gas masks because of the high temperature. Within a few hours, many of them developed weakness and vomiting, and they were urgently transported to a specialized hospital in Moscow.
On May 1, it became necessary to remove water from the cooler under the blown up reactor. They were separated by a concrete slab, which began to collapse. If the reactor came into contact with water, a steam explosion would occur, which threatened new radiation pollution of a much larger scale. Three station workers, Aleksey Ananenko, Valery Bespalov and Boris Baranov, volunteered to enter the contaminated water environment in scuba gear to open the valves in the cooler and let the water flow out. All three knew that they were taking a mortal risk, but considered it their duty to prevent a global catastrophe.
During the construction of a concrete sarcophagus over the exploded reactor, due to the haste and a large accumulation of equipment, safety standards had to be neglected. On October 2, the Mi-8 helicopter, from which the remains of the reactor were filled up, caught the blades of the crane cable, four crew members were killed in the fall.
It is almost impossible to count the exact number of victims of the disaster. It is known that at the time of the accident there were 134 people in the premises of the power unit. One of them, the operator of circulation pumps Valeriy Khodemchuk, died on the spot, the second, an employee of the commissioning company Vladimir Shashenok, died in the hospital in the evening from a spinal fracture and numerous burns. Another 28 died from radiation sickness within a few months.
In total, more than 600 thousand people took part in the work to eliminate the consequences of the accident, each of them received a dose of radiation. Official statistics do not exist, according to researchers, the number of liquidators killed in a few years reaches 100 thousand.
In addition, the radioactive contamination affected areas where 8.5 million people lived - their health was also undermined. Doctors say that among such people the percentage of cardiovascular and oncological diseases is much higher.
Excursions to the past
The exact cause of the accident remained unclear. All versions can be reduced to three options: incorrect actions of the plant personnel, poor reactor design, and a combination of both of these factors.
In 1987, the leaders of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (director Viktor Bryukhanov, chief engineer Nikolai Fomin, his deputy Anatoly Dyatlov and three other bosses) were convicted of negligence, they received from 2 to 10 years in prison.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant finally stopped working only in 2000. The station employees and their family members did not live in Pripyat, but in the specially built city of Slavutich, located 50 kilometers from the power units. Now a small number of personnel monitor the background radiation and the safety of property. Above the concrete sarcophagus erected after the accident, which covered the exploded power unit, in 2016 another, more advanced one was erected.
And at the end of 1986, more than a thousand evacuated residents returned to Pripyat and adjacent villages, dissatisfied with the forced resettlement. The place where they still live is called the exclusion zone. At first, they tried to take these people out, but then they left them alone. They feed on products from their gardens, but they are helped by enterprises working in these places: they provide heating and electricity, bring food and clothes.
The huge doses of radiation that the environment received influenced changes in the flora and fauna of the area. In the first years after the accident, the gigantism of some plants was observed, for example, strawberries with huge fruits were found. Animals with mutational abnormalities were also born: calves and piglets with twisted limbs, fish of excessive size. But, as you know, animals with gene changes cannot produce offspring - and these mutants soon became extinct.
Exposure to the background radiation led to the birth of a large number of mutant children with physical and mental disabilities (according to the statistics of researchers, their number increased by 250-300% in 1987-1988). Such children do not live long, now their appearance has decreased significantly and is explained by the fact that the parents received a dose of radiation while visiting this area.
The station buildings and the exclusion zone have become a popular tourist attraction. After all, this is the place where time has stopped: in the crumbling houses there are non-working Soviet refrigerators and televisions, here you can find photographs, clothes and other things of that time. Many are attracted by such a fantastic travel back in time, despite warnings that such excursions are by no means safe.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №28. Author: Svetlana Savich