It happened on April 25, 1986, at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, Soviet Union. More than thirty people were killed immediately. The radiation release was thirty to forty times of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Tons of people were ultimately evacuated from the most heavily contaminated zone surrounding Chernobyl. Radiation spread to almost all of Europe and Asia; the world first learned of the disaster when a nuclear facility in Sweden recorded abnormal radiation levels. The people there didn’t report what had happened.
Chernobyl had four RBMK-type reactors. These reactors are bad from instability at low power and easily go to fast, hard to control power increases. The accident happened as workers were testing reactor number four. The test was being conducted wrong. Six control rods were in place despite orders stating that a minimum of thirty rods were needed to maintain control, and the reactor's emergency cooling system had been shutdown as part of the test. An operator error caused the reactor's power to drop below certain levels, setting off a power surge that caused fuel rods to rupture, starting explosions that first destroyed the reactor core and then blew apart the reactor’s massive steel and concrete containment structure.
People were affected by the …show more content…
There are even hotels in the Exclusion Zone. Visits are very strict and include security checks and strictly guided tours. They have to sign a disclaimer warning them not to touch anything or even sit on the ground. There’s body scanners that check for high levels of radiation. If it finds something an alarm will sound and the person is sweeped for radioactive dust before they are able to