Lack of Ethics in Chernobyl Explosion When people think about catastrophic disasters that have occurred throughout human history, one of the first things that come to mind is when the titanic sunk due to flaws in engineering design. Later in time, another tragedy took place which resulted in countless losses of life, thus causing the public to be exposed to a large quantity of radioactive particles. The event that took place was named Chernobyl. The town that was evacuated remains a barren wasteland to this day. Due to so much radioactivity present in this location, it remains a human hazard and it has resulted in mass migration out of the town. The Chernobyl Explosion remarks how safety precautions can never be ignored, the Code of Ethics
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This all started because of the flaws in the reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. This is a violation of the ethics code for engineers, which says “As an engineer one should not put anyone life at danger or carry out a project that one is not very educated on”. This was the same case when the head of the company decided to carry out a test with the Chernobyl 4 reactor without consulting with the chief design engineer about the safety precautions or dangers. This tragedy was at its early stages when the reactor 4 was put through a test to determine how long turbines would spin and supply power to the main circulating pumps. A test like this was previously run by engineers but did not result in something as fatal as the test done on the reactor in 1986, with the new voltage regulator. However, the test that was done recently causing the explosion, was carried out without the proper information and collaboration between the people who are in charge of the safety of the nuclear reactor, and the people actually running the tests. The engineer who was performing the test did not have the knowledge regarding the electrical test and its dangers as mentioned before. When the Emergency Core Cooling System …show more content…
Concerning the ethical part of this experiment, all engineers are required to assure the safe operation of any experiment. This code was violated by the personnel experimenting with reactor 4 that caused the explosion. The safety precautions were avoided by the experimenter resulting in a disaster. According to the Code of Ethics of Professional Engineers, it is stated “Engineers who do not have the proper knowledge in a specific area should not perform any experiment or take the project”. This is the most important code that also played a role in the Chernobyl Plant. The engineers who thought they had enough experience or knowledge working with the reactor caused this tragedy with their wrongful judgment. They had no control of the reactor, thus resulting in a disaster. The disaster caused harm to the people in the plant who had their lives taken away, and those who were exposed to the radioactive particles from the explosion, this clearly shows that the safety of the public and safe operation of the equipment was not main their priority. This incident directly links to the violation of the Code of Ethics, not only is this illegal today, but it comes to show that violating the codes can result in such a fatal disaster, similar to the Chernobyl
This all started because of the flaws in the reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. This is a violation of the ethics code for engineers, which says “As an engineer one should not put anyone life at danger or carry out a project that one is not very educated on”. This was the same case when the head of the company decided to carry out a test with the Chernobyl 4 reactor without consulting with the chief design engineer about the safety precautions or dangers. This tragedy was at its early stages when the reactor 4 was put through a test to determine how long turbines would spin and supply power to the main circulating pumps. A test like this was previously run by engineers but did not result in something as fatal as the test done on the reactor in 1986, with the new voltage regulator. However, the test that was done recently causing the explosion, was carried out without the proper information and collaboration between the people who are in charge of the safety of the nuclear reactor, and the people actually running the tests. The engineer who was performing the test did not have the knowledge regarding the electrical test and its dangers as mentioned before. When the Emergency Core Cooling System …show more content…
Concerning the ethical part of this experiment, all engineers are required to assure the safe operation of any experiment. This code was violated by the personnel experimenting with reactor 4 that caused the explosion. The safety precautions were avoided by the experimenter resulting in a disaster. According to the Code of Ethics of Professional Engineers, it is stated “Engineers who do not have the proper knowledge in a specific area should not perform any experiment or take the project”. This is the most important code that also played a role in the Chernobyl Plant. The engineers who thought they had enough experience or knowledge working with the reactor caused this tragedy with their wrongful judgment. They had no control of the reactor, thus resulting in a disaster. The disaster caused harm to the people in the plant who had their lives taken away, and those who were exposed to the radioactive particles from the explosion, this clearly shows that the safety of the public and safe operation of the equipment was not main their priority. This incident directly links to the violation of the Code of Ethics, not only is this illegal today, but it comes to show that violating the codes can result in such a fatal disaster, similar to the Chernobyl