Victims of Chernobyl. The scale of the disaster

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Nuclear energy is recognized as one of the safest and most promising. But in April 1986, the world shuddered from an incredible catastrophe: a reactor at a nuclear power plant near the city of Pripyat exploded. The question of how many victims of Chernobyl exist is still the subject of discussion, since there are different evaluation criteria and different versions. There is no doubt, however, that the scale of this disaster is extraordinary. So what is the actual number of victims of Chernobyl? What is the cause of the tragedy?

How it was

On the night of April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. As a result of the accident, the reactor was completely destroyed, part of the power unit also turned into ruins. Radioactive elements - iodine, strontium and cesium - were released into the atmosphere. As a result of the explosion, a fire started, a molten mass of metal, fuel and concrete flooded the lower rooms underreactor. In the first hours, the victims of Chernobyl were small: the employees who were on duty died. But the insidiousness of a nuclear reaction is that it has a long, delayed effect. Therefore, the total number of victims continued to increase every day. The increase in victims is also connected with the illiterate behavior of the authorities during liquidation actions. In the early days, many forces of special services, troops, police were thrown to eliminate the danger and extinguish the fire, but no one really bothered to ensure their safety. Therefore, the number of victims increased many times, although this could have been avoided. But the fact that no one was ready for such a situation played a role here, there were no precedents for such large-scale accidents, so a realistic scenario of actions was not developed.

How a nuclear reactor works

The essence of the nuclear power plant is built on a nuclear reaction, during which heat is released. A nuclear reactor provides for the organization of a controlled self-sustaining fission chain reaction. As a result of this process, energy is released, which turns into electricity. The reactor was first launched in 1942 in the USA under the supervision of the famous physicist E. Fermi. The principle of operation of the reactor is based on a chain reaction of uranium decay, during which neutrons appear, all this is accompanied by the release of gamma radiation and heat. In its natural form, the decay process involves the fission of atoms, which increases exponentially. But in the reactor there is a controlled reaction, so the process of fission of atoms is limited. Modern types of reactors are maximally protected by several types of protective systems, therefore they are considered safe. However, practice shows that the safety of such devices cannot always be guaranteed, so there is always a risk of accidents resulting in death of people. The victims of Chernobyl are a prime example of this. After this catastrophe, the reactor protection system was significantly improved, biological sarcophagi appeared, which, according to the developers, are extremely reliable.

Effect of radiation on humans

When uranium decays, gamma radiation is released, which is commonly called radiation. This term is understood as the process of ionizing, that is, penetrating through all tissues, radiation. As a result of ionization, free radicals are formed, which are the cause of the massive destruction of tissue cells. There is a norm, receiving which organic tissues successfully resist. But radiation tends to accumulate throughout life. Damage to tissues by radiation is called irradiation, and the disease that occurs in this case is called radiation. There are two types of radiation - external and internal, with the second, radiation can be deactivated (in small doses). With external irradiation, rescue methods have not yet been created. The first victims of Chernobyl died from an acute form of radiation sickness precisely because of external exposure. The severity of radiation exposure also lies in the fact that it affects the genes and the consequences of infection most often adversely affect the descendants of the patient. Yes, survivorsinfection often record a multiple increase in the birth of children with various genetic diseases. And children, victims of Chernobyl, who were born to the liquidators and visited Pripyat, are a terrible example of this.

Causes of the disaster

The catastrophe in Chernobyl was preceded by work on testing the emergency "run-out" mode. The test was scheduled for the time of the reactor shutdown. On April 25, the planned shutdown of the fourth power unit was to take place. It should be noted that stopping a nuclear reaction is an extremely complex and not fully understood process. In this case, the "run-out" mode had to be "rehearsed" for the fourth time. All previous attempts ended in various failures, but then the scale of the experiments was much smaller. In this case, the process did not go as planned. The reaction did not slow down, as expected, the power of the energy release increased uncontrollably, as a result, the security systems could not stand it. In the 10 seconds since the last alarm, the reaction power became catastrophic, and several explosions occurred, destroying the reactor.

The causes of this event are still being studied. The emergency investigation commission concluded that it was due to gross violations of instructions by the station personnel. They decided to carry out the experiment despite all the dangerous warnings. Subsequent investigations showed that the scale of the disaster could have been reduced if the leadership had behaved in accordance with safety rules and if the authorities had not hushed up the fact and the danger.catastrophe.

It also turned out later that the reactor was completely unprepared for the planned experiments. In addition, there was no well-coordinated interaction between the personnel servicing the reactor, which prevented the station staff from stopping the experiment in time. Chernobyl, the number of victims of which continues to be established, has become a milestone event for the nuclear industry around the world.

Events and victims of the first days

At the time of the accident, there were only a few people in the reactor area. The first victims of Chernobyl are two employees of the station. One died instantly, his body could not even be removed from under the 130-ton wreckage, the second died from burns the next morning. A special team of firefighters was sent to the scene of the fire. Thanks to their efforts, the fire was stopped. They did not let the fire reach the third power unit and prevented even greater destruction. But 134 people (rescuers and station staff) received a huge dose of radiation and 28 people died in the next few months. Of the personal protective equipment, the rescuers had only canvas uniforms and gloves. Major L. Telyatnikov, who took charge of the firefighting, underwent a bone marrow transplant, which helped him survive. The car drivers and ambulance workers who arrived when the rescuers showed acute signs of radiation sickness suffered the least. These victims could have been avoided if the rescuers had at least had devices for measuring radiation and basic protective equipment.

Actions of the authorities

The scale of the disaster might have been less if not for the actions of the authorities and the media. For the first two days, radiation reconnaissance was carried out, and people continued to live in Pripyat. The media were forbidden to talk about the accident, 36 hours after the accident, two short informational messages appeared on television. Moreover, people were not informed about the threat, no necessary deactivation of the infection was carried out. When the whole world was anxiously watching the air currents from the USSR, in Kyiv people took to the May Day demonstration. All information about the explosion was classified, even the doctors and security forces did not know what happened and on what scale. Later, the authorities justified themselves, saying that they did not want to sow panic. Only a few days later, the evacuation of the inhabitants of the region began. But if the authorities had acted earlier, the Chernobyl victims, whose photos did not appear in the media until a few weeks later, would have been much less.

Disaster recovery

The infection zone was cordoned off from the very beginning and the primary liquidation of the danger began. The first 600 firefighters who were sent to deactivate the radiation received the highest dose of radiation. They bravely fought to prevent the fire from spreading and the nuclear reaction to resume. The territory was covered with a special mixture, which prevented the heating of the reactor. In order to prevent reheating, water was pumped out of the reactor, a tunnel was dug under it, which protected the molten masses from penetrating into water and soil. Within a fewmonths, a sarcophagus was built around the reactor, dams were erected along the Pripyat River. People traveling to Chernobyl often did not understand all the danger, at that time there were a lot of volunteers who wanted to take part in cleaning up the territory. Some artists, including Alla Pugacheva, gave concerts in front of the liquidators.

The true scale of the disaster

The total number of "liquidators" for the entire period of work amounted to about 600 thousand people. Of these, about 60 thousand people died, 200 thousand became disabled. Although, according to the government, the victims of Chernobyl, whose photos can be seen today on sites dedicated to the accident, amounted to a much smaller number, only 200 people have officially died from the consequences of the liquidation in 20 years. Officially, a 30-kilometer territory is recognized as an exclusion zone. But experts say that the affected area is much larger and covers more than 200 square kilometers.

Help for victims of Chernobyl

The state assumed responsibility for the lives and he alth of Chernobyl victims. Those who eliminated the consequences of the accident, who lived and worked in the resettlement zone, are en titled to benefits, including a pension, free sanatorium treatment, and medicines. But in reality, these benefits turned out to be almost ridiculous. After all, many people have to receive expensive treatment, for which pensions are clearly not enough. In addition, it was not easy to get the category of "Chernobyl". This has led to the fact that many charitable foundations have appeared in the country and abroad that supportChernobyl victims, with the money donated by people, a monument to the victims of Chernobyl was built in Bryansk, numerous operations were carried out, and benefits were paid to the relatives of the deceased.

New generations of Chernobyl victims

In addition to the direct participants and victims of the tragedy called "Chernobyl", the victims of radiation are the children of the liquidators and migrants from the contaminated zone. According to the official version, the percentage of unhe althy children among second-generation Chernobyl victims slightly exceeds the number of the same pathologies among other residents of Russia. But the statistics tell a different story. Children of Chernobyl victims are much more likely to suffer from genetic diseases, such as Down's disease, and are more susceptible to cancer.

Chernobyl today

After a few months, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was put into operation. Only in 2000 did the Ukrainian authorities permanently shut down its reactors. The construction of a new sarcophagus over the reactor began in 2012, construction will be completed in 2018. Today, the level of radiation in the exclusion zone has significantly decreased, but it still exceeds the maximum allowable dose for humans by 200 times. At the same time, animals continue to live in Chernobyl, plants grow and people go there on excursions, despite the danger of infection, some even hunt there and pick mushrooms and berries, although this is strictly prohibited. Chernobyl victims, photos of contaminated sites, do not impress modern people, they do not realize the danger of radiation and therefore consider visiting the Zone as an adventure.

Memory of the victimsChernobyl

Today, the tragedy is gradually becoming a thing of the past, less and less people remember the dead, think about the victims. Although a large number of Chernobyl victims are struggling with serious illnesses, with illnesses of children. Today, most often, only the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Chernobyl - April 26, makes people and the media remember the tragedy.

The fate of nuclear energy in the world

The catastrophes of the 20th and 21st centuries at the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants raised the acute question of the need to take nuclear energy more seriously. Today, about 15% of all energy comes from nuclear power plants, but many countries intend to increase this share. Since it is still one of the cheapest and safest ways to generate electricity. Chernobyl, the victims of which became a reminder of caution, is now perceived as a distant past. But still, since the accident, the world has made significant progress in ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants.