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Chernobyl

The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 25, 1986, during a test that led to a catastrophic explosion due to a series of reactor flaws and mismanagement, resulting in a release of radioactive materials. The site will remain radioactive and uninhabitable for 20,000 years due to long-lived isotopes like Plutonium-239 and Americium-241. The incident highlights the dangers of nuclear power and the lasting impact of nuclear accidents on the environment and human health.

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3 views19 pages

Chernobyl

The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 25, 1986, during a test that led to a catastrophic explosion due to a series of reactor flaws and mismanagement, resulting in a release of radioactive materials. The site will remain radioactive and uninhabitable for 20,000 years due to long-lived isotopes like Plutonium-239 and Americium-241. The incident highlights the dangers of nuclear power and the lasting impact of nuclear accidents on the environment and human health.

Uploaded by

koduru8055
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

CHERNOBYL

A MISTAKE THAT WILL HAUNT HUMANITY FOR


20,000 YEARS.
The Blast site
ChNNP
Chernobyl Nuclear
Power Plant
So what are nuclear reactions and reactors?
Nuclear Reactions
E=MC^2
Nuclear Reactors

• The rods inside a reactor are lled with


uranium surrounded by water.

• Neutrons get shot into the uranium atoms


and it produces heat which evaporates the
water by which water vapor is formed.

• This water vapor turns turbines which


produce electricity.

• Control rods made up of boron are kept


there to control the reactions to prevent
any accidents by slowing the process down.
fi
What went wrong at Chernobyl ?
The city of Chernobyl,
A small town in North Ukraine.
April 25, 1986
• They were performing a test to check if the reactor could generate enough power even during a
power outage.

• The reactor already had many aws and failed many tests before and was only permitted to
exhibit 25% of its power.

• That day there was a build-up of Xenon which was slowing the process down by 19%.

• Usually this Xenon would go away when the reactor is running at 25%.

• They were asked to increase the power and they did until its capacity reached 84%.

• There was intense buildup of energy and heat which was so serious that someone in the control
room decided to hit the SCRAM button or the A5 buttons which dropped all the rods.

• The tips of the rods were made out of graphite another aw of the reactor at Chernobyl.

• The graphite increased the reaction rate to over 250%.

• This created a place where hot steam was concentrated but couldn’t escape which in turn makes it
a bomb.

• There was a smaller explosion at rst as seen in the image. The 10,000 ton steel plate came ying
out along with a mix of radioactive xenon, graphite and various other toxic radioactive elements.
fl
fi
fl
fl
The Beam to the Heavens.

• Ionized air that was referred to as the


beam to the heavens.
One more thing.

• Shortly after the rst one there was another


huge explosion larger than the one before.

• It looked like a mushroom cloud.

• This was caused due to the build-up of


hydrogen due to zirconium-steam reactions.

• This threw out fragments from the fuel


channels and hot graphite.
fi
The Elephant’s foot.
200 seconds with it,
3 days to live.
20,000
Years
20,000 Years.

• The site will take a total of 20,000 years to return to its original state.

• Isotopes like Plutonium-239 and Americium-241 have half-lives of tens of


thousands of years, keeping the soil radioactive.

• The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone will remain uninhabitable due to persistent


radiation.

• Neptunium-237, a radioactive isotope released during the disaster, will


decay over 20,000 years. Despite its short half-life of 2.14 million years, its
environmental impact persists in soil and groundwater, contributing to
long-term radiation in the region.
Thank You

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