Chernobyl

It's been 30 years since the Chernobyl nuclear accident. I thought that I would discuss what the effects of the radiation had on the ecology and environment of that region and beyond.
The worse nuclear power plant accident in history happened on April 26, 1986 in Pripyat, a small town in the Ukraine, which was then in the Soviet Union. The reason for this failure is rather simple. The Chernobyl nuclear plant a graphite-moderated reactor with no containment vessel. A power failure caused the reactor to go into melt down and the graphite rods caught fire, which subsequently caused an explosion that released huge amounts of radioactive debris and gases into the atmosphere. I won't go into the exact technical details of what happened other to say that the meltdown and explosions released lethal amounts of radiation not only into the atmosphere but also into the environment around the plant and beyond.

Thirty-one people—mostly plant and emergency workers--died from exposure or wounds directly. An estimated 4000 people died from radiation exposure, mostly from various cancers. The ultimate death toll is difficult to determine, but estimates put it at least 30,000.

This accident released radiation amounting to thousands of roentgens per hour. A fatal dose is 500 roentgens over 5 hours. The reactor core melted in a so-called 'China Syndrome' effect and was subsequently entombed in a concrete esophagus, but it's still leaking radiation. Estimates are that this incident released over 400 times the radiation of the all of the cold war nuclear tests. Most of Europe was contaminated with some radiation from this, which probably contributed to an uptick in cancer deaths.

I remember a video of a journalist going with two Ukrainian scientists on a trek inside the damaged reactor to find the core, which had melted down into a glob that was described as an 'elephant foot'. All I could think at the time is that it looked sinister. I wonder if any of those guys are still alive.

Of course, the area around the reactor site was heavily contaminated and has been isolated to prevent any more deaths. The Pripyat river and the Deinper reservoir were also contaminated. Both of these greatly affected Kiev, a major Ukraine city. It's safe to say that the bio-contamination in animals, fish, plants and people in that area is equivalent to what would occur if a nuclear bomb had been exploded there. That's what makes this interesting in a scientific sence. It's a predictor of what would occur in an area affected by a nuclear attack.

What's really mystifying is the fact that some of the animal and plant life around the reactor site have flourished, especially without humans. Some birds are nesting in the abandoned nuclear plant. Wolves and some bird populations have increased while other animal populations have been decimated. The reason for this is that species vary as to how well they can repair DNA and the amount of antioxidants in their blood, which help prevent DNA damage.

The 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone around the reactor has become a wildlife sanctuary, mostly in less affected areas (the radioactive distribution is patterned). That makes one wonder about what the effects of radiation are or how plants and animals adapt. Nevertheless, much of the life was destroyed almost immediately. An entire pine forest was killed. Many birds and other animals show deformations and radiation damage, but some have evolved to resist the radiation; although this is subject to verification. I wonder if humans would do that. Most of the long-term effects on humans are increased leukemia and thyroid cancers as well as birth defects.

Obviously, humans are not so fortunate as animals and plants. Estimates are that the effects of Chernobyl will last a hundred years. The fact is that boar hunters in Germany found that most of the animals they killed were contaminated. Similar radiation contamination has been found in Norway's animals and plants.

No one knows the ultimate and long lasting effect of this terrible accident. And, the really scary part is that there are nuclear plants like Chernobyl still operating. Yikes!!

Thanks for reading.