Chernobyl

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even insignificant outside Europe, this event enchanted public apprehension all over the world on the risks associated with the use of nuclear energy.

The accident

The Unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was to be shutdown for routine maintenance on 25 April 1986. On that occasion, it was decided to carry out a test of the capability of the plant equipment to provide enough electrical power to operate the reactor core cooling system and emergency equipment during the transition period between a loss of main station electrical power supply and the start up of the emergency power supply provided by diesel engines.

Unfortunately, this test, which was to concern the non-nuclear part of the power plant, was carried out without a proper exchange of information and co-ordination between the team in charge of the test and the personnel in charge of the operation and safety of the nuclear reactor. Therefore, inadequate safety precautions were included in the test program ...

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duration was unexpectedly long, lasting for more than a week. This duration and the high altitude (about 1 km) reached by the release were largely due to the graphite fire which was very difficult to extinguish. For these reasons and frequent changes of wind direction during the release period, the area affected by the radioactive plume and the consequent deposition of radioactive substances on the ground was extremely large, contaminating the whole Northern Hemisphere, although only part of Europe had significant levels of contamination. The pattern of contamination on the ground and in foodchains however was very uneven in some areas due to the influence of rainfall during the passage of ...

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