On April 12, 1986, the world's most nuclear power plant accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union. Thirty-two people died and dozens more suffered radiation burns. The Soviets tried to cover it up, but when Swedish authorities started to report fallout, the Soviets eventually admitted to an accident.
The only reason for this deadly explosion was human error and design flaws. One of the mistakes made was that the operators of the plant ran the reactor at a power level so low that it was unstable. Later that morning, the reactor was starting to go into meltdown, so the operators tried to fix it by inserting the 200 some safety rods back into the reactor.
This is where the design flaw comes in. They used graphite tips. The 200 graphite tips entered the reactor and causing an explosion that blew off the concrete and steel dome that protected the outside world from a meltdown. This was not a nuclear explosion, but a chemical explosion, rendering it more deadly.
An estimated 5,000 Soviet citizens died from cancers relating to the explosion and radiation. Scientists believe that the explosion was several times worse than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs that were dropped during World War II. Pripyat is still feeling the effects of Chernobyl, 33 years later.
Fun Facts:
- Nobody actually lives in Chernobyl. All those stock pictures you see about people living in Chernobyl are actually pictures of residents in Pripyat.
- You can still die from radiation in Chernobyl today.
- The animals are radioactive, but doing well.
Picture of Reactor 4, the reactor that blew up, destroying Chernobyl.
Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nuclear-disaster-at-chernobyl
https://www.untamedscience.com/blog/facts-about-chernobyl/
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