Why Chernobyl is a threat to the world, even 34 years later

Even those born after Chernobylaccident, probably heard about her. Not surprising, because this is one of the most serious technological disasters in the history of mankind. At a minimum, it is one of the most famous and widely publicized disasters in popular culture. Films and series were shot about her, books and scientific papers were written. Now this territory has become a place of pilgrimage for tourists and a headache for the Ukrainian authorities and environmentalists from around the world. It would seem that the territory is on the sidelines, it does not bother anyone and is “boiled in its own juice”, but this is not so. Periodically, she reminds herself of herself and makes people nervous. What is this connected with and is it worth seriously worrying about this?

People left, but nature remained. What is happening in the vicinity of Chernobyl?

Content

• 1 What happened to nature after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
• 2 What is the danger of the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
  • 2.1 Fires in Chernobyl
  • 2.2 Danger of animals from the area of ​​infection
  • 2.3 Water from the infected area
• 3 Does the Chernobyl NPP work now
• 4 How to get to Chernobyl

What happened to nature after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

Many say that an accident that has already occurredmore than thirty years ago, it took only about 50 lives. That's how it is, only according to the most conservative estimates, after the accident, about 4,000 more liquidators died. And how many people got serious diseases after exposure? Lots of. Someone still lives with them, and someone even passed them on to their children.

Great damage was done to nature. Many have seen in the pictures famous Red Forest (they even began to call him that officially). So he became literally a few tens of minutes after the accident. This is due to the fact that in that forest there were mainly pine trees, and their needles very quickly absorb all polluting substances. This is especially true of radioactive elements, tons of which, thrown into the air after the explosion, painted the forest in a characteristic yellow-rusty color.

Later, approximately 15 quadrant kilometers of thisthe forests were demolished and buried, but the remaining trees remained and their needles were cleared only after a few years. This is due to the fact that conifers gradually drop their needles, updating them completely after 3-5 years.

So, in just half an hour, the forest changed color to red.

Also, after the accident in the vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, almost all animals died, and those that survived were shot so that they could not scatter outside the territory and spread pollution over substantially large areas.

The shooting of animals was only additional measure, since much more radiation was spread acrossto the whole world due to the wind. The cloud covered not only the western part of the USSR, but also most of Europe. An increase in radiation levels has been recorded even on the US East Coast

Everything that happened made the forests around the stationunsuitable for life for many years, not only for humans, but also for animals. True, if people were told that it would be impossible to live in Pripyat for 24,000 years, then they forgot to explain this to animals. As a result, they returned much faster and began to actively occupy territories. What does this threaten us now?

What is the danger of the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant?

It should be understood that the risks lie not only inreturning animals, but in many other ways. Such serious accidents do not go unnoticed, and if people do not die directly on this territory, this does not mean that the echo of the accident does not reach neighboring territories.

Fires in Chernobyl

Last few weeks fires in the area of ​​the Chernobyl nuclear power plant did not leave the front pages of many media. The problem is that burning is like thata process in which smoke is generated and ash appears. All this is carried by the wind to large areas. If just dry grass burns, then nothing bad will happen, and in the cities in the neighborhood there will only be smoke and a slight increase in the level of CO2.

Such a severe fire was in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

It’s completely different when the grass and trees inradiation contamination zone. This leads to the fact that in the air, like thirty-odd years ago, particles of radioactive elements begin to fly. Their half-life is very long and it’s not worth talking about that during this time everything was “scattered”. This is not true.

Half life - the time during which particles (nuclei, atoms) losehalf the intensity of its decay reaction, and the amount of these particles is halved. For calculations, it is the half-life that is taken, since the rate of decrease in the number of particles decreases with time. In the event of an atomic disaster, the contaminated area will almost never become completely safe. For example, the half-life of radium is in the thousands of years, and in some isotopes of uranium, in the hundreds of millions of years.

As a result of this impact, people againbegin to breathe "all sorts of nastiness", and on the streets of the cities a layer of contaminated dust settles, which lies on the sidewalks and in people's apartments a few weeks after the elimination of fires.

At night, flames of flames were visible many kilometers from the scene of the fire.

There are pollution ratings for the capitals of the world. Since the capital closest to the accident site is Kiev, last week it was one of the three cities leading this rating. Now the source has been eliminated and, fortunately, the situation has begun to improve.

This is not the first time nuclear plants have exploded. Should I continue to use them? Anyway, how does a nuclear power plant work?

Danger of animals from the area of ​​infection

Imagine that cows run in the area of ​​infection, which can emit laser beams from the eyes, or dogs, as in the Chernobyl series filmedTNT channel, not worth it. Really serious physical abnormalities are extremely rare. Although, you can find photos with two-headed fish and the like. But the fact is that such mutations are found in other places of our planet. Among at least a few serious deviations, one can name an increased percentage of albino birds, a decrease in the offspring of rodents and a short life span of insects.

These wild horses walk in the Chernobyl forests.

Generally, the animal population of recent timeshas grown very much. In this regard, the evil irony is that the presence of a person and the waste of his life cause animals much more discomfort than constant radioactive radiation. They adapted much better to him.
As a result, appeared on an abandoned territorya real reserve with bears, bisons, lynxes, wolves, otters and other wild animals. On the one hand, you can be happy for them, since they are so good, but not so happy.

There have been other cases of accidents at nuclear plants.

There are no borders for animals. They can leave their homes andmove not only inside one forest, but also go to other countries. There they can become prey for hunters or give sick offspring, which again will fall to a person or a predator for dinner. So contaminated meat will spread around the world and poison it.

Externally, Chernobyl animals look healthy.

Birds can carry food toodecay into vast territories. In order to monitor the population and take action as necessary, scientists installed about 50 cameras on the territory that give them a completely understandable picture of what is happening in the “dead forest”.

Water from the infected area

There are small rivers andgroundwater. Of course, pollution also gets into them. As a result, particles are spread over large areas and even reach the oceans. However, it has enough waste from the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, which collapsed after the tsunami in Japan in 2011.

Water is what ... But vodka from Chernobyl is strong.

Does the Chernobyl NPP work now

For many it will be a surprise, but ChernobylAfter the accident in 1986, the nuclear power plant operated to one degree or another even before 2000. This is due to the fact that one cannot just shut down reactors and, roughly speaking, turn off a station.

Even now Chernobyl nuclear power plant can conditionally be considered operational. For technical reasons, it is still not fully mothballed and work in this direction continues to be conducted.

It is not worth talking about life in this city for another 24,000 years.

Still above the fourth power unit, where andthere was an explosion, a second sarcophagus is being built, since the one built immediately after the accident has already begun to collapse. In addition, reactors and the most contaminated equipment are preserved. For the disposal of nuclear fuel, special pools are being built. All these works are carried out with the participation of international funds.

It turns out that the most radioactive place on Earth is not Chernobyl at all.

Due to the fact that the use of territories bydirect assignment (for work and life) is impossible, it would be logical to think about how to use them. As a result, it was decided to deploy a solar power station in Chernobyl. Back in 2016, only a couple of hundred meters from the sarcophagus on an area of ​​about 1.6 hectares, 3800 photovoltaic panels were installed, with a total capacity of 1 megawatt. This is comparable to a small hydroelectric power station and is able to provide energy to a small village or about 2,000 apartments.

So they extract solar energy in Chernobyl.

The construction of panels does not end there and capacities will increase. So Ukraine should become the number one country in Europe in terms of energy generated by solar power plants.

How to get to Chernobyl

If the above does not convince you and you are ready to risk your health, then you can join the approximately 70,000 people who visit Chernobyl annually as tourists.

We will always be happy to hear those who have been in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in our Telegram chat. We are very interested in what is happening there now.

There really is something to see, but you will have to sign a paper that you have no complaints about the organizer of the tour, if something happens to you, and strictly follow the guide.

Arriving as a tourist in Pripyat, you can meet those same wild animals.

They know all the roads on which can walk without significant exposure. After all, a step to the left or a step to the right can literally cost life. The level of infection of the territories is very heterogeneous.

But only there you can realize how fragilewhat people have been building for years, what they count on and why they stick to their souls. There was a big city in which people lived, but now it is not. That is, the city remained, but you can no longer live there. People left everything and left. And all because the peaceful atom got out of control.