Monday, January 7, 2008

The worst disaster: Cherobyl by Matt Jensen Rey P. Colon

A reactor accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant made the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, resulting in a severe nuclear meltdown. On the 26th of April, 1986 the 4th nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a gigantic gas of highly radioactive fell out into the atmosphere and over to half of Europe and the Soviet Union. Russia one of the most affected parts has evacuated about three-hundred, thirty thousand (330,000) people to safety.

The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, slowing its expansion for a number of years, while forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive. The now-independent countries of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus have been burdened with the continuing and substantial decontamination and health care costs of the Chernobyl accident. It is difficult to tally accurately the number of deaths caused by the events at Chernobyl, as the Soviet-era cover-up made it difficult to track down victims. Lists were incomplete, and Soviet authorities later forbade doctors to cite "radiation" on death certificates. Most causes of death are due to thyroid cancer. World Health Organization (WHO), have reported 56 direct deaths (47 accident workers, and nine children with thyroid cancer), and about four-thousand (4,000) extra deaths due to cancer among the approximately 6.6 million most highly exposed. Specifically, the report cited almost 4,000 thyroid cancer cases among children diagnosed by.

Although the Chernobyl quarantine and certain limited areas will remain off limits, the majority of affected areas are now considered safe. And now you can see the Nuclear power plant no.4 buried in thick concrete.