Chernobyl

Although most nuclear energy plants are safe, accidents do sometimes occur. When they do, harmful radiation can be released to the environment. The world’s worst nuclear power plant accident occurred in 1986 at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine. The Chernobyl accident was caused by a faulty reactor design that caused an explosion when there was a build-up of steam in the cooling system. The explosion damaged the reactor’s containment structures and massive amounts of radiation were released to the environment.

The initial explosion killed 50 people working in and around the power plant. But the radiation released by the explosion will linger in the surrounding areas for many years to come. Therefore, the death toll may eventually reach 4000 due to the increased risk of cancer in people exposed to radiation.

The Chernobyl accident contaminated approximately 125,000 square miles of the land surrounding the reactor, including parts of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. About 40 percent of this land was used for agriculture.

There have been no other accidents like Chernobyl, but for several decades, the accident caused strong public feeling against the use of nuclear energy in many parts of the world. No nuclear power plants in the U.S. use the specific type of reactor design that Chernobyl used, so the chances of this type of accident in the U.S. are extremely small.

Conduct an Internet search to learn more about the effects of the Chernobyl accident. Use the following questions to guide your research.

1. How were children living in and around Chernobyl affected by the accident?
2. Was the agricultural industry impacted by the Chernobyl accident?  

Why were children given iodine solution after the accident?

Medical professionals hoped that by supplying iodine, the children would be less likely to metabolize radioactive iodine, a product of the fallout from the nuclear accident. Increased exposure to radioactive iodine would greatly increase the children’s risk of thyroid cancer.

How has the Chernobyl accident affected the agricultural industry?

While we do not yet know the extent of the damage to the contaminated land or its ability to support usable agriculture, much of this land is now off limits for agriculture and other human use. Because the amount of usable land was reduced, the area surrounding the restricted land has been overgrazed and deforested at an alarming rate.