History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe - Term Paper Example

? Your of 24 April, Introduction The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Number 4 located in the of Prypiat in north central Ukraine exploded on April 26th, 1986 (Newtan 137). This is one of the world's worst and most catastrophic nuclear events. It is recorded to be at a scale ten times the magnitude of the atomic bomb explosion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War (Brack 71). The explosion had a tremendous effect on the people living in the region as well as people living in nearby countries. This is because the radioactive substances of the explosion were transferred by wind to other nations in the then communist bloc of Eastern Europe. The subsequent evaporation of these radioactive materials led to tremendous suffering and detrimental effects on both humans, plants and animals in the region. A lot of subsequent events suggest that the Chernobyl disaster had a strong effect on the fetuses which led to the birth of deformed babies. Another issue was the prevalence of cancer and typhoid amongst children. This paper examines the relationship between this nuclear incident and the political, social and environmental structures of the Soviet system. The paper views how the inactions and failures of the Soviet government led to serious consequences for the communities in and around the areas affected by the nuclear disaster. The paper goes on to identify the effects of the nuclear incident on the environment of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia that was affected by the radioactive substances. Finally, the paper examines the lessons of the Chernobyl disaster on the entire world and its implications for humanity and history in the period after the incident. The Soviet Authorities & The Chernobyl Disaster Eye witness accounts and other documented sources suggest that: 1. The safety systems and structures at the Chernobyl plant were not good enough and the few arrangements in place were not working appropriately. 2. The Soviet security personnel that were sent to Chernobyl were ill-prepared for an incident of that magnitude. 3. The people living in and around the Chernobyl incident were absolutely ignorant of the implications of having a nuclear power plant so close to them and did not know what to do when disaster struck. These three points indicate that there were significant and clearcut failures of the Soviet authorities in taking relevant steps to prevent and/or contain an incident of the magnitude of the Chernobyl disaster. Aleksievich & Gessen identify that there was a woman who clinched to her husband whilst he was dying. This was something that responsible health officials should have prevented. Although the nurses warned the woman saying “that is not a person anymore. That is a nuclear reactor” (51), the failed to stop the woman. This means that inevitably, the woman also suffered some kind of damage. If the nurses and the health authorities had the right measures in place, people would have passed on humanely in isolated conditions and there would have been less implications for the wider society. In an effort to contain the incident, hunters were dispatched to evacuate villages and killed household pets. This is something that is absolutely unprofessional and shows that the Soviet regime concentrated more on other things and absolutely neglected disaster relieve organizations and agencies. On the site, there was strong evidence that the persons dispatched had little experience and materials to contain the effects of the reactor. Soldiers and engineers hurled lead and stones into the plant with the hope of containing the fire (Mould 17). This was clearly unprofessional and they were obviously not prepared for such an event. Also, there is clear evidence that the Soviet Authorities used propaganda to secure public confidence. This boils down to the complicated structure of governance of the Soviet Union which involved a desire to keep the system working at all costs (Carter & Christensen 202). In Alesievich & Gessen's accounts, the quoted the first secretary of the Regional Communist Party as saying “what will people think if I take my daughter and her baby out of here? [at the time of the disaster]... those who left were questioned if they were Communist or not.” (117). This illustrates that the Communist party structure were complicated and people were expected to put their allegiance to the party ahead of their personal desires and expectations. Due to the strong obsession to protect the image of the Communist party, a lot of propaganda and false messages were spread whilst the plant continued to remit radioactive substances over a ten day period which led to serious impacts on the people and the natural environment. Clearly, the involvement of foreign relieve agencies would have helped to bring the situation under control. However, the lack of transparency and the use of a heavily censored media kept the public away from the incident and this caused more destruction of a situation that could have been salvaged. Again, the Communist party's method of limiting information caused a major problem which led to the worsening of the crises. Additionally, the technology available to the Soviet Union at the time of the disaster was woefully inadequate and inappropriate for the incident. The Soviet Union had a serious drawback in the development of consumer goods. Rather, the nation focused more on industrialization and the production of goods that provided the needs of the welfare state. There were numerous views and opinions that many people had about the inefficient and ineffective equipment used to deal with the disaster. Eyewitness accounts indicate that there were many setbacks that could have been resolved by more advanced technology. Alekseivich & Gessen identify that the liquidators sent to resolve the situation joked that the Russian robots were slow and inefficient when compared to the American and Japanese robots used in some instances. However, the government of the Soviet Union managed to evacuate 100,000 people from nearby areas (Medvedev 3). Although the vast majority of people taken out were rescued from severe calamities, some of the peasants returned to harvest their potatoes. Alekseivich & Gessen state that some of them had no other option but to harvest their contaminated potatoes because there were no subsidies given to them. These peasants were clearly ignorant of the effects of the disaster on their plants. However, due to the lack of education and the provision of some form of subsidy, these peasants went back on the basis that they “would survive the nuclear disaster just as they survived the Nazi invasion” (Alekseivich & Gessen 91). So clearly, the Soviet government and political structure was at fault. The way the Chernobyl disaster was handled led to large scale criticism of Michael Gorbachev's Glasnot and Perestroika system meant to change the Soviet Union for the better (Medvedev 8). This obviously sped up the need for reforms in the Soviet Union albeit in an indirect manner. Effects of the Chernobyl Disaster on the Environment The Chernobyl disaster has been described by a lot of scholars as the most destructive disaster of the 20th Century. This is because there were numerous negative impacts that came with the explosion of the nuclear plant. There was 1.48 million Bq/meters squere during the explosion and this led to the emission of maximum Cs137 into the atmosphere, representing high concentration levels that could be critical and fatal thousands of kilometers away from the plant (Brack 6). A continuous stream of radioactive substances which included Cs137 and Cs134 were leaked from the reactor over a 9-day period and this was not checked according to safety standards (Brack 7). This went on continuously and the pollution was felt by all classes of flora and fauna in the environment. The wind blew most of the radioactive substance into Belarus and Russia (Newtan 143). “One in five Belorussians live in contamination and this is equivalent to 2.1 million people which include 700,00o children” (Alekseivich & Gessen 12). This means that the effects of the power plant was felt by the population and this had a tremendous effects on livelihood in the area. The nature of radioactive substances are such that they create an immediate impact on the population, but the severe impacts exist over several generations and years (The Chernobyl Forum 2). The effects include cancer and the birth of children with some inherent defects that are as a direct result of the nuclear accident. This therefore means that a lot of people confined in Belarus had to bear the tough consequences of this accident. The radiation settled in the dust and the atmosphere. This causes a permanent impact on certain people in the society. Carter & Christensen identify that children are more expose to the radiation emitted by the Chernobyl incident (62). This is because they are exposed to dust in their shoes and in the food they eat. There is a lot of philanthropy work that has been necessary to protect and save these children from the effects of the Chernobyl incident. Carter & Christensen (62) identify Olga Korbut as one of the people who left Chernobyl and she was a mother and a public figure. She has spent a considerable portion of her life raising money for bone marrow transplant for children suffering from cancer as a result of the nuclear radioactive emission. Out of the 600,000 liquidators sent to Chernobyl to contain the incident, a vast proportion of them also suffered from serious burns and other cancerous effects (The Chernobyl Forum 2). This is because there was limited protective clothing and other arrangements to safeguard their health and safety. The army had to undertake 350,000 emergency operations after the evacuations occurred. Five million people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have been designated as contaminated because of the food they eat, the kind of polluted water they drink and other factors (The Chernobyl Forum 2). A significant and pervasive effect of the issue is the case of childhood thyroid cancer. This is quite common because most children are not strong enough to withstand the sheer amount of radioactivity in the environment. In 2002, there were 4,000 thyroid cancer cases in the areas around the Chernobyl plant this was higher than the average in most communities around the world (The Chernobyl Forum 3). This shows clearly that the nuclear disaster has a direct link to the suffering of these innocent children. Also, there are malfunctions of pregnancies and there are numerous deformed children born in the areas close to the power plant. The number of birth deformities grew from 5% in 1983 to 7% in 1997. They grew further to 11% and stayed in that range between 1994 and 1999 (The Chernobyl Forum, 20). There is the phenomenon of acid rain which involves rain droplets with high levels of Cs137, most of them collect on roofs, lawns, waterbodies and in soils (The Chernobyl Forum 22). This lead to the pollution of people and it destroys plant lives. In the early phases of the disaster, there were cases of typhoid after people took diary products of animals reared in the disaster zone (The Chernobyl Forum 23). The forests also have high concentrations of nuclear material as a result of the the disaster. There are high levels of Sr90 a destructive chemical substance in water and waterbodies and this affects aquatic life (The Chernobyl Forum 26). There is an increase in the death of coniferous plants, soil invertebrates and mammals in the area. There were also reproductive losses in plants and animals that caused losses to farmers (The Chernobyl Forum 29). After 7.5 years of studies, it was identified that the weights of fishes had fallen and tissues and muscles of fishes had shrunk (Jagoe 201). Lessons from the Chernobyl Disaster for Humanity The Chernobyl disaster has shown amongst other things that: 1. The effects of errors in nuclear plants can outweigh their benefits to humanity. 2. Any nations with nuclear power needs to go great lengths to ensure that there are measures to prevent nuclear explosions and also ameliorate and rescue people in a professional manner when they do occur. 3. Nuclear accidents have long term effects on the natural environment The Chernobyl disaster has caused a lot of problems and damage the humans, plants, animals and the environment. There are political, environmental and cultural components of nuclear disasters (Gould 2). As such, nations need to take a lot of care to ensure that the threats of such incidents are appropriately contained. There is the need for nations and communities to share information and intelligence before and during such disasters if they occur. This is because the influence of a nuclear accident is more of a global matter rather than a national one. The successful containment of a nuclear disaster during the Fukushima incident in 2011 shows clearly that the world is converging to a point whereby co-operation and responsibility is key. Unlike the Chernobyl accident, there was a lot of international involvement and transparency in the Fukushima incident which led to a better method of dealing with the problem at hand. Conclusion Nuclear energy is a vital element of most developed nations. It is important because it provides energy and honors certain military goals. However, when they encounter explosions, the effects of such accidents are often high and need to be tacked with extremely tough measures and systems. In the case of the Chernobyl disaster there were serious lapses in the political and cultural set up which led to large scale pollution which affected humans and the natural environment. The lack of safety measures and the inadequate control measures led to the accident in the first place. When the accident occurred, the authorities were not transparent enough. Instead, they used propaganda methods that led to the deception of the world as a whole. This caused radioactive emissions that continued for several days. The emissions were transported to other geographical areas by the wind which led to the spread of the pollution. The effects of the pollution was enormous. There was the emission of radioactive substances that caused cancers and other problems that affected fetuses of pregnant women. The effects of the radioactive emission spans over a longer period of time and will continue to affect the environment over a long period of time. The emission led to the deformation of babies at birth and cancer in young people. There is also the case of acid rain which is emitted from clouds that gather with elements of the radioactive materials. This leads to global warming and other environmental consequences. Clearly, animals and plants are directly affected by the radioactivity as well. This has led to the modifications of their individual features and the death of other weaker species. The lessons learnt from the Chernobyl disaster is that nuclear accidents are serious and severe in many ways. As such, governments need to build up stronger protection systems when they set up nuclear plants. Again, the international effects of the Chernobyl accident provides the grounds for international cooperation and transparency in solving nuclear problems. Works Cited Aleksievich, Svetlana, and Gessen Keith. Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster. New York: Picador, 2006. Print. Brack, H. G. Nuclear Information Handbook: A Guide to Accident Terminology and Information Sources. Hulls Cove, ME: Pennywheel, 2011. 202-312. Print. Carter, Michelle, and Michael J. Christensen. Children of Chernobyl: Raising Hope from the Ashes. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1993. Print. Jagoe Charles. “Contamination Near Chernobyl” Ecotoxicology 7 201 – 209. 1998. Journal. Medvedev, Zores Aleksandrovic. The Legacy of Chernobyl. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992. Print. Mould, Richard F. Chernobyl Record: The Definitive History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe. Bristol, UK: Institute of Physics, 2000. Print. Newtan, Samuel Upton. Nuclear War I and Other Major Nuclear Disasters of the 20th Century. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2007. Print. The Chernobyl Forum. Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environment & Socio-Economic Impacts Viellan: IAEA. 2005. Journal. Read More