Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster - Case Study Example

CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT DISASTER This essay tells about the ever great disaster occurred in the world by the end of the 20th Century. In this we have made an explanation regarding the nuclear explosion happened in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Moreover we have also made a discussion with respect to the causes of the disaster, disaster management process, how the disaster could have been avoided, about the outcome of the disaster against environment and inhabitants and finally the control measures which is followed by the conclusion of the essay. Table of Content Introduction..4 Disaster Background4 Risk Management Cycle..4 Risk Identification..5 Risk Measurement..6 Risk Analysis...7 Risk Implementation..8 RiskManagement8 Policy...9 Conclusion...10 References11 Figures: Risk Management Cycle..5 Introduction The Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster has considered as the worst ever nuclear disaster occurred in the history of the world. The inhabitants of the locality have been victimizing for the drastic side effects of this disaster even now. This very unfortunate event happened in V.I.Lenin Nuclear Power Plant on 26th April 1986 at Chernobyl in Ukraine. This disaster was due to the nuclear power excursion process. This is a nuclear chain reaction and the outcome of this process will be tremendous emission of Neutron radiation. This is highly poisonous to human beings and develop radioactivity in the surrounding regions. Normally in a nuclear reactor nuclear fissile material such as elements like Uranium or Plutonium are employed. Nuclear fissile materials are elements which can withstand the nuclear fission process. Nuclear fission is the process of breaking up of nucleus of an atom in to numerous smaller parts. Since this process is energy producing one (exothermic) the net result of the reaction will be tremendous release of energy in the form of radiation. Normally this reaction has to be occurred inside the reactor. But in Chernobyl the accident was due to the malfunctioning of the reactor in the plant. There the nuclear fission process and the process of emission of radiation occurred completely from outside. The strength of the emission was forty times greater than the atomic bomb blast occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during the Second World War. Thus the surrounding regions of Ukraine have been suffering very drastic side effects of the radioactive emission even now. Disaster background The Chernobyl accident was due to the explosion of faulty reactor in the nuclear power plant. There were two severe blasts which caused the total destruction of four units of the power plant. Due to this blast the radioactive material from the reactor escaped in to the atmosphere and together with the wind it was dispersed immediately to a wide locality consisting of ocean and land. This was considered as the failure in maintaining adequate safety measures in the plant especially during the plant testing operations. The plant testing operation was a routine process. The operators were verifying the efficacy of the machinery to provide adequate power supply to the main systems. Simultaneously there occurred a loss of power supply due to some unexpected cut of power availability from the rotating machinery. This defect forced them to check up other regulators meant to maintain the voltages in the plant. The operators carried out numerous testing processes and also the automatic shutting down mechanism of the reactor. During the attempt to shut down the reactor the operator observed the reactor in very faulty condition which later resulted in the total destruction of the reactor followed by a blast. Thus the radioactive emissions are moved in to the atmosphere and the air over that region gets contaminated with radioactive substances which were highly poisonous. Two or three seconds later another blast occurred by which hot graphite rods inside the reactor were thrown out with tremendous force. Due to this blast the escaping process of radioactive materials in to the environment increased and this enhanced the accumulation of poison in to the atmosphere. To stop the process, about 300 tones of water was pumped into the reactor immediately and the authorities succeeded in that attempt after spending half of the day for the rescuing purpose. This process continued for two days. Then from the second day onwards about 5000 tones of clay, sand, lead, boron and dolomite started dropping from helicopters towards the burning unit for the purpose of stopping the fire and control the emission of radiation to the atmosphere. But by that time enormous quantity of poisonous radioactive material released which was sufficient to cause serious and drastic outcome to inhabitants for the coming years. The risk management Cycle The risk management cycle points out the volume of risk factor caused due to the nuclear emission occurred from the nuclear power plant at Ukraine. On viewing the risk management cycle the depth of control and prohibition measures can be determined. Figure: 1 The Risk Management Cycle. Source: Lectures Note (Ayling, 2008). This figure illustrates all of the factors in the risk management cycle. The cycle starts with risk identification. Risk Identification The Chernobyl nuclear blast could have been avoided if the reactor would have worked with respect to the restrictions and precautions to be obeyed. It is a well known fact that the two blasts were due to tremendous pressure of steam and hydrogen respectively. During that day the staffs were checking the cooling water system on reactor 4 as a routine work. It was told that the checking process on the reactor 4 was conducted with out adequate research or proper timings. During these hours no proper safety measures had maintained by the operators. Moreover there was no shelter over the reactor to prevent the radioactive emission, suppose it happened accidentally. It is known that almost all reactors' safety passages were closed while the checking of the reactor was performed and more safety passages were closed while the testing of the reactor was progressing. The reactors control rods were kept inside the reactor in order to reduce the rate of the reaction. Unfortunately the control rods were kept too far and this made the reactor to shut down immediately. But, when the control rods were removed the rate of the reaction accelerated vigorously. This dramatic change minimized the physical capability of the reactor and the prevailing situation was too impossible to replace the control rods of the reactor and the entire process happened to be out of control. On account of the pressure exerted by the steam inside the reactor an explosion took place and the top of the reactor was damaged. This was followed by the second explosion which blown off the reactor completely. The second explosion was due to the pressure created by the hydrogen gas formed inside the reactor. This explosion contaminated the atmosphere over Europe and Atlantic Ocean with excessive radioactive material. Risk Measurement The radioactive emissions followed by the Chernobyl blast caused the entire atmosphere over the city and cultivating lands get contaminated with poison. Thus the entire region became a barren land which was unfit for human beings to live in. The atmospheric air transformed in to a very poisonous media due to the association of aerosols, nuclear fuels, iodine-131, and caesium-137. Among them iodine and cesium were radionuclide. From the tenth day of the accident the direction of the wind blowing changed very frequently and the places surrounding the reactor experienced accumulation of radioactive dust materials on the ground. Then occurred irregular rainfalls followed by the sedimentation of radioactive dust particles. The deposition was found amazingly very different from place to place. The process of scattering of radioactive substances on the ground occurred in almost all European countries of the northern hemisphere. But, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were highly experienced by the accumulation of such radioactive particles on the ground. People of different categories suffered by this disaster with out any limitations. The inhabitants of these regions experienced the process of irradiation both from the clouds which was highly contaminated with radioactive materials and from the radioactive deposits accumulated on the ground. They were also suffered by the food contamination with radioactive elements or breathing the radioactive atmosphere. The innocent children have very badly affected the disaster by consuming the milk which was poisoned by the radioactive process. They have suffered Thyroid gland problems on account of the tremendous exposure to radioactive iodine. Children and teenagers were the main victims of the cancer affected on thyroid glands. But, these diseases could be treated successfully to some extend by providing expert treatments. The Chernobyl disaster has forced some people suffered mental depression and stress on account of anxiety and fear developed from the unexpected accident and its consequences. Workers of the Chernobyl plant were the highly effected categories among them. There were six hundred individuals for the emergency rescue operations in the plant during the first day. They were known as emergency workers. Then thousands of people were employed to correct and cleanup the poisonous environmental factors and also for the purpose of stone coffin construction. These second category were termed as cleanup workers. The third categories were the rehabilitees from the effected areas. Approximately one lakh sixteen thousand individuals were rehabilitated on account of the Chernobyl disaster. These were in addition to the 5million people residing in the highly poisoned areas of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Immediately after the accident, the places very near to the blasted plant were suffered very high deposition of the radioactive substances which developed tremendous emission radiation towards all directions. Hence, the people residing very near to the plant were evacuated on an emergency basis, so that they could effect only lesser radiation from the contaminated environment. These regions are still experiencing the defects of radiations. Risk Analysis The emergency workers were the highly exposed people to external radiation. This was indicated by the radiation measuring devices worn by them. These workers took in charge of the accident venue immediately after the accident and were undergoing the rescue operations continuously for two days. These emergency workers got radioactive disorders because of the high exposure to radiation. This was a process of damaging of body tissues and thereby the death of the cells. About 134 emergency workers were undergone treatments for the radiation sickness. All of them developed bone marrow disorders and malfunctioning of their vital organs like eye, lung and intestine. In later stages some of them developed either blood cancer or cancer on organs. A negligible amount of workers showed heart problems associated with the circulation of blood. Cataract was the main defect found on the eyes of these workers. Clinically these treatments were successful for those experienced the radiation with strength below 4Gy for their body totally. The treatment was satisfactorily successful for those workers who were subjected to the radiation strength ranging from 4 - 6Gy. Those who suffered radiation above 6Gy were facing highly fatal situation Risk implementation These consequences were due to the effect of gamma radiations and the sufferings of the emergency workers were because of their association with highly contaminated gamma radioactive environment. These people were of the age group 20 - 45 and were involved in the rescue process during 1986 - 1987. The remaining emergency workers received only lesser amount of radiation emission and were facing lesser fatal situation than the previous workers. They were appointed to do the emergency works from 1987-1988. About twenty eight emergency workers died on account of exposure to severe radiation process. They had suffered from faltered internal organs due to the continuous association with radioactive environments. The cause of the illness was by the severe penetration of radioactive rays through the body which inversely affected the internal organs. This disease is generally known as radioactive syndrome. Another fifteen members among the emergency workers died on account of cancer prone thyroid. The cancer disease had already taken approximately 4000 people's life as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Some workers are still there to perform the cleanup works. The device to measure the absorption of radiation has revealed that the process of receiving radiations by the cleanup worker have been reducing when time passes. The inhabitants of the disaster prone areas are still subjecting to the process of radiation and the current dose is higher than the prescribed unit by the scientists. During the first few months of the disaster the agricultural crops and the milk production were highly suffered due to the emission of radioactive materials. The crops and milk were completely transformed to acute poisons transferring from the environment. Radioactive iodine was the major killer during this period. But the presence of radioactive Caesium had been creating some concern over agriculture in some rural places. The presence of Caesium had inversely affected the edible items from the forest such as fruits berries and mushrooms. This process will be continuing for the years to come. The disaster badly affected the water sources of the country. The inhabitants of the water such as fishes, mussels and algae were the main victims of this contamination. In rivers this phenomenon was gradually decreased due to the association and movement of water from other sources and also by the decaying process. This made the river to get diluted from the contamination process. But, still there are radioactive particles in the river soils and banks of the river. Recent researches have revealed that the fishes and other water living organisms have been experiencing lesser emission of radiation. But the unmoved water sources such as stationary lakes are still prevailing with higher concentration of radioactive material. The radioactive emission increased deaths and decreased productivity in animals and plants. They also suffered certain genetic abnormalities after the accident. Risk management The Commonwealth states of governments and the government of Soviet Union had struggled and suffered a lot to deal the drastic disaster. They adopted very resourceful measures to tackle the consequences facing. They had implemented measures to wipe out the deposits of radioactive materials from the ground of the disaster suffered areas to subside the process of irradiations. The measures included the feeding of animals with poison free food, rejecting contaminated food and milk, supply of drinking water free from the radioactive substances and the process to control the consumption of fruits, berries and vegetables from the forests of the affected areas. The very serious and tedious matter was to protect the blasted reactor. They constructed a shelter for the damaged reactor very immediately. It was a sudden venture and the construction process was under the adverse conditions. There were certain defects in the construction of the reactor because the workers had to expose severely against the radioactive emission since it was immediately after the explosion of the reactor. Since the shelter has been prohibiting the emission of radioactive elements for the considerably long period, the life of the shelter mat not last long. If this shelter is damaged there are high probabilities to scatter the radioactive substances again in to the atmosphere and environment. In order to overcome this difficulty scientists have proposed to build a new shelter over the previous one and after that the damaged reactor should be removed. This process will generate enormous quantity of radio active materials from the nuclear reactor. Very careful and tremendous effort should be maintained to collect and dispose these dangerous objects to avoid further drastic radioactive emission. The places surrounding the blastered nuclear plant are unfit for residing purpose and cultivation of agricultural crops. Hence this vacant place can be utilized for the process of neutralizing the radioactive materials from the nuclear reactor. On the other hand this locality can be preserved as natural reserves to conduct research and studies regarding the radioactive emission. Policy When the disaster had happened the world received the news very sympathetically and reacted very positively. Numerous offerings from all over the world have flown to Chernobyl for rescuing and rehabilitating the victimized people. The world health organization had implemented internationally based massive health program for the welfare of the Chernobyl victims. On account of this program they primarily concentrated on people suffering from thyroid problems, blood cancer and infections in the mouth. They were also concentrated on the mental wellbeing of the children who have undergone the irradiation process before their birth. This project was finished in 1994. After that they have started a long term project to promote the health of the victims. This includes awareness and guidance regarding the emission from the radioactive materials and its side effects on individuals. This long term program undertaken by the world health organization provides some positive expectations regarding the future health matters of the victimized individuals. The soviet government had already spent about 100 billion dollars for the rescue operations and welfare of the people who have victimized badly in the nuclear disaster. Compensation has given to 7 million people who suffered on account of this disaster. But these assistances were inadequate considering the strength and volume of the disaster. The accident has badly affected the agricultural sectors and economic stability of the nation. Hence, the authorities should implement long term schemes to improve the economic status as well as trying to remove environmental contamination. The disaster affected area and the victimized people are taken in to consideration for providing support and help. Very productive measures should be implemented to bring normalcy in such areas and also in the lifestyle of the victims. Since the consequences of the disaster are a long lasting phenomenon the government should deal the matter very seriously. Recent and advanced scientific knowledge and techniques can be employed to deal the crisis successfully. The international community can provide very great helps regarding the matter. Even though twenty years over after the accident the volume of sufferings by the people has not subsided and they are not in a position to lead the normal life. Moreover the world might have forgotten the disaster and the new generation won't have any awareness regarding the sufferings of the people there. Hence, again a massive campaign is essential worldwide in order to reinforce the victimized people. At present the disaster affected areas have been suffering from malnutrition. Poverty, unhealthy lifestyle and very poor health care facilities. More over the people who had experienced certain psychological discomforts on account of the unexpected disaster and associated problems have not recovered perfectly. The people living in the disaster prone areas are still too much concerned about their health and future of their children. Conclusion The victims on whom the disaster has affected badly by the irradiation process are not in a position to live themselves. Moreover they have been living with a constant fear about the side effects developing from the radiation emission from the blasted reactor. The main probable side effects are cancer on thyroid, internal organs and blood. To avoid their worries the authorities should provide them believable information regarding the disaster and the radioactive emission which is considered as the killer of the time and also for the coming years. Moreover the residents of the locality are of low income group and have been facing unemployment. Material assistance together with financial support should be provided to badly affected victims and also implement schemes to provide them a normal life. The self sufficiency of the community can be maintained by developing economic status and human lifestyle which in turn result the development of the whole society of the victimized people. Then progressive information and awareness centers regarding the nuclear blast and its further outcomes should be provided. Advanced health care facilities, social welfare programs and proper employments should be provided to them at any cost. Moreover the authorities must be able to develop a strong belief among the victimized people that the whole world is with them and the international community is very much concerned about their present condition. This can provide them a feel of security which is very valuable. REFERENCE Chernobyl, http://www.nea.fr/html/rp/chernobyl/c05.html 17/12/2009 Read More