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COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.
100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century. Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them!
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Ukraine’s military intelligence claims that Russia is plotting a “large-scale provocation” at a nuclear power plant designed to put hostilities on pause and give Moscow’s forces a respite they badly need to regroup ahead of the looming Ukrainian counteroffensive
Russia intends to relocate around 3,100 Ukrainian staff from Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s atomic energy company claimed Wednesday, warning of a potential “catastrophic lack of qualified personnel” at the Zaporizhzhia facility in Russia-occupied southern Ukraine
Top Questions
When did the Chernobyl disaster occur?
The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 25 and 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union. It is one of the worst disasters in the history of nuclear power generation.
What happened in the Chernobyl disaster?
The Chernobyl disaster occurred when technicians at nuclear reactor Unit 4 attempted a poorly designed experiment. They shut down the reactor’s power-regulating system and its emergency safety systems, and they removed control rods from its core while allowing the reactor to run at 7 percent power. These mistakes, compounded by others, led to an uncontrolled chain reaction that resulted in several massive explosions.
How many people died as a result of the Chernobyl disaster?
Some sources state that two people were killed in the initial explosions of the Chernobyl disaster, whereas others report that the figure was closer to 50. Dozens more contracted serious radiation sickness; some of these people later died. In addition, thousands of deaths from radiation-induced illnesses and cancer were expected years later.
How big was the exclusion zone created after the Chernobyl disaster?
As a result of the Chernobyl disaster, the Soviet Union created an exclusion zone with a radius of about 18.6 miles (30 km) centered on the nuclear power plant, covering 1,017 square miles (2,634 square km) around the plant. The zone was later expanded to 1,600 square miles (4,143 square km) to include heavily radiated areas outside the initial zone.
What effects did the Chernobyl disaster have?
The Chernobyl disaster caused serious radiation sickness and contamination. Between 50 and 185 million curies of radionuclides escaped into the atmosphere. Millions of acres of forest and farmland were contaminated, livestock was born deformed, and humans suffered long-term negative health effects.
Chernobyl disaster, accident in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union, the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power generation. The Chernobyl power station was situated at the settlement of Pryp’yat, 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the city of Chernobyl (Ukrainian: Chornobyl) and 65 miles (104 km) north of Kyiv, Ukraine. The station consisted of four reactors, each capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of electric power; it had come online in 1977–83. The disaster occurred on April 25–26, 1986, when technicians at reactor Unit 4 attempted a poorly designed experiment. Workers shut down the ...(100 of 703 words)
