Chernobyl is still the worst disaster in the world nuclear power industry. The radioactive fallout that fell after the explosion of the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant reached even the countries of Northern Europe, but for many years the cause of this terrible tragedy has remained in limbo and without a precise definition.
Chronicle of Chernobyl
The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on April 26, 1986, as a result of which the fourth nuclear reactor of the station was completely destroyed. The most dangerous radioactive substances got into the environment, and in the next three months, dozens of people died from a lethal dose of radiation. The firefighters who extinguished the ignition of the reactor were summoned to a regular fire without warning of the danger and without giving them any protective equipment. At that time, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the most powerful nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union.
After the elimination of the fire, firefighters began to end up in hospitals en masse - while the Soviet government tried to shut up, and subsequently downplay the scale of the tragedy that befell the world through some unknown fault. Isotopes of plutonium, uranium, strontium, cesium, iodine, as well as radioactive dust got into the atmosphere from the destroyed reactor. A plume of these deadly substances stretched over Eastern Europe, the European part of the Soviet Union and the countries of Scandinavia. Most of the contaminated radioactive fallout fell on the lands of the Byelorussian SSR.
Cause of the disaster
There is no unequivocal opinion about the catalyst for the explosion of the reactor to this day. Some experts are sure that the reason was defective equipment and mistakes made during the construction of a nuclear power plant. Another part claims about possible sabotage and experiments that led to an unacceptable load and gross violation of the rules for operating the reactor. Still others talk about the human factor - namely, about the negligence and irresponsibility of the Chernobyl NPP employees who are responsible for the correct functioning of the reactor.
There is an opinion that if the reactor at the beginning of construction had been covered with a concrete dome planned in the project, the tragedy could have been avoided.
However, the most probable scenario of the Chernobyl disaster could be constructed by specialists in nuclear physics. Most likely, the explosion occurred due to a failure of the circulating water supply system, which cooled the uranium fuel rods of the reactor. As a result of the failure, the temperature in the power unit rose sharply, which led to the melting of the rods and the release of radioactive vapor from them. This vapor chemically reacted with the zirconium-coated rods and released explosive hydrogen, turning the reactor core into a deadly atomic bomb.
