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The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine was the product of a flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators in the context of a system where training was minimal. It was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture. Nobody off-site suffered from acute radiation effects. However, large areas of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and beyond were contaminated in varying degrees. By the year 2000, about 4000 cases of thyroid cancer had been diagnosed in exposed children. An increased risk of leukemia due to radiation exposure from Chernobyl may become evident in future. After the accident a 30km exclusion zone was established around the power plant. A new city Slavutich was built outside the exclusion zone to house and support the employees of the plant. The population of Slavutich is 26,500 including 8272 children. The Chernobyl facility includes four reactors. Unit 4 was destroyed in the accident. Units 1 and 2 were decommissioned. Unit 3 was upgraded to make it safe and continued to produce power supplying about 2% of the Ukraine’ electrical power until December 15th, 2000,when then-President Leonid Kuchma personally turned off Reactor 3 in an official ceremony, effectively shutting down the entire plant. |
Ukraine Information: Inside
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