The Chernobyl Power Plant after its explosion.
Chernobyl Disaster
The Chernobyl Power Plant was built in Northern Ukraine around wooded marshlands. Near the power plant was the town of Pripyat, which housed many workers and their families. The first reactor was built in 1977, second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983. Ukrainian officials decided to have a test done on the fourth reactor. This test was to see if the turbines could keep the cooling system on until backup generators came online in case of any power outages. They began the test at 1 A.M on April 25th, 1986. During the test they decided to turn off some of the safety systems, this move would in turn lead to the Chernobyl Disaster. They had to postpone the testing however because of a big need for energy in the city of Kiev. They continued the test at 11:10 P.M that same day. Shortly after 1 A.M the next day the power from reactor four dropped suddenly and went out of control. They tried to contain it however they could not and at 1:23 A.M the reactor exploded.
No one knew about the explosion until 2 days later. Many other power plants started to get readings of high levels of radiation around there areas. When asked, the Soviet Union denied any evidence of a nuclear disaster on April 28th, 1986. This explosion was found to have released 100 times more radiation than the bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.
The Chernobyl Power Plant was built in Northern Ukraine around wooded marshlands. Near the power plant was the town of Pripyat, which housed many workers and their families. The first reactor was built in 1977, second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983. Ukrainian officials decided to have a test done on the fourth reactor. This test was to see if the turbines could keep the cooling system on until backup generators came online in case of any power outages. They began the test at 1 A.M on April 25th, 1986. During the test they decided to turn off some of the safety systems, this move would in turn lead to the Chernobyl Disaster. They had to postpone the testing however because of a big need for energy in the city of Kiev. They continued the test at 11:10 P.M that same day. Shortly after 1 A.M the next day the power from reactor four dropped suddenly and went out of control. They tried to contain it however they could not and at 1:23 A.M the reactor exploded.
No one knew about the explosion until 2 days later. Many other power plants started to get readings of high levels of radiation around there areas. When asked, the Soviet Union denied any evidence of a nuclear disaster on April 28th, 1986. This explosion was found to have released 100 times more radiation than the bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.