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The Breakdown Of 1986 V. I Lenin Nuclear Power Plant

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On April 26 1986 V.I Lenin Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Unit 4 exploded during an unauthorized test becoming the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. The explosion sent large amounts of radioactive material into the air creating the worst radiation fallout the world had ever seen. The V.I Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, commonly known as Chernobyl, was located in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was a Soviet designed RBMK-1000 reactor. This reactor was designed to create up to 1000 megawatts of electricity (Vargo/2000). The design flaws of RBMK-1000 reactors can be contributed to the disaster. The RBMK is a graphite-moderated reactor (Brennan/2002). The reactor uses graphite …show more content…

The dosimeters that operators had were not capable of reading the high levels of radiation. The meters that were able to read the high levels of radiation however was locked in a cabinet in which no one had a key.
The residents of nearby Pripyat could see the smoke coming from the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. However they were not given any instructions and continued their day as normal. It was not until late on the 26 April that the order was given to evacuate. This evacuation still did not happen unit the morning and afternoon on 27 April 1986. Residents were told to only take enough money to last for a few days. The Communist Party waited 36 hours before they took decisive action because Party officials were unable to understand the magnitude of the disaster (Hopkins/1993).
As the evacuation began most of the people were sent to Kiev. Residents of Pripyat were instructed to only bring enough money to sustain them for a few days. The Soviets still thought that containment and cleanup would only take a short while. The Soviet Union brought busses from all around the region and still there were not enough for the 50,000 people living in Pripyat. In Kiev, during the May Day Celebration radiation was 100 times higher than the safe levels

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