Introduce your scenario topic, provide some

Scenario 1d – Group analysis of issues

Group 4 (Engineering)

Q1- what is the main cause of the Chernobyl accident

The Chernobyl accident is still the largest nuclear disaster that ever happened, it left its mark in the world about the safety of nuclear power plants. There were many mistakes that led to the disaster of Chernobyl reactor number 4, due to the poor planning and doing late safety tests for emergency shutdown for the plant. This is a test that cuts the power to the reactor and checks the emergency power supply and how well it operates. After starting the test, the operators saw that the turbine was losing power rapidly, which caused a spike in voltage. After the operators noticed the spike in voltage, they immediately went and tried to shutdown the test but it was too late, when pressing the shutdown button, the reactor was unstable, and when activating the shutdown button the flue of the reactor was to hot, and the control rods that stabilize the reactor went in the core while the fuel was hot created a reaction that led to the nuclear materials exploding and opening up the lid of the reactor which led to radioactive materials going in the sky.

Q2- The environmental effects from the accidents on people?

What were the events that led to tragedy? The unfortunate accident killed 28 out of 600 workers in the first four months after the event. Moreover, 106 workers received doses high enough to cause acute radiation sickness. Not only that, but within hours, two workers also passed away due to the reactor explosion from non-radiological causes. The Chernobyl accident polluted big areas of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine. The WHO (World Health Organization) was worried about exposure to radiation to people who were evacuated from these areas. Although there is not enough evidence to connect the accident to radiation-induced increases of leukemia or solid cancer, there is evidence that there were increases of thyroid cancer. About 6,000 thyroid cancer cases have been detected, and 99% of these children were thankfully fully treated. When it comes to the psycho-social impacts on residents and evacuates from the accident, we can see an increase in the rates of depression, alcoholism, and anxiety. The social impacts it is mean what happened for the people after this problem. To recover after the accident, the NRC states that numerous factors protect U.S. reactors against the mistakes that led to the accident. Differences in plant design, broader safe shutdown capabilities, and strong structures to hold in radioactive materials are factors that help make sure these reactors can keep people safe. The NRC also stressed the importance of designing reactor systems properly on the drawing board and then implementing them correctly during the process of construction and maintenance, having motivated plant management and operating staff, and more to help ensure the safety of the public and the environment.

Q3- The environmental effects from the accidents? Environment?

The Chernobyl accident induced a lot of radionuclides into the atmosphere and subsequently affected the environment. The deposit nuclides eventually decayed and moved into the territory. The accident caused adverse effects on humans’ exposure whereby both workers and the general public got affected by radiation resulted in health effects. The Chernobyl accident happened in a temperate climate affecting both fauna and flora. It caused the death of plants and loss of animal reproduction. Both animals and plants were affected genetically by inducing mutation in both animals and plants. It was evidenced through the body of the plants near the area where the accident occurred, like abnormal branching of stems, strange leaves, and colors. The accident adversely affected shelter, air, surface water, and groundwater. Radionuclides contaminated the current shelter situation around Chernobyl nuclear plant affecting both people living around this site, plants, and animals; radioactive aerosols pollute the atmosphere air through exhaust release and emissions from the explosion in the nuclear plant site. Surface water was contaminated by nucleoids near the Chernobyl plant through runoffs into rivers. Chernobyl accident affected groundwater through water accumulation inside underground rooms, near pioneer walls, and water infiltration from the nuclear plant site. The Chernobyl accident affected human health, caused fatal deaths, affected plants caused morphological abnormalities like change in color and abnormal leaf size, and adverse effects on environmental aspects. It negatively affects the atmospheric air that people breathe. It affected surface water in water points near the nuclear plant, and the water infiltration from surface water through the pioneer wall affected groundwater.

Q4- What was the recovery plan after the accident and how was it implemented?

The first step of the recovery plan was to contain reactor number 4. This was done for different reasons, mainly to continue using the whole plant. The other reason was to reduce or to stop the harm on the environment and people. So they focused on reactor number 4, and they started building a shield around the reactor to control what happened. This shield makes the plant usable; based on that the plant was still running. Reactor number 1 was closed in 1997, Reactor number 2 was shut down in 1991 due to fire, and reactor number 3 was working until December of 2000. The plant continued its own job because of that shield, without that shield people will be harmed more and the plant will be shut down.

Q4- What was the recovery plan after the accident and how was it implemented?

The first step of the recovery plan was to contain reactor number 4. This was done for different reasons, mainly to continue using the whole plant. The other reason was to reduce or to stop the harm on the environment and people. So they focused on reactor number 4, and they started building a shield around the reactor to control what happened. This shield makes the plant usable; based on that the plant was still running. Reactor number 1 was closed in 1997, Reactor number 2 was shut down in 1991 due to fire, and reactor number 3 was working until December of 2000. The plant continued its own job because of that shield, without that shield people will be harmed more and the plant will be shut down.

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‘Questions’

1- What is the main cause of Chernobyl?

2- The environmental effects from the accidents on people?

3- The environmental effects from the accidents? Environment?

4- What was the recovery plan after the accident and how was it implemented?

Resources –

1-

Chernobyl Accident 1986. World Nuclear. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx

2-

. 2006Environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and their remediation: twenty years of experience. Vienna: IAEA. https://www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/pdf/pub1239_web.pdf

5 3-

NRC Web. 2018. Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident. [online] Available at:

<https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html> [Accessed 6 February 2022].

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