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On the night of April 25-26, 1986, the world's largest nuclear man-made disaster occurred - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

The Chernobyl accident is one of the most horrific examples of the danger that nuclear power can pose if it is not kept under constant control. However, the accident itself could have turned out to be something much more terrible if not for the actions of three people.

Probably everyone heard that after the accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, firefighters pumped out heavy radioactive water from under the reactor, and the widest sections of the public became aware of this heroic deed.

But few people know that before the water was pumped out, it had to be drained from the solid concrete box in which it was located. But how to do it? After all, the exhaust hatches were under a thick layer of radioactive water.

The second explosion was inevitable!

Few people know about the threat of a second explosion of a nuclear reactor, this information was not replicated for a long time, the possible consequences were too horrifying. A new round of the tragedy unfolded on the fifth day after the first explosion, then it became clear: if decisive action is not taken, the catastrophe will claim even more lives and lead to the pollution of large areas in Russia, Ukraine and Europe.

After the accident, when the fire was brought down, the reactor became hot. It seemed to be in a suspended state, having under it the so-called barbater pool, which, as a result of the destruction of the pipelines of the cooling system, was filled with water. To limit the impact of radiation from above, as is already known, the reactor was sealed with a giant cork made of sand, lead, dolomite, boron and other materials. And this is an additional burden. Will the red-hot reactor withstand it? If not, then the whole colossus will collapse into the water. And then? - No one in the world has ever given an answer to such a question, what can happen. And here it had to be given immediately.

The temperature of the explosion was so high that the reactor (containing 185 tons of nuclear fuel) continued to melt at an incredible rate, getting closer and closer to the water tank that was used as a coolant. It was obvious: if a red-hot reactor comes into contact with water, then a powerful steam explosion will form.

It was necessary to urgently find out about the amount of water in the pool, to establish its radioactivity, to decide how to divert it from under the reactor. These issues were resolved in the shortest possible time. Hundreds of fire trucks participated in this operation, diverting water to a special safe place. But calmness did not come - the water in the pool remained. There was only one way to release her from there - to open two valves that were under a layer of radioactive water. If we add to this that in the barbater pool, which looked like a huge bathtub after the accident, there was pitch darkness, if the approaches leading to it are narrow and also dark, and there is a high level of radiation around, then it becomes clear what people had to go to who were to carry out this work.

They volunteered themselves - B. Baranov, shift supervisor of the Chernobyl plant, V. Bespalov, senior control engineer of the turbine shop unit number two, and A. Ananenko, senior mechanical engineer of the reactor shop number two. The roles were distributed as follows: Alexey Ananenko knows the places of the valves and will take on one, the second will show Valery Bespalov. Boris Baranov will help them with light.

The operation has begun. All three were dressed in wetsuits. We had to work in respirators.

Here is the story of Alexei Ananenko:

We thought about everything in advance so as not to linger on the spot and meet the minimum time. They took dosimeters, flashlights. We were informed about the radiation situation both above and in the water. We went along the corridor to the barbater pool. Darkness is total. They walked in the beams of lanterns. There was also water in the hallway. Where space allowed, they moved in dashes. Sometimes the light went out, they acted by touch. And here's a miracle - under the arms of the damper. Tried to turn - gives in. My heart skipped a beat with joy. And you can’t say anything - in a respirator. Showed Valery another. And he succumbed to the valve. A few minutes later, a characteristic noise or splash was heard - the water went.

There are other memories on this topic:

"... Academicians E.P. Velikhov and V.A. Legasov * CONvinced * the Government Commission of the possibility of another cataclysm - a steam explosion of catastrophic power, from burning the reactor base plate with molten fuel and getting this melt into water-filled B-B (under-reactor premises of two-storey bubble pools). According to academicians, calculations show that this explosion can completely destroy the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and cover all of Europe with radioactive materials. There is only one way to prevent an explosion - you need to drain the water from the under-reactor bubble pools (if it is there, and did not evaporate during the fire after the poisoning of the fuel, which was on the evening of April 26 - on the night of April 27).

In order to check the presence of water in B-B workers Chernobyl opened the valve on the tube of the impulse line coming out of B-B. They opened it - there was no water in the tube, on the contrary - the tube began to draw air towards the pools. This fact did not convince scientists of anything, they continued to demand more weighty evidence of the absence of water in B-B. The government commission set the task for the leadership of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - to find and indicate to the military such a place in the B-B wall (and this is 180 cm of the strongest reinforced concrete), in which it would be possible to make a hole to drain the water using the explosion method. How dangerous this explosion could be for the building of the destroyed reactor, there was no information. On the night of May 4, this order reached the deputy chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Alexander Smyshlyaev, who immediately forwarded it to Igor Kazachkov, shift supervisor of unit No. 3. Kazachkov replied that breaking through an almost two-meter wall in conditions of increased radiation is not the best The best way dehydration of the pools, and that he would look for a more gentle option. Having looked at the technological schemes, I. Kazachkov decided to investigate the possibility of opening two valves on the B-B emptying lines. He took a flashlight, a DP-5 dosing device and, together with the operator M. Kastrygin, went to the valve room. The room was flooded by about 1.5 meters with radioactive water with a DER over 200 r/h (the needle of the device went off scale), but the valves themselves were intact, because the explosion did not reach these rooms and did not destroy anything. Returning, the shift supervisor reported to Smyshlyaev that without pumping water from the pipeline corridor, it would not be possible to open the drain valves. But in any case, it will be easier to pump out the “dirty” water than to blow up the B-B wall.

Yes, and radioactivity in the semi-flooded basement floors of the station will decrease sharply. The proposal of Igor Ivanovich Kazachkov was accepted. On the morning of May 5, the Government Commission sent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant a team of military and firefighters that had long been preparing to pump out the basements, led by Pyotr Pavlovich Zborovsky, captain of the civil defense troops ( civil defense). From the Chernobyl NPP, at the initial stage of preparing the operation in early May, he was assisted by V.K. Bronnikov, who at that time acted as chief engineer ...

When its level near the drain valves B-B under block No. 4 dropped to about 50 cm, senior engineers A. Ananenko and V. Bespalov went to them, by order of the head of the reactor shop V. Grishchenko. They were accompanied by B. Baranov, head of the station shift. Dressed in diving suits, with lanterns and adjustable wrenches in their hands, they reached the valves, checked the numbers by marking. Boris Baranov stood on the insurance, and Alexei Ananenko and Valery Bespalov manually began to open the drain lines. This took about 15 minutes. The noise of water draining from the lower floor of the pool convinced them that they had achieved the desired result. Returning after completing the task, they checked their dosimeters (they were given DKP-50 optical dosimeters, military-style “pencils”), they had 10 annual norms.
."

Returning, Alexei Ananenko gave an interview to the Soviet media. There was not the slightest sign that this man had received a lethal dose of radiation poisoning. But none of the daredevils managed to escape their fate.

Many sources indicate that Alexei and Valery died ten days later in a Moscow hospital. Boris lived a little longer. All three were buried in tightly sealed zinc coffins. However

A few months later, it was determined that the molten lava could indeed set fire to the reactor. Soviet scientists suggested that the possible area of ​​pollution could reach 200 square meters. km, modern experts tend to argue that it would take about 500 thousand years to eliminate the consequences of radioactive contamination from a potential explosion.

So these three almost certainly saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across Europe.

But almost no one knows about their sacrifice ...

Valery Bespalov was still working at the Chernobyl plant in 2008: http://www.webcitation.org/6dhjGCHFo

Alexey Ananeko and at all this moment is the Director for Institutional Development of the Association "Ukrainian Nuclear Forum": http://www.webcitation.org/6dhhLLaZu

By the way, here is a fairly recent interview with Alexei Ananenko about those events: http://www.souzchernobyl.org/?id=2440

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I can tell you more about it, but here's how it went

Chernobyl disaster. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant shocked the whole world, including its consequences.

If many people think that the Chernobyl accident immediately claimed many lives, then this is not so. During the explosion itself, one operator died, whose remains are still buried under the rubble, and the second died from injuries and burns already in the hospital.

When Chernobyl exploded, there were several blows (most eyewitnesses claim there were two explosions), exact time- 04/26/1986 at 01:23:47 (Saturday).

The reactor was destroyed in just three minutes.

Already after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and in the aftermath of the liquidation work, within 3 months, 31 people died (due to exposure), employed in the first hours of eliminating the fire.

As a result, more than half a million people were involved in the liquidation work. The Chernobyl accident claimed the lives of up to 80,000 people due to remote exposure.

134 of them had an acute stage of radiation sickness (these are the first people who arrived at the call).

What is Chernobyl

The city got its name thanks to the wormwood, in ancient times it was called Chernobyl.

Now, due to environmental conditions (rain, wind, etc.), as well as as a result of human activities on earth, it has significantly decreased.

After time, radioactive substances have already entered the ground and enter agricultural products through the root system.

Berries, mushrooms and forests also pose a danger, because cesium has recycling there and, as a result, it is not excreted. However, the fish is not dangerous.

Many are interested in the mutation after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The study showed that it continues, but not to a large extent.

The absence of man and his influence on nature had a beneficial effect on the ecosystem. Now the flora and fauna are fragrant there, the populations of animals and plants have increased.

31 years after the incident, people are still wondering what happened at Chernobyl. After all, this accident surpassed and.

Although it is worth noting that these are still different accidents and incidents.

In the outgoing year, 30 years have passed since the April day when the Chernobyl disaster occurred. The explosion at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred at two in the morning on April 26, 1986, destroyed the reactor core. Experts say that the radioactivity, which subsequently brought the fallout, was 400 times higher than the impact of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The leadership of the USSR and the Union republics immediately strictly classified information about what happened. Many scientists believe that the true extent of that tragedy has not yet been said.

Cars refused - people walked

It is believed that in the zone of radioactive contamination (over 200 thousand km²) were mainly the north of Ukraine and part of Belarus. In the area of ​​​​the reactor, which burned for 10 days, hundreds of Soviet “bi-robot” liquidators worked - they worked where the equipment failed. Dozens of people died from a lethal dose of radiation almost immediately, hundreds got cancer due to radiation sickness.

According to the most rough estimates (since Soviet Union collapsed, it is difficult to give an exact figure) about 30 thousand people died from the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, more than 70 thousand became disabled.

Gorbachev was silent for more than two weeks

The documents relating to the Chernobyl disaster were immediately classified by the Central Committee of the CPSU. To this day, it is not clear exactly what really happened there.

The criminal indifference of the authorities to the people was boundless: when Ukraine was covered with a radioactive cloud, a May Day demonstration took place in the capital of the republic. Thousands of people walked along the streets of Kyiv, while the level of radiation in Kyiv has already risen from 50 micro-roentgens to 30 thousand per hour.

The first 15 days after April 28 were marked by the most intense release of radionuclides. However, the head of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, made an appeal about the accident only on May 13. He had nothing to brag about: the state, in fact, turned out to be not ready for prompt elimination of the consequences of an emergency situation - most dosimeters did not work, there were no elementary potassium iodide tablets, military special forces, thrown into the fight against large-scale radiation, formed "from the wheels" when thunder has already struck.

The disaster taught me nothing

For what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, former director nuclear power plant Viktor Bryukhanov served 5 years out of 10, measured by a court verdict. He told reporters a few years ago about some important details concerning that nuclear catastrophe.

The explosion at the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred during its testing. According to many modern scientists, the cause of the accident lies in defects in the design of the reactor and non-compliance with safety rules by the employees of the nuclear power plant. But all this was hidden so as not to jeopardize the nuclear industry of the USSR.

According to Bryukhanov, today, not only in the post-Soviet space, but also abroad, the true causes of accidents at nuclear power plants are hidden - emergencies of this kind, but on a smaller scale, periodically occur in many countries where nuclear energy is used. Last crash occurred recently in Japan, where a powerful earthquake on November 22 damaged the cooling system of the third power unit of the Fukushima-2 nuclear power plant.

Secret Truth

Together with information about the Chernobyl accident itself, the results were also classified. medical examinations victims and information on the degree of radioactive contamination of the territories. The Western media told the whole world about the tragedy on the evening of April 26, and in the USSR, the official authorities on this occasion kept deathly silence for a long time.

Radioactive clouds covered more and more territories, which was trumpeted in the West with might and main, and in the Soviet Union only on April 29, the press casually reported on "an insignificant leak of radioactive substances" at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Some Western media believe that it was the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that served as one of the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR - a system built on lies and unquestioning obedience to the Central Committee of the CPSU could not last long, because over time, the consequences of a nuclear catastrophe were felt by hundreds of thousands of residents of the republics of the "union indestructible."

On the night of April 26, 1986, at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), located on the territory of Ukraine (at that time the Ukrainian SSR) on the right bank of the Pripyat River, 12 kilometers from the city of Chernobyl, Kyiv Region, the largest accident in the history of world nuclear energy occurred .

The fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was put into commercial operation in December 1983.

On April 25, 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, it was scheduled to conduct design tests of one of the safety systems at the fourth power unit, after which it was planned to stop the reactor for scheduled repairs. During the tests, it was supposed to de-energize the NPP equipment and use the mechanical energy of rotation of the stopping turbine generators (the so-called run-down) to ensure the operability of the power unit's safety systems. Due to dispatcher restrictions, the shutdown of the reactor was delayed several times, which caused some difficulties in controlling the reactor power.

On April 26, at 01:24, an uncontrolled increase in power occurred, which led to explosions and the destruction of a significant part of the reactor plant. Due to the explosion of the reactor and the ensuing fire at the power unit in environment a significant amount of radioactive material was released.

The measures taken in the following days to fill the reactor with inert materials first led to a decrease in the rate of radioactive release, but then an increase in temperature inside the destroyed reactor shaft led to an increase in the amount of radioactive substances released into the atmosphere. Releases of radionuclides decreased significantly only towards the end of the first decade of May 1986.

At a meeting on May 16, the government commission decided on the long-term conservation of the destroyed power unit. On May 20, an order of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building "On the organization of the construction department at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant" was issued, in accordance with which work began on the creation of the Shelter structure. The construction of this facility with the involvement of about 90 thousand builders lasted 206 days from June to November 1986. On November 30, 1986, by decision of the state commission, the mothballed fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was accepted for maintenance.

The fission products of nuclear fuel ejected from the destroyed reactor into the atmosphere were carried by air currents over large areas, causing their radioactive contamination not only near nuclear power plants within the borders of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, but also hundreds and even thousands of kilometers from the accident site. The territories of many countries have been exposed to radioactive contamination.

As a result of the accident, the territories of 17 European countries were exposed to radioactive contamination with cesium-137 with levels above 1 Ci / km 2 (37 kBq / m 2) with total area 207.5 thousand square kilometers. The territories of Ukraine (37.63 thousand square kilometers), Belarus (43.5 thousand square kilometers), the European part of Russia (59.3 thousand square kilometers) turned out to be significantly contaminated with cesium-137.

In Russia, 19 subjects were exposed to radiation contamination with cesium-137. The most polluted regions are Bryansk (11.8 thousand square kilometers of contaminated territories), Kaluga (4.9 thousand square kilometers), Tula (11.6 thousand square kilometers) and Orlovskaya (8.9 thousand square kilometers).

About 60 thousand square kilometers of territories contaminated with caesium-137 with levels above 1 Ci/km 2 are located outside the former USSR. The territories of Austria, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Norway and a number of other Western European countries have been contaminated.

A significant part of the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus turned out to be contaminated at a level exceeding 5 Ci/km 2 (185 kBq/m 2). Almost 52,000 square kilometers of agricultural land was affected by caesium-137 and strontium-90, with half-lives of 30 and 28 years, respectively.

Immediately after the disaster, 31 people died, and 600,000 liquidators who took part in extinguishing fires and clearing received high doses of radiation. Almost 8.4 million inhabitants of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia were subjected to radioactive irradiation, of which almost 404 thousand people were resettled.

Due to a very high radioactive background, the work of the nuclear power plant was stopped after the accident. After the decontamination of the contaminated area and the construction of the Shelter facility, on October 1, 1986, the first power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was launched, on November 5, the second, and on December 4, 1987, the third power unit of the station was put into operation.

In accordance with the Memorandum signed in 1995 between Ukraine, the G7 states and the Commission of the European Union, on November 30, 1996, a decision was made to finally shut down the first power unit, and on March 15, 1999, the second power unit.

On December 11, 1998, the Law of Ukraine "On the General Principles of the Subsequent Operation and Decommissioning of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Transformation of the Destroyed Fourth Power Unit of this Nuclear Power Plant into an Environmentally Safe System" was adopted.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant stopped generating electricity on December 15, 2000, when the third power unit was permanently shut down.

In December 2003, the UN General Assembly supported the decision of the Council of CIS Heads of State to proclaim April 26 as the International Day of Remembrance for Victims of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes, and also called on all UN member states to celebrate this International Day and hold relevant events within its framework.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Almost 25 years have passed since the terrible event that shocked the whole world. The echoes of this catastrophe of the century will stir the souls of people for a long time to come, and its consequences will touch people more than once. The catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - why did it happen and what are its consequences for us?

Why did the Chernobyl disaster happen?

Until now, there is no unambiguous opinion about what caused the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Some argue that the reason is defective equipment and gross errors during the construction of nuclear power plants. Others see the cause of the explosion in the failure of the circulating water supply system, which provided cooling for the reactor. Still others are convinced that the experiments on the permissible load, carried out at the station that ominous night, during which a gross violation of the rules of operation occurred, were to blame. Others are sure that if there was a protective concrete cap above the reactor, the construction of which was neglected, there would not be such a spread of radiation that occurred as a result of the explosion.

Most likely, this terrible event occurred due to a combination of these factors - after all, each of them had a place to be. Human irresponsibility, acting "at random" in matters relating to life and death, and the deliberate concealment of information about what happened by the Soviet authorities led to consequences, the results of which will long echo back to more than one generation of people around the world.

Chernobyl disaster. Chronicle of events

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant happened late at night on April 26, 1986. A fire brigade was called to the scene. Courageous and courageous people, they were shocked by what they saw and immediately guessed what had happened from the off-scale radiation meters. However, there was no time to think - and a team of 30 people rushed to fight the disaster. From protective clothing, they were wearing ordinary helmets and boots - of course, they could in no way protect firefighters from huge doses of radiation. These people have long been dead, all of them at different times died a painful death from cancer that struck them ..

By morning the fire was extinguished. However, pieces of uranium and graphite emitting radiation were scattered throughout the territory of the nuclear power plant. The worst thing is that the Soviet people did not immediately learn about the disaster that occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This allowed them to remain calm and prevent panic - this is exactly what the authorities were trying to achieve, turning a blind eye to the cost of their ignorance for people. The ignorant population, for two whole days after the explosion, calmly rested in the territory, which had become deadly dangerous, went out into nature, to the river, on a warm spring day, children were outside for a long time. And everyone absorbed huge doses of radiation.

And on April 28, a complete evacuation was announced. 1100 buses in a column took out the population of Chernobyl, Pripyat and other nearby settlements. People abandoned their houses and everything in them - they were allowed to take only identification cards and food for a couple of days with them.

A zone with a radius of 30 km was recognized as an exclusion zone unsuitable for human life. The water, livestock and vegetation in the area were deemed unfit for consumption and a health hazard.

The temperature in the reactor in the first days reached 5000 degrees - it was impossible to approach it. A radioactive cloud hung over the nuclear power plant, which circled the Earth three times. To nail it to the ground, the reactor was bombed from helicopters with sand and water, but the effect of these actions was meager. There were 77 kg of radiation in the air - as if a hundred atomic bombs were simultaneously dropped on Chernobyl.

A huge ditch was dug near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was filled with the remains of the reactor, pieces of concrete walls, the clothes of the workers who liquidated the disaster. Within a month and a half, the reactor was completely sealed with concrete (the so-called sarcophagus) to prevent radiation leakage.

In 2000, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was closed. Until now, work is underway on the Shelter project. However, Ukraine, for which Chernobyl became a sad "legacy" from the USSR, does not have the required money for it.

The tragedy of the century that they wanted to hide

Who knows how long the Soviet government would have covered up the "incident" if it hadn't been for the weather. Strong winds and rains, so inopportunely passed through Europe, carried the radiation around the world. Ukraine, Belarus and the south-western regions of Russia, as well as Finland, Sweden, Germany, and the UK most of all “got it”.

For the first time, unprecedented figures on the radiation level meters were seen by employees of the nuclear power plant in Forsmark (Sweden). Unlike the Soviet government, they rushed to immediately evacuate all people living in the surrounding area before establishing that the problem was not in their reactor, but the USSR was the alleged source of the outgoing threat.

And exactly two days after the Forsmark scientists announced a radioactive alert, US President Ronald Reagan was holding pictures of the Chernobyl disaster site taken by the CIA artificial satellite. What was depicted on them would make even a person with a very stable psyche horrified.

While periodicals around the world were trumpeting the danger posed by the Chernobyl disaster, the Soviet press escaped with a modest statement that there had been an "accident" at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Chernobyl disaster and its consequences

The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster made themselves felt in the very first months after the explosion. People living in the territories adjacent to the site of the tragedy died from hemorrhages and apoplexy.

The liquidators of the consequences of the accident suffered: out of the total number of liquidators of 600,000, about 100,000 people are no longer alive - they died from malignant tumors and destruction of the hematopoietic system. The existence of other liquidators cannot be called cloudless - they suffer from numerous diseases, including cancer, disorders of the nervous and endocrine systems. The same health problems have many evacuees, the affected population of the adjacent territories.

The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster for children are terrible. Developmental delay, thyroid cancer, mental disorders and a decrease in the body's resistance to all kinds of diseases - that's what awaited children who were exposed to radiation.

However, the most terrible thing is that the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster affected not only people living at that time. Problems with pregnancy, frequent miscarriages, stillborn children, frequent birth of children with genetic abnormalities (Down's syndrome, etc.), weakened immunity, a striking number of children with leukemia, an increase in the number of cancer patients - all these are echoes of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the end of which will come yet not soon. If it comes...

Not only people suffered from the Chernobyl disaster - all life on Earth felt the deadly force of radiation on itself. As a result of the Chernobyl disaster, mutants appeared - the descendants of people and animals born with various deformations. A foal with five legs, a calf with two heads, fish and birds of unnaturally large sizes, giant mushrooms, newborns with deformities of the head and limbs - photos of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are horrific evidence of human negligence.

The lesson presented to humanity by the Chernobyl disaster was not appreciated by people. We are still careless about our own lives, we are still striving to squeeze the maximum out of the riches bestowed on us by nature, everything we need "here and now." Who knows, perhaps the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the beginning, to which humanity is moving slowly but surely...

Film about the Chernobyl disaster
We advise everyone who is interested to watch the full-length documentary"Battle for Chernobyl". This video can be watched right here online and for free. Happy viewing!