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Reading Practice Facts About The Chernobyl Accident

The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. It released at least 100 times more radiation than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Over 800,000 recovery workers risked radiation exposure to contain the accident, and 25,000 have died. The exclusion zone around the reactor became a wildlife sanctuary as human activity decreased, though animals still show elevated radiation levels. Over 5 million people live in areas considered contaminated by the accident's radioactive fallout.

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34 views4 pages

Reading Practice Facts About The Chernobyl Accident

The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. It released at least 100 times more radiation than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Over 800,000 recovery workers risked radiation exposure to contain the accident, and 25,000 have died. The exclusion zone around the reactor became a wildlife sanctuary as human activity decreased, though animals still show elevated radiation levels. Over 5 million people live in areas considered contaminated by the accident's radioactive fallout.

Uploaded by

Fernanda Sales
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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READING PRACTICE

FACTS ABOUT THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT

The Chernobyl disaster remains the only level 7 incident on the international Nuclear
Event Scale (INES) making it the biggest man-made disaster of all time

The disaster released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped
on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

Nuclear rain from the disaster fell as far away as Ireland.

800,000 men risked their lives by exposing themselves to radiation in order to contain
the situation. 25,000 of these have died and 70,000 are disabled.

20% of those deaths were suicides

The environmental group Greenpeace places the eventual death toll at 93,000 cancer
deaths worldwide.

There are plans to use the areas surrounding the reactor for activities such as
radioactive waste.

1
The radiation leak caused the nearby forest to turn a bright ginger color, thus the forest
was named the "Red Forest"

The region has become one of the world's most unique wildlife sanctuaries with thriving
populations of wolves, deer, beavers, eagles, and other animals. Due to the fact that
human activity in the region decreased, animal and plant species actually began to
thrive.

According to recent findings the animals have still not recovered, however, and radiation
levels of almost all species within the exclusion zone is elevated.

Some insects have been observed to exhibit strange color patterns that correlate to
regions of higher radiation

Radioactive particles sinking deeper into the soil had an effect on agriculture

Even today, milk in certain regions still shows traces of contamination and most likely
will for several more decades

Interestingly enough, scientists have found evidence that plants and animals are
actually adapting to the increased levels of radiation, which means that we can see
evolution happening right before our eyes.

2
More than 5 million people live in areas that are considered to be "contaminated" with
radioactive material from the accident

Today, the impact from the accident's psychological distress* is the largest public health
concern.

*Due to prejudice towards the victims.

Many doctors throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union advised pregnant
women to undergo abortions to avoid bearing children with birth defects in spite of the
fact that radiation levels the women were exposed to was too low to cause problems.

Belarus received 70% of the contamination from Chernobyl.

According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 28 of the workers at


Chernobyl died in the four months following the accident.

Greenpeace expects up to 60,000 cases of thyroid cancer from the incident.

Around 97% of the radioactive material remains in a crumbling sarcophagus.

200 tons of radioactive materials are still inside the reactor

3
Chernobyl's last reactor was shut down only in 2000.

Even today, almost 30 years later, some of the initial effects of radiation are still felt and
various genetic anomalies are still being documented

Lakes and rivers surrounding the disaster zone were also filled with harmful radiation

Some radiation escaped the exclusion zone. One way this happened was via the
aquatic food chain as radiation was measured in fish as far as Germany and
Scandinavia.

Thanks to relatively rapid radioactive decay* the effects of this more distant aquatic
radiation quickly decreased, and it never posed a significant threat to humans.

*The atoms “died”

Can you go on Chernobyl tours? The area was opened to tourists in February 2011 and it quickly
became a popular destination until the trips were suspended again in June of the same year. By
November 2011 a Kiev court officially banned tours of Chernobyl, but by January 2013 the nearby town of
Pripyat was re-opened for people to visit. There is still an exclusion zone around the nuclear reactor, and
it is also covered with a sarcophagus to prevent more radiation leaks. Tourist can only access the
exclusion zone if they are with a licensed guide who therefore knows how to avoid the more dangerous
areas.

Photos: https://allthatsinteresting.com/abandoned-chernobyl-exclusion-zone#1

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