As Seen On - TV Series: Chernobyl

 

Chernobyl is a historical drama that revolves around the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the events that followed.

The nuclear accident occurred in Ukraine on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in history both in terms of cost and casualties. 

The unfortunate accident transpired during a safety test on the steam turbine of a nuclear reactor. The power output unexpectedly dropped to near-zero during a planned decrease of reactor power in preparation for the test,

Operators were unable to restore the power level specified under test program. This resulted in unstable conditions in the reactors. The eminence of the risk was not evident in the operating instructions. Thus, the operators proceeded with the test and after its completion, the operators triggered a reactor shutdown. 

The critical design flaws and negligence on the operator’s part, primed the reactors to explode. An enormous amount of energy was released as an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction begun. 

The core melted down and explosions ruptured the reactor core and destroyed the reactor building. The open-air reactor core fire released considerable airborne radioactive contamination for about 9 days that precipitated onto parts of the USSR and Western Europe.

As a result of rising ambient radiation levels off-site, a large number of people were evacuated from the area, and later it became the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone covering an area of approximately 2,600 km².

The disaster resulted in the blemish of health effects in general population. As per the data published, the disaster stemmed into many childhood thyroid cancer deaths. 

Former USSR i.e. present day Russia, built a protective Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus by December 1986. This initiative was aimed to reduce the spread of contamination from wreckage and protected it from weathering.

The continued deterioration of the sarcophagus forced further enclosed in 2017 by the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement. It allowed the removal of sarcophagus and the reactor debris containing radioactive hazard. The nuclear clean-up is expected to be completed by 2065.