Chernobyl

Disaster

Hailin Wang
TDG 201
Oct.17, 2015
Name:____Hailin Wang___________

TDJ20 Technological Disaster Report

Research one of the topics below on the internet and type a detailed technical report.

Topic: Any major technological disaster of the 20th century.

- Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
- Bhopal India (Union Carbide)
- Space Shuttle

- Titanic Sinking
- Hindenburg
- Bridge Collapses

You do not have to complete your report based on the topics noted above. Feel free to research other
technological disasters if you wish.
Requirements:
1. Report must include a cover sheet, at least one picture or graphic, a bibliography, and must
least 400 words minimum in length.

be at

2. Type the report in Google Docs. Use Times New Roman 12 point font, double spaced.
Include your first and last name on the top right corner of your cover sheet.
3. Upload to dropbox and end of period

Content: The report should answer the following questions:

1. A brief history describing the development of the disaster. (e.g. How was the Titanic built and why
was it special?). 6 marks
2. What was the cause of the disaster? 4 marks
3. What, if any, assurances are there that this wont occur again. 4 marks.
4. Cover sheet. 2 marks
5. Bibliography. 2 marks

****Include this sheet with your report****

History: The power plant known as the V.I Lenin power plant during the time of the
soviets was a powerplant that consisted of 4 nuclear reactors. It is a decommissioned nuclear

power station near the city of Pripyat. It is located very close to the belarus-Ukraine border. It
was built to accomadate the growing demand of electricity of the soviet union and to show-off
the technological advancements. A nuclear plant was chosen because they governemnt did not
have a substantial amount of coal and oil at hand to produce energy but did have a large amount
of uranium at hand. A city name Prypiat was constructed to make a living space for the workers
of the plant. Over 130 000 people lived in the city before the disaster struck. The four nuclear
reactors were constructed in the following order of: Reactor No.1 (1977), Reactor No. 2 (1978),
No. 3 (1981), and No. 4 (1983). Two more reactors, Nos. 5 and 6 were under construction at the
time of the accident that occurred in reactor 4. Each reactor had the power to generate 1 000 KW
at its time of operation. The electricity was made by a pair of 500 MW hydrogen-cooled turbo
generators.
The disaster itself was disastrous for both the people living in the surrounding areas to the
whole european continent. The explosion destroyed the concrete barrier and released 400 times
the amount of radiation of an atomic bomb into the atmosphere. The nuclear fallout affected all
parts of Europe and even reached parts as far as Ireland. But Belarus, the bordering country to
Ukraine and Chernobyl, were hit with over 70% of the radiation. Within two weeks 28 people
died from acute radiation syndrome and people who were affected by radiation is upwards
8400000 in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus alone. Furthermore the Chernobyl disaster is classified
as a level 7 international nuclear disaster making it the worst in history.

Cause: The disaster of the chernobyl power plant was caused by a flawed reactor design
that was operated with flawed personnel. The plant operators made fatal mistakes that caused the
steam explosion. During a series of tests run on reactor no.4. Safety procedures were ignored by
the deputy chief engineer and after mistakes that caused the reactor to start shutdown, overheat

and.. explode the concrete barrier that released the radiation into the atmosphere. These crucial
mistakes made by workers at the nuclear power station was one of the causes of the disaster.
What is extremely frustrating is that the safety protocols that were ignored were part of the
plants technical specifications. However the flawed design of the reactor also played a part in
the disaster. First of all the reactors were very different to other nuclear reactors that existed at
the time. Unlike other reactos, instead of using only one form of producing energy, the reactors
employed both a water coolant and a graphite moderator, this caused the reactors to behave
unsteadily. Furthermore, another factor that contributed to the unstability of the reactors was the
control rod design and positive void coefficient that created high nuclear chain reaction and
power output which ultimately created the explosion. To reiterate, the two main reasons that
caused the explosion was lack of decent, diligent personnel and a flawed reactor design.

Works Cited
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Nuclear_Power_Plant#News_media
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/ChernobylAccident/
http://www.nei.org/master-document-folder/backgrounders/fact-sheets/chernobyl-accidentand-its-consequences
http://www.un.org/ha/chernobyl/history.html