Fun and/or Interesting
More About “Chernobyl”…
I started to watch this HBO series a few weeks ago. It’s a gripping replay of the actual event – one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history. Take a look at the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9APLXM9Ei8
What I’ve seen so far made me want to learn more, so I did some googling. Here’s some of what I found out:
* The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel.
* The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind – some 5200 PBq (I-131 eq).
* Two Chernobyl plant workers died on the night of the accident, and a further 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute radiation poisoning.
* UNSCEAR says that apart from increased thyroid cancers, “there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident.”
* Resettlement of areas from which people were relocated is ongoing. In 2011 Chernobyl was officially declared a tourist attraction.