25 Facts You May Not Know About The Chernobyl Accident

Posted by , Updated on March 21, 2024

On April 26, 1986 the world witnessed the worst human made disaster in history and the effects are still being felt today. Here are 25 facts you may not know about the Chernobyl Accident.

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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

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

Slide1www.mytravelaffairs.com
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Nuclear rain from the disaster fell as far away as Ireland

Slide23www.nsrl.ttu.edu
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Not surprisingly, the accident has caused the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars.

Slide16www.nce.co.uk
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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.

UKRAINE CHERNOBYL MEMORIESwww.ratical.org
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20% of those deaths were suicides

Slide9www.mytravelaffairs.com
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The environmental group Greenpeace places the eventual death toll at 93,000 cancer deaths world wide.

Slide20www.constantinealexander.net
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Some people have returned to the affected area with their families in order to take advantage of the government's compensation benefit.

Slide18chernobylgallery.com
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There are plans to use the areas immediately surrounding the reactor for activities such as radioactive waste processing or the development of natural preserves

Ukraine Chernobyl Tourismwww.spiegel.de
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More than 5 million people live in areas that are considered to be "contaminated" with radioactive material from the accident

Slide13www.irishexaminer.com
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The Chernobyl nuclear accident is known as the worst and most serious accident in nuclear history

Slide12www.theatlantic.com
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The region has become one of the world's most unique wildlife sanctuaries with thriving populations of wolves, deer, beavers, eagles, and other animals.

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Every renovated house in Chernobyl today has an inscription on it bearing the name of the property owner

Slide10thepinkmoustache.net
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The radiation leak caused the nearby forest to turn a bright ginger color, thus the forest was named the "Red Forest"

To match WITNESS/BELARUS-CHERNOBYLmarkgelbart.wordpress.com
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Today, the impact from the accident's psychological distress is the largest public health concern

Slide17en.wikipedia.org
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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.

pregnantwikimedia.org
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Suprisinglly, the overall rate of cancer deaths and other health effects related to Chernobyl accident is lower than initially feared

ambulancewikimedia.org
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Belarus received 70% of the contamination from Chernobyl

Belwikimedia.org
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According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comission (NRC), 28 of the workers at Chernobyl died in the four months following the accident.

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

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

shelterflickr.com
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An extra 9,000 cancer deaths are expected by the UN-led Chernobyl Forum. However, this figure is controversial.

cancerflickr.com
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200 tons of radioactive materials are still inside the reactor

Planten.wikipedia.org
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Chernobyl's last reactor was shut down in 2000

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Officials say that it could take up to 100 years before the station is completely decommissioned.

100-yearsen.wikipedia.org