The Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) was built in the eastern part of the Belarusian-Ukrainian Polesie in northern Ukraine, 11 km from the modern border with the Republic of Belarus, on the banks of the Pripyat River.

The first stage of the Chernobyl NPP (the first and second power units with RBMK-1000 reactors) was built in 1970-1977, the second stage (the third and fourth power units with similar reactors) was built on the same site by the end of 1983.

Construction of the third stage of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant with the fifth and sixth power units began in 1981, but was stopped at a high level of readiness after the disaster.

The design capacity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after full completion of construction was supposed to be 6000 MW; by April 1986, 4 power units with a total electrical capacity of 4000 MW were operational. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was considered one of the most powerful in the USSR and in the world.

Ukraine's first nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vasily Litosh

In 1970, a new city was founded for the employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and their families, called Pripyat.

The projected population of the city was 75-78 thousand inhabitants. The city grew at a rapid pace, and by November 1985 there were 47,500 people living in it, with an annual population growth of 1,500 people per year. The average age of the city's residents was 26 years old; representatives of more than 25 nationalities lived in Pripyat.

Employees of the Chernobyl power plant begin a new shift. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vasily Litosh

April 25, 1986, 1:00. Work has begun on shutting down the 4th power unit of the station for scheduled maintenance. During such stops, various tests of equipment are carried out, both routine and non-standard, carried out according to separate programs. This stop involved testing the so-called “turbogenerator rotor run-down” mode, proposed by the general designer (Gidroproekt Institute) as an additional emergency power supply system.

3:47 The thermal power of the reactor has been reduced by 50 percent. The tests were to be carried out at a power level of 22-31%.

13:05 Turbine generator No. 7, part of the system of the 4th power unit, is disconnected from the network. The power supply for auxiliary needs was transferred to turbogenerator No. 8.

14:00 In accordance with the program, the reactor's emergency cooling system was turned off. However, a further reduction in power was prohibited by the Kievenergo dispatcher, as a result of which the 4th power unit worked for several hours with the emergency reactor cooling system turned off.

23:10 The Kievenergo dispatcher gives permission to further reduce the reactor power.

In the control room of the power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the city of Pripyat. Photo: RIA Novosti

April 26, 1986, 0:28. When switching from a local automatic control (LAR) system to an automatic total power controller (AP), the operator was unable to maintain the reactor power at a given level, and the thermal power dropped to the level of 30 MW.

1:00 The NPP personnel managed to increase the reactor power and stabilize it at the level of 200 MW instead of 700-1000 MW included in the test program.

Dosimetrist Igor Akimov. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Kostin

1:03-1:07 Two more were additionally connected to the six operating main circulation pumps in order to increase the reliability of cooling of the apparatus core after testing.

1:19 Due to lower water levels, the plant operator increased the supply of condensate (feedwater). In addition, in violation of instructions, the reactor shutdown systems were blocked due to signals of insufficient water level and steam pressure. The last manual control rods were removed from the core, which made it possible to manually control the processes occurring in the reactor.

1:22-1:23 The water level has stabilized. The station employees received a printout of the reactor parameters, which showed that the reactivity margin was dangerously low (which, again, according to the instructions, meant that the reactor needed to be shut down). The nuclear power plant personnel decided that it was possible to continue working with the reactor and conducting research. At the same time, the thermal power began to increase.

1:23.04 The operator closed the stop and control valves of turbogenerator No. 8. The steam supply to it stopped. The “rundown mode” began, that is, the active part of the planned experiment.

1:23.38 The shift supervisor of the 4th power unit, realizing the danger of the situation, gave the command to the senior reactor control engineer to press the emergency shutdown button for the A3-5 reactor. At the signal from this button, emergency protection rods were supposed to be inserted into the core, but they could not be lowered completely - the steam pressure in the reactor held them at a height of 2 meters (the height of the reactor is 7 meters). The thermal power continued to grow rapidly, and the reactor began to self-accelerate.

Turbine room of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vasily Litosh

1:23.44-1:23.47 Two powerful explosions occurred, as a result of which the reactor of the 4th power unit was completely destroyed. The walls and ceilings of the turbine room were also destroyed, and fires broke out. Employees began to leave their jobs.

Killed as a result of the explosion MCP pump operator (Main Circulation Pump) Valery Khodemchuk. His body, littered with the debris of two 130-ton separator drums, was never found.

As a result of the destruction of the reactor, a huge amount of radioactive substances was released into the atmosphere.

Helicopters are decontaminating the buildings of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the accident. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Kostin

1:24 The control panel of the militarized fire department No. 2 for the protection of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant received a signal about a fire. The duty guard of the fire department, headed by internal service lieutenant Vladimir Pravik. The guard of the 6th city fire department, headed by Lieutenant Victor Kibenok. Took charge of the fire extinguishing Major Leonid Telyatnikov. The firefighters had only tarpaulin overalls, mittens, and a helmet as protective equipment, as a result of which they received a huge dose of radiation.

2:00 Firefighters begin to show signs of severe radiation exposure - weakness, vomiting, “nuclear tanning.” They were provided with assistance on the spot, at the station’s first aid post, after which they were transported to MSCh-126.

Work is underway to decontaminate the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vitaly Ankov

4:00 Firefighters managed to localize the fire on the roof of the turbine room, preventing it from spreading to the third power unit.

6:00 The fire at the 4th power unit has been completely extinguished. At the same time, the second victim of the explosion died in the Pripyat medical unit, employee of the commissioning enterprise Vladimir Shashenok. The cause of death was a spinal fracture and numerous burns.

9:00-12:00 A decision was made to evacuate the first group of station employees and firefighters who suffered from severe exposure to Moscow. A total of 134 Chernobyl employees and rescue team members who were at the plant during the explosion developed radiation sickness, and 28 of them died over the next few months. 23-year-old lieutenants Vladimir Pravik and Viktor Kibenok died in Moscow on May 11, 1986.

15:00 It has been reliably established that the reactor of the 4th power unit has been destroyed, and a huge amount of radioactive substances is entering the atmosphere.

23:00 The government commission to investigate the causes and eliminate the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant decides to prepare transport for the evacuation of the population of the city of Pripyat and other objects located in the immediate vicinity of the disaster site.

View of the sarcophagus of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the abandoned city of Pripyat. Photo: RIA Novosti / Erastov

April 27, 1986, 2:00. There are 1,225 buses and 360 trucks concentrated in the area of ​​the Chernobyl settlement. Two diesel trains with 1,500 seats have been prepared at the Janov railway station.

7:00 The government commission makes the final decision on the start of the evacuation of the civilian population from the danger zone.

A helicopter makes radiological measurements over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant building after the disaster. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vitaly Ankov

13:10 The local radio in Pripyat begins to broadcast the following message: “Attention, dear comrades! The City Council of People's Deputies reports that due to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the city of Pripyat, an unfavorable radiation situation is developing. Party and Soviet bodies and military units are taking the necessary measures. However, in order to ensure the complete safety of people, and, first of all, children, there is a need to temporarily evacuate city residents to nearby settlements in the Kyiv region. To do this, buses accompanied by police officers and representatives of the city executive committee will be delivered to each residential building today, April twenty-seventh, starting at 2:00 p.m. It is recommended to take with you documents, essential items, and also, in case of emergency, food. The heads of enterprises and institutions have determined the circle of workers who remain on site to ensure the normal functioning of city enterprises. All residential buildings will be guarded by police officers during the evacuation period. Comrades, when temporarily leaving your home, please do not forget to close the windows, turn off electrical and gas appliances, and turn off the water taps. We ask you to remain calm, organized and orderly during the temporary evacuation.”

April 26, 2016 marks exactly 30 years since the terrible accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was the largest disaster in the history of nuclear energy: both in terms of the number of victims and damage, and in terms of the number of forces and resources involved in the process.

On April 26, 1986, at 01:23 local time, an explosion occurred at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The structure of the power unit partially collapsed, and there was a significant release of a huge amount of radioactive materials into the environment. One person died directly from the explosion - pump operator Valery Khodemchuk (his body could not be found when clearing the rubble); in the morning of the same day, automation system engineer Vladimir Shashenok died from burns and spinal injuries received during a fire at the power unit in the medical unit.

Over the next three months, 29 people died in various medical institutions from the immediate consequences of the accident (injuries, severe stages of radiation sickness). The next 15 years claimed the lives of more than 60 people suffering from the effects of radiation exposure. Tens of thousands of people, liquidators and local residents, one way or another, suffer from the consequences of the accident: diseases of the thyroid gland, hematopoietic system, and psychoneurological disorders. There is still no strict scientific data on the consequences of the disaster for future generations, although their presence is obvious.

Memorial plaque at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in memory of Valery Khodemchuk, who died in the reactor explosion, whose body was never found during the removal of the rubble

As a result of the accident at the nuclear power plant, due to the explosion and subsequent fire, a radioactive cloud formed in the reactor, which fell in the form of precipitation over a vast territory of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Now this territory has turned into an “exclusion zone”, access to it is limited, all economic activity is prohibited, the population has decreased hundreds of times.

In the spring and summer of 1986, 116 thousand people were evacuated from the “exclusion zone” of the nuclear power plant: these are the cities of Pripyat and Chernobyl and many villages in Ukraine, Belarus and part of Russia. The evacuation was delayed due to the government's fear of making the scale of the disaster public; thousands of people received large doses of radiation due to ignorance. People left their homes in a hurry, they were allowed to take with them only documents and some clothes; the subsequent compensation, of course, did not cover the value of all lost property. In subsequent years, another 270 thousand people were resettled from the zone of strict radiation control to safer conditions.

Over 600 thousand people from all over the Union and thousands of units of special equipment were involved in eliminating the consequences of the accident. In total, in 1986–1991, the USSR spent 18 billion US dollars to eliminate the accident, 35% of this amount was allocated for social assistance to the victims, 17% went for resettlement. Funding for eliminating the consequences of the accident is still underway; Ukraine, Belarus and Russia have their own programs to help victims, international organizations are financing the construction of a new protective dome (sarcophagus) over the damaged power unit.

The terrible disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant demonstrated the fragility of our ecology, caused a new surge of heated discussions about the safe use of nuclear energy, and generally left the most impressive mark in history. It had a huge impact on modern culture (especially in the CIS countries, which were most affected by the disaster). Dozens of writers, poets, musicians and film directors were inspired to create new works.

Movie

The “Chernobyl theme” appears in world cinema, literature and music almost immediately after the 1986 tragedy.

"The Bell of Chernobyl", 1987

One of the first documentaries about the Chernobyl accident was “The Bell of Chernobyl,” released in 1987. Vladimir Sinelnikov and Rolland Sergienko began filming the film in May 1986, immediately after the disaster. The film chronicles the aftermath of the accident and contains interviews with scientists, engineers, workers and local residents. “The Bell of Chernobyl” was included in the Guinness Book of Records as a film shown in all countries of the world where there is television. At least that's why it's worth watching.

“One second before disaster”, 2004

One of the episodes of the popular American television project “One Second Before the Disaster” by the National Geographic channel tells about the Chernobyl accident, in which the chronology of the accident is reconstructed minute by minute using computer graphics and official documents. The creators of the series carefully analyze the reasons and consider the events that could lead to the disaster.

"Battle for Chernobyl", 2006

In 2006, Discovery Channel released the film “The Battle of Chernobyl,” which includes a large amount of previously unpublished materials: photographs, data, and recently discovered secret photo and video archives. It contains stories from eyewitnesses of the tragedy, interviews with liquidators, memoirs of Gorbachev, opinions of researchers, ecologists and geneticists assessing the scale of the disaster. A realistic picture of April 1986 was recreated using computer graphics.

"Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster", 2006

In the same year, the BBC film “Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster” was released, one of the series of the documentary project “Surviving Disaster”. The creators dramatically tell the story of the disaster, based only on confirmed facts.

“Chernobyl. 3828", 2011

In 2011, the documentary film “Chernobyl. 3828" - telling about the tragic fate of the liquidators of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. One of the highest quality and most serious films on the topic.

"Disintegration", 1990

The Chernobyl disaster also had a strong influence on feature cinema, where directors tried to show the impact of the tragedy on human relationships and on the worldview of the characters. The first feature film about the Chernobyl disaster was “Disintegration,” directed by Mikhail Belikov, about a journalist trying to obtain the truth about the accident. The film has several storylines at once: the family drama of a journalist whose wife cheated on him, the relationship of the newlyweds who got married on the day of the disaster in the “City of Power Engineers”, the story of a boy left in the contaminated city, all of them take place against the backdrop of the events at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

"On Saturday", 2011

The 2011 film “On Saturday” directed by Alexander Mindadze shows the events of the first 24 hours after the accident. The film does not directly name the city and time of events, but the reference to the Chernobyl accident is obvious. The main character becomes an involuntary witness to the disaster, almost accidentally learns the truth about the tragedy and finds himself faced with a moral choice: save people or carry out the orders of his superiors and not spread panic. The film was included in the competition program of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, and also received the prize for best film at the festival in Brussels.

"Land of Oblivion", 2011

In 2011, a French-Ukrainian film was released, telling about the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and its consequences, starring Olga Kurylenko. It differs favorably from other feature films in that part of the filming took place directly in the “exclusion zone” under the supervision of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine.

"Forbidden Zone", 2012

In 2012, Oren Peli, director of the famous Paranormal Activity film series, directed the dark horror film Forbidden Zone, a story about a group of friends who, while traveling around Europe, decided to visit Pripyat. The film contains a large number of blunders, and in general its quality lacks stars from the sky, but it has a right to exist. It is only worth noting that all scenes of the film were filmed in Serbia and Hungary, apparently to protect the actors from the harmful effects of radiation.

“Pripyat. Left Behind", 2016

Young Russian and Ukrainian filmmakers, in response to Oren Peli, shot the mockumentary “Pripyat. Left Behind,” which tells a similar story about American tourists who disappeared in Pripyat. The film is due to hit theaters in 2016.

"Moths", 2013

In 2013, Ukrainian director Vitaly Vorobyov shot the four-part film “Moths,” which tells the story of the tragic love story of high school student Ali and conscript soldier Pasha, unfolding against the backdrop of the Chernobyl accident. Almost like the old story of Romeo and Juliet, only the place of jealous Italian clans is taken by lethal doses of radiation and troops evacuating the population from the “exclusion zone.” The series was included in the list of “10 best Russian TV series of 2014” according to Afisha magazine.

“Chernobyl. Exclusion zone", 2014

“Chernobyl. Exclusion Zone" is a Russian television series filmed for the TNT channel. Mysticism, time travel, mysterious creatures, twisted plot. In general, one could put an end to this point, but in 2014, “Chernobyl” surprisingly outstripped the record-breaking first season of “Fizruk” in ratings and was also included in the list of the 10 best Russian TV series according to Afisha. We don’t know how this happened, but the fact remains.

"Chernobyl: final warning", 1991

Hollywood did not cover the topic of the Chernobyl disaster so widely in feature films, preferring documentaries. The Chernobyl disaster, the nuclear power plant itself, or the abandoned Pripyat became the setting for individual scenes of several films at once, for example, “Transformers 3,” “Die Hard 5,” “Godzilla,” but detailed films about the disaster themselves never appeared.

The only highlight is the 1991 television film Chernobyl: The Final Warning, starring Jon Voight, Angelina Jolie's father. The film tells more about the real life of the American doctor Robert Peter Gale. He responded to the invitation of the USSR leadership to help treat radiation sickness, leukemia and bone marrow transplants for victims of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and led the international medical team to eliminate the consequences of the accident.

It is worth noting that the Chernobyl accident also appeared in the legendary “X-Files” and in several episodes of “The Simpsons.” It can also be said that it was the Chernobyl disaster that largely inspired the creators of the wonderful domestic animated series “Atomic Forest”.

The science

The Chernobyl disaster provided enormous practical material for the study of radiation and its effects on humans and other living organisms.

Radiation medicine received a big boost, receiving dozens of “guinea pigs” with a variety of manifestations of radiation sickness and radiation damage. The effectiveness of many anti-radiation drugs and new treatment methods has been practically proven. To the credit of Soviet medicine, it must be said that if it were not for the selfless and often dangerous work of doctors and scientists, there could have been many more victims of the disaster.

After the Chernobyl accident, various commissions carried out a comprehensive analysis of the causes of the disaster; based on this “work on mistakes,” safety instructions were improved and special equipment used in nuclear energy was modernized.

An extremely interesting side effect was the creation of an “exclusion zone” around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In the area where all economic activity was stopped and the entire population was evicted, wildlife flourished. In Belarus, where the “exclusion zone” is much larger than in Ukraine, the Polesie State Radiation-Ecological Reserve was created in 1988. Now bison, lynxes and wolves live there. Later, a population of Przewalski's horses was even brought there, which settled well in the new place and gave birth to numerous viable offspring.

Biological scientists are closely monitoring the development of the animal population in the reserve, using the unique opportunity to observe a piece of wild nature almost in the very center of Europe. It must be said that there are no out-of-the-ordinary mutations or developmental problems observed in animals in the “nuclear reserve”. On the contrary, in the absence of chemical pollution, hunters and epidemics from livestock, local forest inhabitants feel quite at ease, breed and multiply at an impressive rate.

"Radioactive Wolves of Chernobyl"

In 2011, an interesting documentary film was released by the Belarusian film director-animalist Igor Byshnev, “Radioactive Wolves of Chernobyl”, who, together with scientists and filmmakers from the USA, Germany and Austria, spent a year and a half in the “zone”, filming the life of wild nature. Here you will see packs of wolves running among abandoned houses, bison grazing peacefully against the background of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant pipes and schools of fatty fish swimming in the cooling pond of the nuclear power plant.

Literature

The Chernobyl accident also left its mark in the literature. The most important place is occupied by the memoirs of the liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster. This is documentary evidence of the heroes of that time, people who did not allow the scale of the accident to grow. There are dozens of such books, among them “Chernobyl. Revenge of the Peaceful Atom” by Nikolai Karpan, who at the time of the accident was the deputy chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for science and nuclear safety. The author collected and processed a large amount of data about the accident, parameters of the emergency process, entries in operational logs, eyewitness accounts, analyzed the design characteristics of the reactor, and also attended court hearings in the case of the accident. As a result, this book became one of the most authoritative and factually accurate studies of the disaster.

Worthy of attention are “Chernobyl Notebooks” and “Nuclear Tanning” by Grigory Medvedev, a direct participant in the design and construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who participated in the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster. He was heavily irradiated, spent seven months in the hospital and, based on the results of his research, wrote worthy works. According to the review of the famous academician Sakharov, Medvedev’s “Chernobyl Notebooks” “is a competent and fearlessly truthful story about the tragedy, complete first-hand evidence, free of silences and departmental “diplomacy.” On the other hand, many direct participants in the Chernobyl accident dispute the accuracy of the information in Medvedev’s writings and point to factual errors and inaccuracies in the description of the operation of the reactor and other systems.

Another view is presented in the book “Chernobyl. How it was” by Anatoly Dyatlov, former deputy chief engineer for the operation of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who, according to the official version, was found to be one of those responsible for the accident. Despite the fact that during the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster, Dyatlov received a large dose of radiation and suffered from radiation sickness, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After the intercession of major scientists, including the same academician Sakharov, he was released early after 4 years of serving his sentence and was finally able to begin presenting his view of those events.

You can read Sergei Belyakov’s book “The Liquidator”, the memoirs of academician Valery Legasov, who did a great job of eliminating the consequences of the accident, and the work of Yuri Shcherbak “Chernobyl”. There are a huge number of books about Chernobyl and most of them are really good.

Among the works of fiction, it is worth noting the story by Vladimir Yavorivsky “Wormwood”, which appeared as a result of his correspondent work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant during the accident, the story by Alexander Kramer “Black...(byl)”, the novel by Sergei Mirny “Living Force. Diary of a Liquidator,” published in 2010 and full of comic and dramatic adventures of liquidators based on real stories.

A separate category consists of numerous fantasy novels based on the Stalker universe, one way or another connected with Chernobyl. For the most part, this is simple pulp reading, such as: “Death Saga: The Mist”, “Heart of a Deserter”, “Mutant Hunters”. Surely, among them there are some really interesting works, but we are too lazy to read them all in order to find this diamond in the barrel of mutants, invaders, artifacts and other garbage.

Music

A variety of performers have touched on the theme of the Chernobyl disaster in their works. Already in 1988, the Russian composer Mikael Tariverdiev wrote a symphony for organ “Chernobyl”, Adriano Celentano dedicated the song “Sognando Chernobyl” (“I Dream of Chernobyl”) to the tragedy, and the recently deceased David Bowie, impressed by what happened, created the hit “Time Will Crawl” , as he admitted in his interview.

• David Bowie - Time Will Crawl

The accident and its consequences are dedicated to “Chernobyl Zone” by Taras Petrinenko, “Chernobyl Foreva” by the group “Skryabin”, “Destroyed the Night” by the group “Krasnaya Plesen”, Lumen “Heaven”, “By You” by the Belarusian group “NAKA”, debut album of 2011 “There will be gentle rain” by the project “Kosmodromm” and dozens and dozens more compositions of various genres. Even Nikita Dzhigurda made his mark with the original song “Chernobyl Pain”.

And just now the Ukrainian electro-folk group ONUKA recorded a mini-album Vidlik, dedicated to Chernobyl.

• Onuka - Vidlik

The “Exclusion Zone” has become a popular location for filming music videos. The ruins of Pripyat were used as scenery by British rapper Example, Ukrainian singer Alyosha and Australian group Fractures.

• Fractures - It's Alright

In 2014, Pink Floyd, especially for the anniversary re-release of the album “The Division Bell”, released in 1994, shot a gorgeous video for the song “Marooned”, which demonstrates unique footage of Pripyat.

• Pink Floyd - Marooned

Video games

The leadership here is, of course, held by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. from Ukrainians GSC Game World. The first part of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl series, released in 2007, created a sensation all over the world. A first-person shooter with RPG elements gave everyone the opportunity to travel through the “Zone”. The game mixed the history of the Chernobyl accident and the world of the books of the Strugatsky brothers, and this mixture gave excellent results. By the time the third part, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, was released in 2009, the game had become a cult favorite and had gained millions of fans around the world. There is still a powerful gaming community around Stalker, which produces new amateur modifications. The cultural phenomenon of “Stalker” has stepped far beyond the boundaries of the gaming world - several fan fiction novels based on the game’s universe are published annually, amateur short films are shot, role-players have firmly adopted the “Stalker” theme for their games using airsoft weapons and other paraphernalia.

Pripyat and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant appeared in both parts of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. During two missions you will be able to see the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and run through the streets of abandoned Pripyat. Modern Warfare 2 has ported the map from the first part and gives players the opportunity to once again visit familiar places in the “special mission” mode.

The Chernobyl series of games from the indie company Silden and Play Publishing, launched in 2011, is an example of how games should not be made. The guys tried to capitalize on the popularity of the Chernobyl theme and created a low-grade, boring shooter that amazes with its monotony and stupidity.

The “Half-Life: Chernobyl” mod, which appeared on pirated discs in 2003, deserves attention. The action of a small modification takes place during the Chernobyl accident.

Tourism

The “exclusion zone,” and especially the dead city of Soviet nuclear scientists, Pripyat, which is part of it, has become a real mecca of extreme tourism. Only local workers, relatives of local residents or tourists with accompanying persons can legally visit the zone. But the procedure for obtaining a pass is simple - and thousands of tourists every year take the opportunity to visit the territory of the local apocalypse.

The radiation level in some places exceeds the permissible level by 30 times, but this does not stop those who want to look at the largest monument to the man-made disaster. If you strictly follow the instructions, do not eat the berries that grow wildly here, do not touch smelly objects with your bare hands, and do not swallow dust, then the dose you receive will not be higher than what you will receive during a transatlantic air flight.

And it’s better to be really careful when following the rules. For example, in the Pripyat hospital (and this is one of the main attractions of the excursion), there are a bunch of all sorts of interesting objects lying around: flasks, syringes, clamps and scalpels - you just want to take something as a souvenir. But we must remember that it was here that the first victims were brought to extinguish the fire of the fourth power unit, and such an unremarkable object as the balaclava of one of the liquidators now emits more than 10,000 micro-roentgens per hour, while the normal background is only 20-30 micro-roentgens. If you pick one up, your future children (if there are any) will definitely not thank you.

Most of the “exclusion zone” is located in the Kyiv region of Ukraine; you can get here from the capital by car in just one and a half to two hours. At the Dityatki checkpoint, tourists are met by police officers, they check their passport data with the lists sent in advance and let everyone through the barbed wire without any problems.

An excursion to Pripyat will cost about 150 US dollars, excluding tickets to Kyiv and back. The price of a one-day tour includes travel by a comfortable bus from Kyiv, registration of an entry permit and the accompaniment of a licensed guide along the entire route. The excursion includes a visit to the observation deck at the gate of the fourth power unit with a view of the “Sarcophagus”, a walk around Pripyat with a visit to the most notable attractions: the Polesie hotel, a school, a kindergarten, a hospital, a swimming pool and a Ferris wheel, as well as an optional visit to the site “ Chernobyl 2" and meeting with self-settlers in the village of Parishiv.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant “exclusion zone” is traditionally included in the list of the most exotic tourist destinations along with Antarctica and North Korea. Over the past 15 years, the number of official tourists has already exceeded several tens of thousands. Needless to say, this flow has grown significantly since the release of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

In addition to official groups, illegal tourists also regularly sneak into the territory of the “exclusion zone”; every year the police detain about 400 stalkers in the territory of the “zone”. But they only face an administrative fine of about 1.5 thousand rubles, and such punishment does not stop extreme sports enthusiasts who want to explore the “zone” on their own.

***

Since 2004, April 26 has been celebrated in the CIS countries as the International Day of Remembrance for Victims of Radiation Accidents and Disasters. The liquidators of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant still live among us; many suffer from the consequences of radiation exposure, serious illnesses and echoes of injuries received while working in the accident zone. If it were not for these sacrifices, the dedication and courage that they showed during the work to eliminate the consequences of the disaster, radiation contamination would have affected much larger areas and would have affected the lives of an immeasurably larger number of people.

Swedish scientists have concluded that a weak nuclear explosion occurred during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Experts analyzed the most likely course of nuclear reactions in the reactor and simulated the meteorological conditions for the distribution of decay products. talks about an article by researchers published in the journal Nuclear Technology.

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on April 26, 1986. The disaster threatened the development of nuclear energy throughout the world. A 30-kilometer exclusion zone was created around the station. Radioactive fallout even occurred in the Leningrad region, and cesium isotopes were found in elevated concentrations in lichen and deer meat in the Arctic regions of Russia.

There are different versions of the causes of the disaster. Most often, they point to the incorrect actions of the Chernobyl NPP personnel, which resulted in the ignition of hydrogen and the destruction of the reactor. However, some scientists believe that a real nuclear explosion occurred.

Boiling Hell

A nuclear reactor maintains a nuclear chain reaction. The nucleus of a heavy atom, for example, uranium, collides with a neutron, becomes unstable and disintegrates into two smaller nuclei - decay products. The fission process releases energy and two or three fast free neutrons, which in turn cause the decay of other uranium nuclei in the nuclear fuel. The number of decays thus increases exponentially, but the chain reaction inside the reactor is controlled, preventing a nuclear explosion.

In thermal nuclear reactors, fast neutrons are not suitable for exciting heavy atoms, so their kinetic energy is reduced using a moderator. Slow neutrons, called thermal neutrons, are more likely to cause the decay of uranium-235 atoms used as fuel. In such cases, they speak of a high cross section for the interaction of uranium nuclei with neutrons. Thermal neutrons themselves are so called because they are in thermodynamic equilibrium with the environment.

The heart of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the RBMK-1000 reactor (a high-power channel reactor with a capacity of 1000 megawatts). Essentially, it is a graphite cylinder with many holes (channels). Graphite acts as a moderator, and nuclear fuel is loaded into fuel elements (fuel elements) through technological channels. Fuel rods are made of zirconium, a metal with a very small neutron capture cross section. They allow neutrons and heat to pass through, which heats the coolant, preventing the leakage of decay products. Fuel rods can be combined into fuel assemblies (FA). Fuel elements are typical for heterogeneous nuclear reactors, in which the moderator is separated from the fuel.

RBMK is a single-circuit reactor. Water is used as a coolant, which is partially converted into steam. The steam-water mixture enters separators, where steam is separated from water and sent to turbogenerators. The exhaust steam condenses and re-enters the reactor.

There was a flaw in the RBMK design that played a fatal role in the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The fact is that the distance between the channels was too large and too many fast neutrons were slowed down by graphite, turning into thermal neutrons. They are well absorbed by water, but steam bubbles constantly form there, which reduces the absorption characteristics of the coolant. As a result, reactivity increases and the water heats up even more. That is, the RBMK is characterized by a fairly high vapor coefficient of reactivity, which makes it difficult to control the progress of a nuclear reaction. The reactor must be equipped with additional safety systems, and only highly qualified personnel should work on it.

They broke the wood

On April 25, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was scheduled to shut down the fourth power unit for scheduled repairs and an experiment. Specialists from the Hydroproject Research Institute have proposed a method for emergency power supply to the station's pumps using the kinetic energy of a turbogenerator rotating by inertia. This would allow, even during a power outage, to maintain coolant circulation in the circuit until the backup power turns on.

According to the plan, the experiment was to begin when the thermal power of the reactor dropped to 700 megawatts. The power was reduced by 50 percent (1,600 megawatts), and the process of shutting down the reactor was delayed by about nine hours at the request of Kyiv. As soon as the power reduction resumed, it unexpectedly dropped to almost zero due to erroneous actions of nuclear power plant personnel and xenon poisoning of the reactor - the accumulation of the xenon-135 isotope, which reduces reactivity. To cope with the sudden problem, emergency neutron-absorbing rods were removed from the RBMK, but the power did not rise above 200 megawatts. Despite the unstable operation of the reactor, the experiment began at 01:23:04.

The introduction of additional pumps increased the load on the run-down turbogenerator, which reduced the volume of water entering the reactor core. Together with the high steam coefficient of reactivity, this quickly increased the power of the reactor. The attempt to introduce absorber rods due to their poor design only worsened the situation. Just 43 seconds after the start of the experiment, the reactor collapsed as a result of one or two powerful explosions.

Ends in the water

Eyewitnesses claim that the fourth power unit of the nuclear power plant was destroyed by two explosions: the second, the most powerful, occurred a few seconds after the first. It is believed that the emergency situation occurred due to a rupture of pipes in the cooling system, caused by the rapid evaporation of water. Water or steam reacted with the zirconium in the fuel elements, resulting in the formation of large amounts of hydrogen and its explosion.

Swedish scientists believe that two different mechanisms led to the explosions, one of which was nuclear. Firstly, the high vapor coefficient of reactivity contributed to an increase in the volume of superheated steam inside the reactor. As a result, the reactor burst, and its 2000-ton top cover flew up several tens of meters. Since fuel elements were attached to it, a primary leak of nuclear fuel occurred.

Secondly, the emergency lowering of the absorbing rods led to the so-called “end effect”. At the Chernobyl RBMK-1000, the rods consisted of two parts - a neutron absorber and a graphite water displacer. When the rod is introduced into the reactor core, graphite replaces neutron-absorbing water in the lower part of the channels, which only enhances the vapor coefficient of reactivity. The number of thermal neutrons increases and the chain reaction becomes uncontrollable. A small nuclear explosion occurs. Flows of nuclear fission products penetrated into the hall even before the destruction of the reactor, and then - through the thin roof of the power unit - into the atmosphere.

Experts first spoke about the nuclear nature of the explosion back in 1986. Then scientists from the Khlopin Radium Institute analyzed fractions of noble gases obtained at the Cherepovets factory, where liquid nitrogen and oxygen were produced. Cherepovets is located a thousand kilometers north of Chernobyl, and the radioactive cloud passed over the city on April 29. Soviet researchers found that the ratio of the activities of the isotopes 133 Xe and 133m Xe was 44.5 ± 5.5. These isotopes are short-lived products of nuclear fission, indicating a weak nuclear explosion.

Swedish scientists calculated how much xenon was formed in the reactor before the explosion, during the explosion, and how the ratios of radioactive isotopes changed until they fell out in Cherepovets. It turned out that the reactivity ratio observed at the plant could have arisen in the event of a nuclear explosion with a capacity of 75 tons of TNT. According to an analysis of meteorological conditions for the period April 25 - May 5, 1986, xenon isotopes rose to a height of up to three kilometers, which prevented its mixing with the xenon that was formed in the reactor before the accident.

The Chernobyl tragedy is a sad lesson for humanity. The most monumental man-made disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, at the 4th block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in a small satellite town called Pripyat. An incredible amount of deadly radioactive substances ended up in the air. In some places, radiation levels were thousands of times higher than standard background radiation. it became clear that after the explosion there would be a different world here - a land where you can’t sow, rivers in which you can’t swim or fish, and houses... in which you can’t live

Already an hour after the explosion, the radiation situation in Pripyat was obvious. No measures were taken due to the emergency: people had no idea what to do. According to instructions and orders that have existed for 25 years, the decision to evacuate the population from the affected area was required to be made by local authorities. By the time the Government Commission arrived, it was already possible to evacuate all residents of Pripyat, even on foot. But no one decided to take on such responsibility (for example, the Swedes first of all took all the people out of the area of ​​their power plant, and only then began to find out that the emission did not occur at their plant). Since the morning of April 26, all the roads of Chernobyl were flooded with water and an incomprehensible white solution, everything was white, all the roadsides. Many policemen were brought into the city. But they didn’t do anything - they just settled down near the objects: the post office, the palace of culture. People were walking everywhere, small children, it was very hot, people were going to the beach, to their dachas, fishing, relaxing on the river near the cooling pond - an artificial reservoir near the nuclear power plant.

The first talk about the evacuation of Pripyat appeared on Saturday evening. And at one o'clock in the morning an order came out - to prepare documents for evacuation in 2 hours. On April 27, a directive was published: “Comrades, due to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the evacuation of the city is announced. Bring with you documents, necessary things and, if possible, food for 3 days. Evacuation begins at 14:00.” Imagine a convoy of several thousand buses with burning headlights, moving along the highway in 2 rows and taking the entire population of Pripyat - women, old people, adults and newborn babies - out of the radiation zone. Columns of buses were traveling west, towards the village of Polessky, Ivanovo districts neighboring Chernobyl. So Pripyat turned into a ghost town

View of the destroyed Chernobyl

The evacuation of Pripyat was carried out in an organized and precise manner; almost all evacuees showed restraint. But how can one describe the irresponsibility shown towards the population, when during the day before the evacuation they said nothing and did not forbid children to walk the streets. And the schoolchildren who ran around unsuspectingly on Saturday during breaks? Was it really impossible to save them, to prohibit them from being on the street? Would anyone really condemn politicians for such reinsurance?

Is it surprising that in such a situation of hiding information, some people, succumbing to rumors, decided to leave along the road leading through the “Red Forest” near Chernobyl. Witnesses recalled how women and children moved along this road, practically glowing from radiation. Be that as it may, it is already clear that the mechanism for making the most important decisions directly related to the preservation of people has not withstood a serious test

It was later revealed that the USSR intelligence services were aware that after the disaster, 3.2 thousand tons of meat and 15 tons of butter would be stored in the Chernobyl radiation zone. The decision they made can hardly be called anything other than criminal: “... the meat is subject to processing into canned food with the addition of clean meat. ... sold after long-term storage and repeated radiometric control through the public catering network.”

When processing livestock from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant release zone, it turned out that part of this meat contained radioactive substances in huge quantities, significantly exceeding the maximum standards... And in order to avoid a large accumulation of radioactive substances in the body of people from consuming contaminated food products, the USSR Ministry of Health ordered as much as possible to disperse this meat more widely throughout the country... to master its processing in meat processing plants in remote regions of the Russian Federation (excluding Moscow), Moldova, Transcaucasia, the Baltic states, Kazakhstan and Central Asia

Later it turned out that the KGB controlled everything. The intelligence services knew that defective Yugoslav equipment was used during the construction of Chernobyl (the same defective equipment was supplied to the Smolensk nuclear power plant). Several years before the explosion, KGB reports pointed out flaws in the design of the station, cracks in the walls and delamination of the foundation...

In 2006, the American research organization Blacksmith Institute published a list of the most polluted places on the planet, in which Chernobyl was in the top ten. As you can see, four places in the top ten are cities of the former Soviet Union

• Sumgayit, Azerbaijan
• Linfen, China
• Tianying, China
• Sukinda, India
• Vapi, India
• La Oroya, Peru
• Dzerzhinsk, Russia
• Norilsk, Russia
• Chernobyl, Ukraine
• Kabwe, Zambia

On April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the 4th power unit, a huge explosion occurred, as a result of which the nuclear reactor was completely destroyed. This sad event will forever go down in human history as the “accident of the century.”

Explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Year 1986, April 26 - a black date in history

The most powerful nuclear power plant in the USSR became a source of release of extremely dangerous pollutants into the environment, due to which 31 people died within the first 3 months, and the number of deaths over the next 15 years exceeded 80. The most severe consequences of radiation sickness were recorded in 134 people due to severe radioactive contamination. The terrible “cocktail” consisted of a large list of elements from the periodic table, such as plutonium, cesium, uranium, iodine, strontium. Deadly substances mixed with radioactive dust covered a huge territory with a mud plume: the European part of the Soviet Union, the eastern part of Europe and Scandinavia. Belarus suffered greatly from the contaminated precipitation. The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was compared to the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

How the explosion happened

During the investigation, numerous commissions repeatedly analyzed this event, trying to find out what exactly caused the disaster and how it happened. However, there is no consensus on this matter. A force capable of destroying all life in its path burst out from the 4th power unit. The accident was classified: the Soviet media remained deathly silent for the first days, but the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (1986) was recorded abroad as a colossal radiation leak and the alarm was raised. It became impossible to remain silent about the accident. The energy of the peaceful atom was intended to carry civilization forward, towards progress, but changed its trajectory and caused the invisible war between man and radiation.

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the date of which will be remembered by mankind for centuries, began with a fire in power unit No. 4, the signal about which was received by the control panel at 1.24 am. The fire brigade promptly began extinguishing the fire, successfully extinguishing the fire by 6 a.m., thanks to which the fire could not spread to block No. 3. The level of radiation in the halls of the power unit and near the station was unknown to anyone at that time. What happened in these hours and minutes with the nuclear reactor itself was also unknown.

Reasons and official versions

Analyzing the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the causes of which were inexplicable at first glance, experts put forward many versions. Having summed up the results of the investigation, scientists settled on several options:

1. Disruption and disruption of the operation of circular pumps due to cavitation (formation of a shock wave as a result of a chemical reaction) and, as a consequence, a pipeline breakthrough.
2. Power surge inside the reactor.
3. Low level of security in the enterprise - INSAG version.
4. Emergency acceleration - after pressing the "AZ-5" button.

The latter version, according to many industry experts, is the most plausible. In their opinion, the control and protection rods were brought into active operation precisely by pressing this ill-fated button, which led to the emergency acceleration of the reactor.

This course of events is completely refuted by experts from the Gospromatnadzor commission. Employees put forward their versions of the causes of the tragedy back in 1986, insisting that the positive reactivity was caused by the emergency protection being activated, which is why the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred.

Certain technical calculations that prove the cause of the explosion due to cavitation on an anti-aircraft missile system refute other versions. According to the chief designer of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, steam at the entrance to the reactor, as a result of boiling of the coolant in the air defense system, entered the core and distorted the energy-releasing fields. This happened due to the fact that the temperature of the coolant reached the boiling point during the most dangerous period. The emergency acceleration began precisely with active vaporization.

Explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Other reasons for the tragedy

In addition, opinions were often voiced about the cause of the explosion as an act of sabotage, which was planned by the United States and carefully hidden by the government of the USSR. This version is supported by photographs of the exploded power unit from an American military satellite, which miraculously found itself in the right place exactly when the explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is very difficult to refute or confirm this theory, and therefore this version remains a guess. It remains only to confirm that indeed in 1986 the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant resulted in the disabling of secret objects (over-the-horizon radar Duga-1, Chernobyl-2).

The earthquake that occurred at that moment is also cited as the cause of the tragedy. Indeed, shortly before the explosion, seismographs recorded a certain shock in the immediate vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is the vibration that could provoke the accident that adherents of this version call the reason for the launch of irreversible processes. What seems strange in this situation is the fact that for some reason the neighboring power unit No. 3 was not damaged in any way and did not receive information about the seismic tremors. But no tests were carried out on it...

The most fantastic reason for the explosion has also been put forward - this is possible ball lightning, formed during the bold experiments of scientists. It was she who, if we imagine such a course of events, could well disrupt the operating regime in the reactor zone.

The consequences of the tragedy in numbers

At the time of the explosion, only 1 person died at the station. The very next morning, another employee died from very serious injuries. However, the worst thing began later, when literally within a month another 28 people died. They and 106 other station employees were at work at the time of the disaster and received the maximum dose of radiation.

Fire extinguishing

To extinguish the fire, when a fire was announced in power unit No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 69 employees included in the fire department, as well as 14 vehicles, were involved. People put out the fire, having no idea about the high level of pollution. The fact is that it was not possible to look at the background radiation meters: one was faulty, the second remained out of reach, under the rubble. That is why no one could even imagine the real consequences of the explosion at that time.

A year of death and sorrow

At approximately 2 a.m., some firefighters began to experience the first symptoms of radiation sickness (vomiting, weakness, and an incomparable “nuclear tan” on their bodies). After first medical aid, the patients were taken to the city of Pripyat. The next day, 28 people were urgently sent to Moscow (6th Radiological Hospital). All the efforts of the doctors were in vain: the fire tamers became so infected that they died within a month. Trees covering an area of ​​almost 10 square meters also died from the huge release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere during the disaster. km. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the consequences of which were felt not only by the direct participants, but also by residents of three republics of the Soviet Union, forced to take unprecedented safety measures at all similar installations.