![]() ![]() The plant is scheduled to be dismantled and cleared away by the year 2065. Outbreaks of cancers and birth defects have been blamed on the Chernobyl disaster but never scientifically substantiated.īecause of power demand, the plant operated with its three remaining reactors for more than 14 years before being decommissioned in December 2000. However, a cover-up by Soviet authorities has spurred much speculation over what the long-term effects of the incident are. ![]() Officially there were 56 fatalities, mostly from radiation poisoning after the event. The death toll from the Chernobyl disaster is not well documented. Fifty thousand people were evacuated just from the town of Pripyat, turning it into an abandoned city virtually overnight. Consequently more than 300,000 people were evacuated from a roughly 18-mile zone that would later be dubbed the Zone of Alienation. The cloud of radioactive debris spewed by the disaster drifted over Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The resulting concrete sarcophagus exists to this day, but questions of its stability and lifespan remain. It didn't.Įngineers finally poured 20,000 tons of concrete and lead onto the reactor to contain the radiation in December 1986. Helicopters then dropped about 5,000 metric tons of sand, lead and boric acid onto the reactor, in hopes it would contain the radioactive mess. This cleanup crew could only be on the rooftops of surrounding buildings for a maximum of 40 seconds, because the radiation levels were so high. Workers wearing heavy protective suits shoveled radioactive debris into what remained of the reactor. Soviet engineers scrambled to come up with a containment solution. ![]()
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