A simple presentation made by me and my friend during our study.

1. SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
PRESENTATION

2. CHERNOBYL TRAGEDY

3. PRESENTATOR
 Lim Jin Cheng
 Luqman Hakeem Bin Fauzi

4. WHERE IS CHERNOBYL?

5. Here it
is! 

7. REACTOR
 Reaktor Bolshoy Moshehnosty Kipyashiy, (RBMK)
“Reactor (of) High Power (of the) Channel (type)”.
 There were 4 reactors.
 Capacity of each reactor was 1 GW.

10. INCIDENT
o 26 April 1986
o Nuclear accident in the Reactor 4
o It is considered the worst nuclear power plant in
history at level 7 on the International Nuclear Event
Scale. .

12. HUMAN ERRORS
 Isolation of the emergency core cooling system
 Unsafe amount of control rods withdrawn
 Connection of the four main cooling pumps to the
right and left of the system

13. HUMAN ERRORS (CONT)
 Mental model
The operator did not have a good mental model of the
system itself
 Overconfidence
By having an electrical engineer on site for an electrical
test
No confirmation of cues obtained from the system

14. SYSTEM ERRORS
 Use of graphite as a moderator
 Flawed reactor design and corruption
 Lack of a well-built containment structure
 Inadequate instrumentation and alarms for an
emergency situation
 Inadequately trained personnel
 Lack of proper regard of safety

15. SUMMARY OF INCIDENT
April 26, 1986:
Chernobyl nuclear power plant
 Operator errors cause a reactor explosion
 Explosion releases 190 tons of radioactive gasses into
the atmosphere
 Fire starts that lasts 10 days
 People:
7 million lived in contaminated areas; 3 million
were children
Wind:
Carries radiation far distances

16. THE FALLOUT

17. EFFECTS ON HUMAN

18. CASUALTIES
 5.5 million people still live in contaminated areas
 31 people died in 3 months of radiation poisoning
 134 emergency workers suffered from acute
radiation sickness
 25,000 rescue workers died since then of diseases
caused by radiation
 Cancer afflicts many others
 Increased birth defects, miscarriages, and stillbirths

19. CASUALTIES (INDIRECT)
• By the year 2000 there were 1800 case of thyroid
cancer in children and adolescent
• High number of suicide and violent death among
Firemen, policemen, and other recovery workers

20. ENVIRONMENT IMPACT
 Areas still impacted today:
Soil
Ground Water
Air
Food
 Crops
 Livestock

21. EFFECT ON ECONOMY
 Between 300,000 and 60,000 people were brought
in to clean up
 Over 235 billion dollars has been spent to clean up
the disaster
 Belarus lost 1/5 of its farming lands (700 million
dollars a year loss)
 350 industries were lost due to the disaster

22. RECOMMENDATIONS
 Have proper Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
for both normal and emergency situations
 Have scheduled trainings and practices for normal
and emergency situations
 Always have a reactor expert on site
 Have operators confirm any cues from the system
before making hypothesis or take action
 Have a teamwork kind of environment such that
everybody is involved

23. LESSONS LEARNT
A stepping stone for a new philosophy – new term in nuclear energy
“safety culture”
Nuclear power plants (NPPs) as units of national importance
Safety first! Priority given to people’s safety and preservation of the
environment rather than productivity
Overhaul of current and future projects with focus on risk minimization
Emergency preparedness and safety measures
• Understand, respect and minimize risk
• International and national emergency response systems, highly involving the
community
• Adequate radiation measuring technology in place
• NPP community for knowledge exchange (WANO) and international scientific co-operation
• Constant quality and safety control and measurement
• Continuous improvement of technology and safety measures
• Communication is key!

24. END