The Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, resulted in the destruction of reactor No. 4 and contaminated large areas in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, affecting six million people. It caused severe environmental damage, health consequences including an increase in thyroid cancer, and economic losses estimated at $235 billion due to direct and indirect costs. The incident highlighted numerous failures in safety protocols, training, and emergency preparedness.

1. CHERNOBYL
DISASTER

2.  On 26 April 1986 reactor no: 4 of the
nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, a
Ukrainian town 130 km north of Kiev was
destroyed.
 About six million people live in areas of
Belarus, Russia and Ukraine that are
‘contaminated’ with radionuclides due to
the Chernobyl accident
 The severity and long persistence of
radioactive contamination challenges the
affected communities in many ways. It is
not solely a radiation protection
problem—it affects environment,
economy, production, living conditions,
and health. 2
INTRODUCTION

3. 3
CONT....

5. The Experiment
Begins
At 11 pm at night
on April 25,
engineers lowered
the control rods of
the reactor by 20%.
A Problem
Begins
Engineers lowered
too many control
rods, making the
output drop quickly.
5
The Problem
Wrosens
The output dropped so
quickyl that the safety
systems were disabled so
engineers began to raise
the rods.

6. OVERLOAD AND
OVERHEATING
6

7. BOOM
7

8. 8
ACCIDENT
CAUSES
Lack of Safety Culture
Reactor Poor Design
Untrained Power Plant
Operator (Violation of
Procedures)
Stringent emergency
preparedness plan
Alert and notification
Protecting the food chain

9. THE CLEAN UP
9
 MANY FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
DIDNOT REALIZE THE DANGERS OF
RADIATION.
 MANY LATER DIED FROM
RADIATION BECAUSE THEY
DIDNOT WEAR PERSONAL
PROTECTION.
 AN ESTIMATED 8000-20000 TO
DATE HAVE DIED (20 % FROM
SUCIDE)

10. CHERNOBYL
DISASTER
EFFECTS

11. CONSEQUENCES OF
DISASTER
ENVIRONMENTAL DEMAGE
 Agricultural Environment
In the early phase direct surface deposition of many different radionuclides dominated
contamination of agricultural plants and animals consuming them. The radioiodine was rapidly
transferred to milk at a high rate in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus leading to significant thyroid
doses to those consuming milk, especially children. Radioisotopes of cesium (137𝐶𝑠 and 134𝐶𝑠)
were the nuclides which led to the largest problems, and after decay of 137𝐶𝑠, 134𝐶𝑠 still causes
problems in some Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian areas.
 Urban Envrionment
In urban areas open surfaces such as lawns, parks, streets, roads, squares, building roofs and
walls became contaminated with radionuclides.
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12. CONSEQUENCES OF
DISASTER
ENVIRONMENTAL DEMAGE
 Aquatic Environment
Radioactivity from Chernobyl contaminated surface-water systems not only in areas close to the
site but also in many other parts of Europe. The initial contamination of water was due primarily
to direct deposition of radionuclides on the surface of rivers and lakes, dominated by short-lived
radionuclides (most importantly, 134𝐼).
 Forest Environment
Due to the Chernobyl accident vegetation and animals in forests and mountain areas have
shown particularly high uptake of radiocaesium, with the highest recorded 137𝐶𝑠-activity
concentrations found in forest products due to the persistent recycling of radiocaesium in forest
ecosystems. Particularly high 137𝐶𝑠 activity-concentrations have been found in mushrooms,
berries and game, and these high levels have persisted for many years.
12

13. ENVIRONMENTAL DEMAGE
13

14. CONSEQUENCES OF DISASTER
14
The city of Pripyat was built to house workers of the nuclear
power plant in the 1970s. It has been an abandoned ghost town
since the accident, and is now used as a laboratory to study
fallout patterns.

15. CONSEQUENCES OF DISASTER
15
PRIPYAT TODAY
The residents of Pripyat never returned to their homes,
businesses, pets.

16. CONSEQUENCES OF
DISASTER
HUMAN HEALTH
The Chernobyl accident caused many severe radiation effects
almost immediately. Of 600 workers present on the site during the
early morning,134 received high doses and suffered from radiation
sickness. Of these, 28 died in the first three months and another 19
died in 1987-2004 of various causes not necessarily associated with
radiation exposure.
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic
Radiation reported that the accident also was responsible for
nearly 20,000 documented cases of thyroid cancer among
individuals who were under 18 years of age at the time of the
accident in the three affected countries including Belarus, Ukraine
and the Russian Federation.
Apart from the dramatic increase in thyroid cancer some indication
of an increased leukaemia and cataract incidence among the
workers.
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17. ECONOMIC COST OF
THE ACCIDENT
 The disaster has been estimated to cost some $235 billion in damages.
Costs include:
 Direct damage caused by the accident.
 Expenditures related for instance to sealing off the reactor, resettling people,
providing health care, monitoring radiations and disposing of radioactive
waste.
 Indirect costs linked to restrictions in the use of agricultural land and forests,
and to the closure of industrial and agricultural facilities.
 Increased energy costs resulting from the closure of the Chernobyl plant and
the cancellation of Belarus’s nuclear power programme.
 Belarus, which saw 23 percent of its territory contaminated by the accident,
lost about a fifth of its agricultural land. At the height of disaster response
efforts, in 1991, Belarus spent 22 percent of its total budget dealing with
Chernobyl. 17

18. CONTAINMENT DOME
18
The New Safe Confinement sarcophagus covers the destroyed
reactor on November 29, 2016..

19. REFRENCES
[1]M. Balonov and A. Bouville, "Radiation Exposures Due to the Chernobyl Accident", Encyclopedia of
Environmental Health, pp. 448-459, 2013. Available: 10.1016/b978-0-12-409548-9.02015-7 [Accessed
3 January 2022].
[2]A. Liland and L. Skuterud, "Lessons Learned from the Chernobyl Accident in Norway", Radioactivity
in the Environment, pp. 159-176, 2013. Available: 10.1016/b978-0-08-045015-5.00010-1 [Accessed 3
January 2022].
[3]M. Balonov and A. Bouville, "Radiation Exposures Due to the Chernobyl Accident", Encyclopedia of
Environmental Health, pp. 709-720, 2011. Available: 10.1016/b978-0-444-52272-6.00086-6 [Accessed
3 January 2022].
[4]V. Saenko et al., "The Chernobyl Accident and its Consequences", 2010.
[5]K. Higley, "Environmental consequences of the chernobyl accident and their remediation: twenty
years of experience. Report of the chernobyl forum expert group ‘environment’", Radiation
Protection Dosimetry, vol. 121, no. 4, pp. 476-477, 2006. Available: 10.1093/rpd/ncl163.
[6]A. Atputhananthan, "Chernobyl disaster", Slideshare.net, 2015. [Online]. Available:
https://www.slideshare.net/Akal28/chernobyl-disaster-55464588. [Accessed: 03- Jan- 2022].
[7]"The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster", Assembly.coe.int, 1996. [Online]. Available:
https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewHTML.asp?FileID=7472. [Accessed: 03- Jan-
2022].
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20. THANKYOU
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