1986 Chernobyl facts
While investigating facts about 1986 Chernobyl, I found out little known, but curios details like:
A few weeks before the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, US scientists performed a safety test on the EBR-II reactor by disabling cooling pumps and automatic protection systems at full thermal power. The core passively cooled itself as designed without human intervention or damage.
20% of Belarus' annual budget is spent on costs associated with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 38 of the best facts about 1986 Chernobyl I managed to collect.
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For over 20 years, Cuba has been aiding and treating more than 18,000 children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, for free.
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Scientists used Sunflowers near Chernobyl after the 1986 nuclear accident, to extract radioactive cesium from contaminated ponds nearby. Then again in 2011 at Fukushima to extract radiation from the nearby communities.
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The city of Pripyat, Ukraine built an amusement park scheduled to open May 1, 1986, but never operated for more than a few hours before being forever abandoned after the April 26 Chernobyl nuclear disaster a few kilometers away.
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Despite the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Ukraine still gets 47% of its electricity from nuclear energy, compared to United States' 19%.
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After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 only the reactor No. 4 was nonoperational. The other 3 reactors continued to operate. Only in 2000 the last one was shut down.
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The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant which suffered a reactor melt down in 1986, continued to produce electricity until 2000, and still has three intact nuclear reactors.
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Although the Chernobyl nuclear-power-plant had a meltdown in 1986 and had rendered the land around it uninhabitable, the remaining reactors of the facility remained in normal operation and generated power until the year 2000.
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The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant had four reactors and only one was impacted by the 1986 meltdown; the others continued producing power for several years and one (Reactor No. 3) produced power until it was decommissioned in 2000.
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The effects of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 were so widespread that sheep in Wales had to be put under control measures, which included measuring their radioactivity before sales. This control was finally lifted in 2012, 26 years after the disaster.
1986 Chernobyl data charts
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The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant continued to produce electricity after the 1986 meltdown. The last reactor wasn't shut down until 2000.
After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster at reactor 4, the other reactors on that site were not shut down. Every day, workers were brought in by train to keep them running until the year 2000. - source
Chernobyl nuclear power plant continued to operate after the disaster in 1986. The last reactor was shut down in 2000, 14 years later. - source
About a group of 15 people who are living full-time deep inside Chernobyl's 30KM "exclusion zone". These people either refused to leave or went back to their homes after the 1986 disaster.
In 1986 USSR created and distributed a forged letter that "exposed" the US government "conspiracy" to overstate the seriousness of Chernobyl meltdown - source
Following the explosion of reactor 4 at Chernobyl in 1986, the remaining three reactors continued to operate until 1991, 1996 and 2000 respectively.
Anatoly Dyatlov, deputy chief-engineer of the Chernobyl Power Plant, responsible for the nuclear disaster in 1986, took part in another nuclear accident before, while installing reactors into submarines and suffered a mild radiation sickness.
That, from 1990-2011, Cuba provided free medical care to over 26,000 Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian victims of the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
The Red Forest in Chernobyl gets its name from the ginger-brown color of the pine trees from absorbing high amounts of radiation from the 1986 incident, and its radiation levels can get as high as 1 Roentgen per hour.
The Chernobyl power plant continued to operate after the the 1986 disaster, and wasn't decommissioned until 2000.
In the span of three years (1986-1989) the Soviet Union had the Chernobyl accident, the UFA train disaster and the SS Admiral Nakhimov sinking happen, claiming a total of roughly 5000 lives