1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:08,799 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey guys, welcome to this Day in History class, 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day. 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: Today is April. The day was April nine. At the 5 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: Chernobyl Nuclear power Station and Soviet Ukraine, a chemical explosion 6 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: cost an enormous fire. Large quantities of radioactive material were 7 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: released into the atmosphere for nearly two weeks because of 8 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: the accident. Even though people in the nearby area were evacuated, 9 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: the wind spread the radiation, which contaminated land and caused 10 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: thousands of people to get radiation related illnesses. The Chernobyl 11 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: Power Station was in the town of Pripyat to us 12 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: northwest of the city of Chernobyl. The station was built 13 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen seventies. It had four reactors, or 14 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: devices where nuclear fission is initiated and controlled in a 15 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: self sustaining chain reaction to create energy or radiation. Each 16 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: of the reactors could produce one thousand megawatts of electric power. 17 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: On the evening of April six, engineers began a test 18 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: on reactor Unit four. They wanted to figure out whether 19 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: the reactors turbine could run emergency water pumps during a 20 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: power loss, but the test and reactor were not designed will. 21 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: The engineers shut down the reactors, power regulating system and 22 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: emergency safety systems. Then they let the reactor run at 23 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: a low power and removed most of the control rods 24 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: from its core. Control rods maintained the fission rate in 25 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: a nuclear reactor. The reactor's output went up to two 26 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: hundred megawats, and at one am on April, the engineers 27 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: shut down the turbine engine to see if it's inertial 28 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: spinning would power the reactor's water pumps. It did not 29 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: because there was no cooling water. The reactor's power levels surged, 30 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: so the engineers put all the control rods back into 31 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: the reactor at once. That was supposed to prevent a meltdown. 32 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: The problem was the control rods had graphite tips. Those 33 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: graphite tips made the chain reaction in the core go 34 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: out of control, and steam building up in the reactor 35 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:40,679 Speaker 1: blasted the steel and concrete lid off of it. Radioactive 36 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: debris went flying everywhere, and there was a partial meltdown 37 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: in the reactor core. Another explosion went off seconds later, 38 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 1: and the fire went off at reactor number three because 39 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: engineers had shut down emergency systems. Safeties were not triggered, 40 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: though this was not a violation of regulations. The explosion 41 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: released four hundred times more radiation than the atomic bomb 42 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: the US dropped on Hiroshima. About thirty one people died 43 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: in the first few months after the explosion from the blast, 44 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: acute radiation, sickness, and cardiac arrest. Firefighters arrived minutes after 45 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: the fire started, but they were not wearing any gear 46 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: that would protect them from the radiation, and many of 47 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: them soon died from exposure. At five in the morning. 48 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: The next day, reactor three was shut down. The day 49 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: after that, Reactors one and two were shut down. The 50 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: fire was put out with sand, lead and nitrogen, which 51 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: took about two weeks, but the accident had released extremely 52 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: dangerous levels of radioactive substances like I had died went 53 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: thirty one, plutonium and caesium one thirty seven. The plumes 54 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: of radioactive material released into the air were carried for 55 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: miles by currents of air lethal rain fail throughout Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, 56 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. Many more people were 57 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: exposed to high doses of radiation on the twenty seventh 58 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: of April, the Soviet government began evacuating Pripyots tens of 59 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:20,720 Speaker 1: thousands of residents. At the time, evacuates did not know 60 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: how serious the accident had been. At first, the Soviet 61 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: Union tried to keep the accident a secret, not announcing 62 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: the scale of the disaster. But a few days after 63 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:35,359 Speaker 1: the explosion, Swedish officials realized that high radiation levels in 64 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: Europe were the result of a nuclear accident in the 65 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: Soviet Union. So in April, the Soviet Union announced that 66 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: there was an accident at Chernobyl. In May, hundreds of 67 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: thousands of people called liquidators were sent to Chernobyl to 68 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: help clean up. They worked in short shifts as they 69 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: did not have adequate protective gear. Over several months, a 70 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: huge steel in i meant sarcophagus was built to encase 71 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:07,359 Speaker 1: reactor for and prevent the further spread of radiation. Still, 72 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: thousands of people remained in contaminated areas. People got sick 73 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: from the radiation, which increased the incidence of thyroid cancer. 74 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: Animals and forests were also affected. The Chernobyl power station 75 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: wasn't decommissioned until two thousand. In two thousand and sixteen, 76 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: a new confinement was placed over the old sarcophagus, which 77 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: had been deemed unsound. Today, there is a Chernobyl exclusion 78 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: zone that's about one thousand square miles where people cannot 79 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: live in. Agriculture is not allowed, but there are animals 80 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: like wolves and bison living at the site. There are 81 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 1: plans for a solar power plant to be constructed at 82 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: the site, and people can visit the abandoned territory as tourists, 83 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: but the radio activity is still affecting people and likely 84 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,039 Speaker 1: will for decades. For example, cows miles away from the 85 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: site still produce milk with high levels of radiation. The 86 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: number of deaths caused by the radio activity is controversial, 87 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: as the long term health effects of radiation are hard 88 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: to pinpoint and statistics can be unreliable. Many fears of 89 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: radiation induced health issues are unsubstantiated, but estimates of the 90 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: death toll have ranged from a few thousand to an 91 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: improbable million. I'm Eve jeffco and hopefully you know a 92 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. If 93 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: there's something that I missed in an episode, you can 94 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: share it with everybody else on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. 95 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:46,040 Speaker 1: At t d i HC podcast. We'll see you here 96 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: in the same place tomorrow. 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