Accident
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant (51.389444, 30.09972251 ° 23'22 "with. Sh. 30 ° 05'59" to. E. / 51.389444 ° with. Sh. 30.099722 ° in. D. (G)) is located in Ukraine near the town of Pripyat , 18 km from the town of Chernobyl, 16 km from the border with Belarus and 110 kilometers from Kiev.
At the time of the accident were used four RBMK-1000 reactor (a reactor of high power channel type) with a power capacity of 1000 MW (thermal power of 3200 MW) each. Another two similar reactors were built. Chernobyl nuclear power plant produces about one-tenth of electricity in Ukraine.
Approximately at 1:24 April 26, 1986 at the 4 of the Chernobyl reactor spewed, which completely destroyed reactor. The building unit partially collapsed, killing 2 people - the operator pumps MCP (main circulation pump) Valery Hodemchuk (the body was found littered in the rubble of two 130-ton drum separators), and employee start-up companies, Vladimir Shashenok (died from a fracture spine and multiple burns at 6:00 in the Pripyat Medical Unit, in the morning on April 26). In different rooms and on the roof was on fire. Subsequently, the remains of the reactor core melted. A mixture of molten metal, sand, concrete and fuel particles flowed on podreaktornym premises. As a result of the accident were released into the environment of radioactive substances, including uranium, plutonium, iodine-131 (half life 8 days), cesium-134 (half-life 2 years), cesium-137 (half-life of 33 years), strontium -90 (half-life of 28 years).