The Chernobyl tragedy is a sad lesson for humanity. The most grandiose technological disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, at the 4th block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in a small satellite town called Pripyat. An incredible amount of deadly radioactive substances ended up in the air. In some places, radiation levels were thousands of times higher than standard background radiation. it became clear that after the explosion there would be a different world here - a land where you can’t sow, rivers in which you can’t swim or fish, and houses... in which you can’t live

Already an hour after the explosion, the radiation situation in Pripyat was obvious. No action due emergency situation nothing was done: people had no idea what to do. According to instructions and orders that have existed for 25 years, the decision to evacuate the population from the affected area was required to be made by local authorities. By the time the Government Commission arrived, it was already possible to evacuate all residents of Pripyat, even on foot. But no one decided to take on such responsibility (for example, the Swedes first of all took all the people out of the area of ​​their power plant, and only then began to find out that the emission did not occur at their plant). Since the morning of April 26, all the roads of Chernobyl were flooded with water and an incomprehensible white solution, everything was white, all the roadsides. Many policemen were brought into the city. But they didn’t do anything - they just settled down near the objects: the post office, the palace of culture. People were walking everywhere, small children, it was very hot, people were going to the beach, to their dachas, fishing, relaxing on the river near the cooling pond - an artificial reservoir near the nuclear power plant.


The first talk about the evacuation of Pripyat appeared on Saturday evening. And at one o'clock in the morning an order came out - to prepare documents for evacuation in 2 hours. On April 27, a directive was published: “Comrades, due to the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the evacuation of the city is announced. Bring with you documents, necessary things and, if possible, food for 3 days. Evacuation begins at 14:00.” Imagine a convoy of several thousand buses with burning headlights, moving along the highway in 2 rows and taking the entire population of Pripyat - women, old people, adults and newborn babies - out of the radiation zone. Columns of buses were traveling west, towards the village of Polessky, Ivanovo districts neighboring Chernobyl. So Pripyat turned into a ghost town

View of the destroyed Chernobyl

The evacuation of Pripyat was carried out in an organized and precise manner; almost all evacuees showed restraint. But how can one describe the irresponsibility shown towards the population, when during the day before the evacuation they said nothing and did not forbid children to walk the streets. And the schoolchildren who ran around unsuspectingly on Saturday during breaks? Was it really impossible to save them, to prohibit them from being on the street? Would anyone really condemn politicians for such reinsurance?



Is it surprising that in such a situation of hiding information, some people, succumbing to rumors, decided to leave along the road leading through the “Red Forest” near Chernobyl. Witnesses recalled how women and children moved along this road, practically glowing from radiation. Be that as it may, it is already clear that the mechanism for making the most important decisions directly related to the preservation of people has not withstood a serious test

It was later revealed that the USSR intelligence services were aware that after the disaster, 3.2 thousand tons of meat and 15 tons of butter would be stored in the Chernobyl radiation zone. The decision they made can hardly be called anything other than criminal: “... the meat is subject to processing into canned food with the addition of clean meat. ... sold after long-term storage and repeated radiometric control through the public catering network.”

When processing livestock from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant release zone, it turned out that part of this meat contained radioactive substances in huge quantities, significantly exceeding the maximum standards... And in order to avoid a large accumulation of radioactive substances in the body of people from consuming contaminated food products, the USSR Ministry of Health ordered as much as possible to disperse this meat more widely throughout the country... to master its processing in meat processing plants in remote regions Russian Federation(excluding Moscow), Moldova, Transcaucasia, Baltic states, Kazakhstan and Central Asia

Later it turned out that the KGB controlled everything. The intelligence services knew that defective Yugoslav equipment was used during the construction of Chernobyl (the same defective equipment was supplied to the Smolensk nuclear power plant). Several years before the explosion, KGB reports pointed out flaws in the design of the station, cracks in the walls and delamination of the foundation...


In 2006, the American research organization Blacksmith Institute published a list of the most polluted places on the planet, in which Chernobyl was in the top ten. As you can see, four places in the top ten are cities of the former Soviet Union

  • Sumgayit, Azerbaijan
  • Linfen, China
  • Tianying, China
  • Sukinda, India
  • Vapi, India
  • La Oroya, Peru
  • Dzerzhinsk, Russia
  • Norilsk, Russia
  • Chernobyl, Ukraine
  • Kabwe, Zambia

On April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the 4th power unit, a huge explosion occurred, as a result of which the nuclear reactor was completely destroyed. This sad event will forever go down in human history as the “accident of the century.”

Explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Year 1986, April 26 - a black date in history

The most powerful nuclear power plant in the USSR became the source of the release of extremely dangerous pollutants into environment, because of which 31 people died within the first 3 months, and the number of deaths over the next 15 years exceeded 80. The most severe consequences of radiation sickness were recorded in 134 people due to powerful radioactive contamination. The terrible “cocktail” consisted of a large list of elements from the periodic table, such as plutonium, cesium, uranium, iodine, strontium. Deadly substances mixed with radioactive dust covered a huge territory with a mud plume: the European part of the Soviet Union, the eastern part of Europe and Scandinavia. Belarus suffered greatly from the contaminated precipitation. The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was compared to the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

How the explosion happened

During the investigation, numerous commissions repeatedly analyzed this event, trying to find out what exactly caused the disaster and how it happened. However, there is no consensus on this matter. A force capable of destroying all life in its path burst out from the 4th power unit. The accident was classified: the Soviet media remained deathly silent for the first days, but the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (1986) was recorded abroad as a colossal radiation leak and the alarm was raised. It became impossible to remain silent about the accident. The energy of the peaceful atom was intended to carry civilization forward, towards progress, but changed its trajectory and caused the invisible war between man and radiation.

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the date of which will be remembered by mankind for centuries, began with a fire in power unit No. 4, the signal about which was received by the control panel at 1.24 am. The fire brigade promptly began extinguishing the fire, successfully extinguishing the fire by 6 a.m., thanks to which the fire could not spread to block No. 3. The level of radiation in the halls of the power unit and near the station was unknown to anyone at that time. What happened in these hours and minutes with the nuclear reactor itself was also unknown.

Reasons and official versions

Analyzing the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the causes of which were inexplicable at first glance, experts put forward many versions. Having summed up the results of the investigation, scientists settled on several options:

1. Disruption and disruption of the operation of circular pumps due to cavitation (formation of a shock wave as a result of a chemical reaction) and, as a consequence, a pipeline breakthrough.
2. Power surge inside the reactor.
3. Low level of security in the enterprise - INSAG version.
4. Emergency acceleration - after pressing the "AZ-5" button.

The latter version, according to many industry experts, is the most plausible. In their opinion, the control and protection rods were brought into active operation precisely by pressing this ill-fated button, which led to the emergency acceleration of the reactor.

This course of events is completely refuted by experts from the Gospromatnadzor commission. Employees put forward their versions of the causes of the tragedy back in 1986, insisting that the positive reactivity was caused by the emergency protection being activated, which is why the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred.

Certain technical calculations that prove the cause of the explosion due to cavitation on anti-aircraft missile system, refutes other versions. According to the chief designer of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, steam at the entrance to the reactor, as a result of boiling of the coolant in the air defense system, entered the core and distorted the energy-releasing fields. This happened due to the fact that the coolant temperature at its most dangerous period has reached the boiling point. The emergency acceleration began precisely with active vaporization.

Explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Other reasons for the tragedy

In addition, opinions were often voiced about the cause of the explosion as an act of sabotage, which was planned by the United States and carefully hidden by the government of the USSR. This version is supported by photographs of the exploded power unit from an American military satellite, which miraculously found itself in the right place exactly when the explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is very difficult to refute or confirm this theory, and therefore this version remains a guess. It remains only to confirm that indeed in 1986 the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant resulted in the disabling of secret objects (over-the-horizon radar Duga-1, Chernobyl-2).

The earthquake that occurred at that moment is also cited as the cause of the tragedy. Indeed, shortly before the explosion, seismographs recorded a certain shock in the immediate vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is the vibration that could provoke the accident that adherents of this version call the reason for the launch of irreversible processes. What seems strange in this situation is the fact that for some reason the neighboring power unit No. 3 was not damaged in any way and did not receive information about the seismic tremors. But no tests were carried out on it...

The most fantastic reason for the explosion has also been put forward - this is possible ball lightning, formed during the bold experiments of scientists. It was she who, if we imagine such a course of events, could well disrupt the operating regime in the reactor zone.

The consequences of the tragedy in numbers

At the time of the explosion, only 1 person died at the station. The very next morning, another employee died from very serious injuries. However, the worst thing began later, when literally within a month another 28 people died. They and 106 other station employees were at work at the time of the disaster and received the maximum dose of radiation.

Fire extinguishing

To extinguish the fire, when a fire was announced in power unit No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 69 employees included in the fire department, as well as 14 vehicles, were involved. People put out the fire, having no idea about the highest level pollution. The fact is that it was not possible to look at the background radiation meters: one was faulty, the second remained out of reach, under the rubble. That is why no one could even imagine the real consequences of the explosion at that time.

A year of death and sorrow

At approximately 2 a.m., some firefighters began to experience the first symptoms of radiation sickness (vomiting, weakness, and an incomparable “nuclear tan” on their bodies). After the first medical care the patients were taken to the city of Pripyat. The next day, 28 people were urgently sent to Moscow (6th Radiological Hospital). All the efforts of the doctors were in vain: the fire tamers became so infected that they died within a month. Trees covering an area of ​​almost 10 square meters also died from the huge release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere during the disaster. km. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the consequences of which were felt not only by the direct participants, but also by residents of three republics of the Soviet Union, forced to take unprecedented safety measures at all similar installations.

Any global event remains in our memory for a long time, most often forever. Unfortunately, not all such events are joyful and expected. Sometimes it happens, therefore, when a particular country goes down in history “thanks to” a terrible incident that entails human casualties, destruction of the environment, devastation of an entire area, and the death of all living things around. One such event can accurately be called such a sad event as the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on the territory of the former Ukrainian USSR (now an independent country - Ukraine), on April 26, 1986. The term most often used in the media is “Chernobyl disaster,” which became one of the largest nuclear tragedies in the history of mankind. When did the Chernobyl accident happen and what followed? Why did the accident happen at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and who is to blame for it? When was Chernobyl, when did the Chernobyl accident happen? More about all this below.

Lesson for humanity

The destruction that occurred during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was in the nature of an explosion. was completely destroyed. A huge amount of radioactive substances were released into the environment.

As already mentioned, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is regarded as the largest in the entire history of peaceful nuclear energy. Such conclusions can be drawn from the number of deaths, as well as those affected by the consequences. We cannot ignore the economic damage, which also affected the material condition of the Soviet Union.

Only within three months after the accident the number of victims reached 31 people. The first ones died within a few days. Further, radiation sickness claimed the lives of from sixty to eighty people, and this over the next fifteen years. Also, about one hundred and thirty-four people suffered radiation sickness, which had one degree or another of severity. More than 100 thousand people who lived in a 30-kilometer zone were immediately evacuated.

In order to eliminate such a phenomenon as the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a force of 600 thousand people was deployed and a huge amount of resources was spent. However, even now we continue to feel the consequences of this terrible accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and it is safe to say that this atomic curse will weigh on humanity around the world for a long time.

No matter how you look at it, people will continue to ask such questions, since the date of the accident in Chernobyl has long been known: Chernobyl, as it all happened, the accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, or briefly, the emergency accident. All these questions remain largely open.

What did people do to deserve such a disaster and how did it happen? What is this, a human mistake or a curse from above? Probably, no one will say for sure, just as the true culprits will not be found. Chernobyl accident became a good warning for those who believe that in this world everything is subject to man, because sometimes the slightest mistake can lead to huge sacrifices. And we all tend to make mistakes...

Chernobyl and Hiroshima

Along with such grief as the Chernobyl accident, another world catastrophe is remembered, namely. But here you can find a difference. The explosion that resulted in the Chernobyl accident was more like a powerful “dirty bomb”, and the main damaging factor Here we can accurately call radiation contamination.
The radioactive cloud formed from the burning reactor spread various radiation throughout almost all of Europe. Of course, the greatest consequences from this radiation were observed in large areas of the Soviet Union that were located near the reactor. Today these are lands that belong to the Republic of Belarus, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation.

The Chernobyl accident became an event of enormous social and political significance for the entire Soviet Union. And this, of course, left a significant imprint on the course of the investigation of the case. The interpretation of facts and their course were constantly changing, but there is still no exact designation or identification of the reasons that caused such a catastrophe as the Chernobyl accident.

The giant who buried the city. Characteristics of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

Chernobyl, the accident in which led to sad worldwide fame, is located on the territory of Ukraine, three kilometers from, 16 kilometers from Belarus, 110 kilometers from the capital of Ukraine, Kiev.

By the time the accident occurred, Chernobyl operated four power units based on RBMK-1000 reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The total power of the station was already one of the highest in Europe at that time: the Chernobyl NPP produced one tenth of the electricity throughout the USSR. In the future, it was planned to increase the capacity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. There was simply no time to complete the two additional power units.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant stopped forever on December 15, 2000. This date seemed to confirm that some things cannot be restored, they are now buried due to circumstances and, possibly, human omission.

Accident, Chernobyl - these two words can still inspire horror. For us, the current generation, it is impossible to imagine such a terrible thing happening again. And all we can do is correct conclusions and act in such a way as to protect yourself and those around you.

Horror is coming. Accident

On April 26, 1986, at night, namely at 1:26 am, an explosion occurred at the fourth power unit, which led to the complete destruction of the reactor. The accident in Chernobyl began with the partial destruction of the power unit building, killing two people. Moreover, the body of one of them could not be found, since it was buried under the rubble of the building. The second person died in hospital from burns and other injuries incompatible with life. But that was only the beginning. The Chernobyl accident did not stop there, but continued to claim life after life and is still doing so.

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant provoked the emergence of many fires. Fires broke out in various rooms of the station and on the roof, and as a result, the remains of the core melted. It seemed that the real end of the world had begun. Mixtures of sand, concrete, and fuel fragments began to spread throughout the sub-reactor rooms, destroying what was in their path.

Immediately the Chernobyl accident caused the release of radiation into the atmosphere. Among the radioactive substances there were plutonium, uranium and other substances terribly harmful to life, the half-life of which reaches several hundred and even thousands of years. The Chernobyl accident is something that will have consequences for centuries to come.

How it was. Chronology of the disaster

So, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the accident at which shocked the whole world, was once one of the largest systems that produced electricity. It would seem that it is indestructible, that there is no such phenomenon that can shake this powerful colossus.

The accident, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, is something that is known to everyone, but not everyone knows how it all began. It's probably good to know the history of what remains in our memory forever. Let's talk about what caused what we feel even decades later.

Path to Death

When did the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occur? It all started on April 25, 1986. The plans were to shut down the fourth power unit in order to carry out regular preventive maintenance and at the same time conduct an experiment. As part of the experiment, “turbogenerator rotor run-down” tests were to take place. The project proposed by the general designer was seen as an effective and cost-effective way to obtain an additional power supply system.

It should be noted that this was already the fourth test of the regime that was carried out at the station. Therefore, if someone asks the question “when did the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occur,” we can say that the tragedy was approaching gradually. The station itself seemed to warn people about something terrible, and it happened when no one expected it.

Deadly experiment

Tests about which we're talking about, were supposed to take place on April 25, 1986. About a day before such an event as the accident at Chernobyl, the power of the reactor was reduced by half. There was a decrease in power prerequisite experiment. For the same reason, the emergency cooling system was turned off. A further reduction in reactor power was prohibited by the Kievenergo dispatcher. At 23:10 the ban was lifted.

Although the date of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is exact character– April 26, 1986, the tragedy played out even earlier, since all huge events have their introductions. Due to prolonged unstable operation of the reactor, non-stationary xenon poisoning occurred.

Within 24 hours on April 25, the peak of poisonings had passed, and it seemed that the problem had been solved. But, as the date of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant confirms, the worst was yet to come. On the same day, the process of poisoning the reactor began at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. But since the power of poisoning began to decrease again, the poisoning process gained momentum again. If the question “in what year was the accident at Chernobyl” can be answered precisely - 1986, then even scientists do not dare to give an exact answer to the question of when its consequences will pass.

If anyone wants to see what the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant looks like, photos on the Internet are at your service. However, it is unlikely that photographs will be able to convey all the horror that actually happened there. No books or documentary stories will allow you to feel all the horror that is happening in the eighties of the twentieth century. The date of the Chernobyl accident will forever go down in history as one of the most terrible events that is unlikely to be corrected.

Signs from above?

Within about two hours, the reactor power was reduced to the level that was provided for by the program, but then, for unknown reasons, the reactor power could not be maintained at the required level and got out of control.

The shift manager decided to restore the rector's power. After a certain time, the station operators achieved the restoration of the reactor's power, but after a few minutes it began to grow again. Only after an hour of work did the operators finally manage to stabilize the reactor. The manual control rods continued to be removed.

After a certain thermal power was achieved, additional circulation pumps were put into use, the number of which was increased to eight. As the test program states, four pumps, together with two additional ones, were supposed to serve as a load for the generator of the “running down” turbine, which also participated in the experiment.

You already know that the tragedy in Chernobyl began with an experiment that started at 1:23 am. Due to the fact that the speed of the pumps connected to the run-down generator decreased, the reactor experienced a trend that entailed an increase in power. But at the same time, for almost the entire time of the process, the reactor power did not inspire concern. The tragedy in Chernobyl occurred a little later, and continues to this day. But then there was still no sign of trouble.

Seconds before the tragedy

Due to the fact that there was an additional increase in coolant flow through the reactor, and the cooling system was turned off, excessive amounts of steam were generated. As a result, when the coolant entered the core, the temperature in the reactor approached the boiling point. The situation began to become unmanageable.

Sensing something was wrong, the shift supervisor gave the command to stop the experiment. The operator pressed the emergency protection button, but the Chernobyl NPP system did not respond as it should. After just a few seconds, various signals were deciphered and recorded. They indicated that the reactor's power was growing, then the recording system simply failed.

The emergency protection system also did not work. Because of large quantity a couple of uranium rods in the reactor, which were supposed to stop the fission of atoms, lingered at a height of 2 out of 7 meters. Dangerous processes continued to occur. Less than a minute after the “successful” start of the experiment, an explosion occurred, the consequences of which are shown in photographs of the Chernobyl accident to this day.

One way or another, the date of the Chernobyl accident is forever etched in history former USSR. The consequences of the Chernobyl accident can be felt through the years, and then on that fateful day, it was impossible to imagine such a thing. But it is the consequences of the Chernobyl accident that make us think about how fragile and unreliable everything in this world is.

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - what did the investigation show?

As mentioned above, the Chernobyl accident, the photo of which eloquently tells us about those terrible events, does not give an accurate idea of ​​the reasons for what happened. The investigation into this accident has been ongoing for many years. Not only Soviet, Ukrainian and Russian specialists tried to understand why the accident happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and whether it could have been avoided. The history of the disaster interests many scientists around the world. After all, as already mentioned, we continue to feel the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant even now, although enough time has passed.

Today, there are two different approaches that lead to explaining the causes of the Chernobyl accident. The consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant arose as a result of an explosion, the causes of which have been trying to find out for many years in a row. These versions can be called official, in addition, there are several alternative versions, and their degree of reliability also varies.

A state commission was formed in the USSR in order to investigate such an event as the Chernobyl tragedy. The State Commission placed responsibility for this on the personnel of the Chernobyl plant, as well as on its management. But are these people really to blame for the Chernobyl tragedy?

Soviet experts, based on some of their research, confirm this point vision. There are allegations that the accident occurred due to a number of violations of the rules, that is, discipline was simply not observed, operating regulations were violated by personnel. The consequences at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, photos may somewhere show that all this happened due to the fact that the reactor was not used in a regulated condition.

Probably, if you want to ask Google “Chernobyl accident, date,” it will also answer you clearly and precisely when it happened. But the errors given here cannot be considered reliable, since, as mentioned above, there is no evidence, one can only speculate.

Causes of the accident

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the date of which is known to everyone, could have taken place due to gross violations established rules:

  1. The experiment had to be carried out “at any cost,” despite the fact that changes in the state of the reactor were too obvious and indicated danger. The Chernobyl accident, the date of which is included in the list of the worst disasters, became inevitable due to the fact that it was not appreciated human life.
  2. The causes of the Chernobyl accident were that plant employees turned off manual safety mechanisms that were able to stop the reactor in a timely manner.
  3. The causes of the Chernobyl accident could also have occurred due to the hushing up of the scale of the accident in the early days by the management at the nuclear power plant. All this was a gross violation of the rules, which led to the disaster.

Is this why the Chernobyl tragedy happened? After all, already in the nineties, namely in 1991, all this was reviewed anew by the USSR Gosatomnadzor. And as a result, they came to the conclusion that all these statements are not substantiated, that, they say, this is all quite doubtful. In addition, the commission carried out special analyzes regarding the regulatory documents at that time, and there was no confirmation of the accusations against the station personnel.

Also in 1993, a report of additional content was published, where a lot of attention was paid to the reasons that led to such a terrible event as the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Questions regarding reactor malfunction were also addressed. All this was obtained from the old archive and new reports that were formed over many years.

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant still worries the minds of those who study it. As this report states, the most obvious reason is that there was an error in the design of the rector structure. Design features could have had a major influence on the course of the accident and, as a result, led to such a catastrophe as the Chernobyl accident, while Chernobyl became the most famous place in the world, unfortunately notorious.

Causes of the accident considered today

So, if the question is asked “in what year was the Chernobyl accident,” we can answer clearly, but we are also interested in the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident and its main factors of occurrence. The main versions of the disaster that are being considered today are:

  1. Failure to comply with safety regulations. It is believed that the reactor did not meet the required safety standards.
  2. Low quality of regulations. The quality of the regulations was very low, therefore safety was also at zero.
  3. Lack of information among staff. The exchange of information was not effective, it was impossible to properly convey danger signals.

The liquidation of the Chernobyl accident continues to this day, because it is completely destroyed terrible phenomenon, probably not possible. The Chernobyl accident is of interest year after year for its gloom and mystery, interests in what happened in Chernobyl, how the seconds passed before the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, how the accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, when there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, when there was an accident in Chernobyl, and the main question , this is probably “Chernobyl nuclear power plant photo after the accident”, because it will allow you to see how it once was and how it is happening now.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant at the stage of construction of the new Sarcophagus

April 26, 1986 is a day that changed the course of history for thousands of people who lived peacefully in the city of Pripyat and settlements adjacent to the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The date of the Chernobyl accident falls on this day.

Liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster

Day of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

It was an ordinary day outside. April 25 was the same as the previous April days. The station staff, as usual, were preparing to take over their shift when it suddenly became clear that they would have to conduct an experiment for which they were not prepared.

However, the fact that the staff was unprepared did not stop anyone. All thoughts were occupied with the future May holidays and the desire to complete the task as quickly as possible.

Having finally accepted their shift, the workers began the first stage of the experiment: the reactor cooling system was turned off. Apparently, this was one of the leading reasons for the tragedy, which happened 40 seconds after the start of work.

Chernobyl reactor 4 after the fire

A power surge, pressing the emergency protection button, the inability to control the situation... A few more seconds, and the explosion thundered throughout the entire area of ​​the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Now nothing could be done except put out the fire and deal with the consequences.

On April 26, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered large-scale destruction. However, the real problems were ahead - decontamination of territories, evacuation of the population, leaving the parental home, dead liquidators, victims of disease. When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, a huge number of fire departments and special equipment took part in localizing and extinguishing the fire. But no one even imagined what he was dealing with, and no one thought at all about the likelihood that this mission could be his last.

Workers from Tula build a tunnel to reach the damaged Chernobyl power unit, May 1986

Who was named guilty?

In addition to the version about the guilt of the working personnel in the history of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Dyatlov A.S. does not appear by chance. At the time of the accident, Anatoly Stepanovich held the position of deputy chief engineer of the Chernobyl NPP. Later, this man received, along with a high dose of radiation, the main charge and 10 years in a general regime colony.

Probably for all of us the word “explosion” is rarely associated with something good and positive. An explosion is destruction, the destruction of something, this is something that will not allow life to proceed along the same route. As proof, we can cite an explosion atomic bomb dropped on Japanese cities. The explosion then caused enormous destruction, and the cities had to be rebuilt over the course of many years. And although much more time has passed since the Japanese disaster than since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, they still remember it, realizing that with an explosion, even something that has been built over many centuries can be destroyed in an instant.

No one will argue that the explosion of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was terrible. Thousands of people suffered very seriously back then. Those who were at the epicenter of the explosion died on the spot. Others died later due to radiation sickness, which haunted the residents of cities and surrounding areas for a long time.

A similar catastrophe awaited us, but on a much larger scale. This happened when there was an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Thirty years have already passed, but we still remember with a shudder what happened on April 26, 1986.

The world before Chernobyl

Once upon a time, in an area not far from Pripyat, life was in full swing. In the city, one of the most promising in the USSR, they exploited Newest technologies that time. It seemed that nothing and no one could disrupt the planned course of this atomic giant, because it seemed indestructible. But it is impossible to predict the exact fate of certain events. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant entailed terrible consequences that we feel to this day.

Many, many people were forced to leave their homes, hastily evacuate, throw away their usual things and many other things that were expensive. The explosion in Chernobyl caused the city of Pripyat to be completely deserted, turning into a ghost town, about which films are made and articles are written.

Probably, many of us have seen photos of the empty Pripyat - it was the one that was first devastated by the explosion in Chernobyl. When they offer an excursion to Pripyat, they also show a photo of this neglected, scary city. The first thing we see is a Ferris wheel, abandoned high-rise buildings, abandoned schools where children once studied... Now there is nothing alive there. Where recently children's laughter could be heard, dolls and broken furniture are scattered, broken dishes. All this was caused by the explosion in Chernobyl, the consequences of which we still see today.

It would seem that more than 30 years have passed. It seems to many that everything that happened was just bad dream, who disappeared after suddenly waking up. But the specter of the Chernobyl accident does not go away. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant brought too catastrophic consequences. Largely because of it, the environment has deteriorated and the health of tens of thousands of people and future generations has been undermined.

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is called the largest nuclear disaster; it is difficult to imagine a more complex and terrible tragedy in this area. But what was the reason, who is to blame for this happening? Could this have been avoided?

The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant: a lesson for man

Operation of the nuclear power plant nearby began in 1977. At that time, this project carried great hope, since it was this power plant that supplied energy to 1/10 of the territory of the Soviet Union, which existed at that moment. An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant seemed impossible, because it was a huge structure that looked reliable and indestructible. Nothing foreshadowed that very little time would pass (less than ten years) and a real curse would fall on the world.

However, the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred. It will take many lives with it, seriously harm people's health, destroy a promising economy and cause enormous damage to the entire Soviet Empire.

It must be said that the 20th century is characterized as the beginning new era. It was at the beginning of the 20th century that civilization began to actively develop, which made human life much easier, but at the same time, perhaps, made us lose caution somewhere. A person somewhere forgot that he cannot always influence events, and, most importantly, one small mistake can lead to a huge, irreparable tragedy. And one such example is the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the explosion

We are already accustomed to images of desolation, since each of us watched films about the Apocalypse, where entire cities were empty, when entire cities disappeared and people were forced to start life anew. We see on the screen destroyed buildings, broken things, lonely people, broken windows, empty rooms and so on. But the worst thing is that in Chernobyl this is all happening for real.

Pictures of Chernobyl after the explosion tell of desolation and horror reigning there. It has everything that is sometimes even impossible to imagine in the scariest films.

Pictures of Chernobyl after the explosion can be found in abundance on the Internet, but there are even brave souls for whom pictures are not enough, and they go there themselves. However, this is actually prohibited because it is dangerous. Of course, if you really want to see it with your own eyes, then there is always the opportunity to go there on an excursion, where you will be taken around safe places.

The date of the Chernobyl explosion is forever etched in the memory of the whole world and has become one of the most fatal moments on planet Earth, since this disaster caused the destruction of our planet. Our home suffered enormous damage from which Mother Earth still cannot recover. The date of the Chernobyl explosion is a date of mourning for flora, fauna, and indeed for all humanity.

Facts about the Chernobyl explosion that were hidden for a long time

So, the fatal explosion occurred on the night of April 25-26. The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant killed many people, and caused criticism towards the Soviet authorities. April 26, 1986 became a fateful date not only for the former Soviet Union, but also for the whole world.

The most interesting thing is that it is no longer possible to name exactly the reason why all this happened. The explosion at Chernobyl is considered a consequence of the human factor, in other words, negligence and imprudence. But then in the USSR at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant they were very attentive to various details. The experiment that was carried out on the day of the tragedy was planned and there were no signs of trouble. The explosion in Chernobyl sounded like a bolt from the blue, and for many it became a horror for many years.

Let's look at those facts that were unknown for some time and were hidden for certain reasons. Perhaps these facts will help to better understand the causes of the Chernobyl tragedy. Although, again, it is still impossible to name the exact reasons, because we will not go back to the past.

Negligence of builders

There is a version that the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which was being built at an accelerated pace, even before the accident occurred, raised concerns among both experts and engineers. Already two years after the station went into operation, signals and warnings about technical flaws in the new building began to arrive. It turns out that the destruction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was simply inevitable, but for some reason they did not pay any attention to it. In 2006, declassified archives were found that confirmed the presence of poor-quality installation and construction work, violations of technological discipline, as well as the presence of violations of radiation safety rules. As a result of all this, five accidents and 63 equipment failures occurred at the station even before the latest emergency. The last such message is said to be dated February 1986.

Chasing results

The explosion occurred in the fourth power unit, which was brought to its design capacity three months earlier than planned. This version is also considered as the cause of the explosion in Chernobyl, which occurred on the night of April 25-26 at 1 hour 23 minutes, to be especially precise. The accident occurred while a planned experiment was being carried out. The purpose of the experiment was to study the possibility of using the inertia of the reactor to generate additional electricity in the event of an emergency shutdown of the reactor.

The experiment was to be carried out with a reactor power of 700 megawatts. But before use began, the level suddenly dropped to 30 megawatts. The operator noticed the error and tried to correct it. After some time, the power was restored, and at 1:23 a.m. the experiment continued with a power of 200 megawatts. After just a few seconds, the power began to increase rapidly. Reacting to what was not happening, the operator pressed the emergency protection button, but for a number of reasons it did not work.

A little later, after studying all the facts, it is precisely actions of this nature that will be considered as the cause of the explosion in Chernobyl. However, they also claim that these actions were completely planned, were previously provided for in the briefing and were not carried out in emergency mode when the reactor was shut down. But still, the exact causes of the Chernobyl accident are not known to this day.

Lack of “safety culture”

After the emergency button was pressed, two explosions occurred, the interval being only a few seconds, and as a result, the reactor was almost immediately destroyed. The State Commission blamed the Chernobyl nuclear power plant personnel entirely for the tragedy; everyone supported this version. However latest facts made people doubt it.

The year of the Chernobyl explosion became fatal, but versions are constantly changing, and it is very difficult to come to one thing. It is clear that the human factor played an important role here, but you cannot rely on this alone. Perhaps there was something else here that could not be predicted. And as proof, 20 years later, a new report confirmed that such a categorical opinion turned out to be wrong.

It was confirmed that the actions of the personnel were fully consistent the necessary rules, so it was difficult to influence the course of the accident. In addition, nuclear energy experts stated that safety at the nuclear power plant was low, or rather there was no safety culture as such. We can talk a lot about this, but the truth is one: the explosion took place, and its consequences are catastrophic.

Lack of staff awareness

Experts claim that personnel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were not aware that there was a danger in the changed working conditions. Before the accident, the ORM was less than the value allowed by the regulations, but the personnel who took over the shift were not aware of the current ORM, and therefore did not know that they were violating the regulations.

Perhaps the most terrible thing is that even after the explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the first ones - the firefighters who came to put out the fire - were not aware of the further danger. Few of them ordinary people could imagine that radiation could be very life-threatening. At that moment, they thought only about destroying the fire, saving what could still be saved. As a result, something terrible happened: out of twenty firefighters, only six survived. This is all very terrible.

Illiterate actions of personnel when working with the reactor

Just 20 years later, KGB officers found themselves at the site of the Chernobyl accident and were able to claim that the clear cause of the explosion was the fourth power unit, some kind of error that was not corrected in time. Perhaps it happened that the block had to be stopped at a certain moment in order for it to come out of the iodine pit, but for some reason this was not done. One of the reasons was that the block began to be raised.

Why were they hiding the causes of the accident?

The causes of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were classified in order to prevent mass panic. After all, the lives and health of many people depended on it. Knowing real reasons explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, people would lose their composure and panic, and this is very undesirable, especially before evacuation.

The year of the Chernobyl explosion seemed like a very ordinary year, but then it became clear that this was not so. However, such a truth could not be hidden for long; the cause of the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had to come out sooner or later. The terrible ones appeared within a few days, when people began to die from radiation sickness. Soon, when the radioactive cloud reached Europe, about the great nuclear disaster the whole world knew. The cause of the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant could not be ignored, but at the same time, it is impossible to accurately answer this question even now.

The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a death sentence

On April 27, 1986, after the explosion, more than 100 people were sent to hospital, and already at two o’clock in the afternoon a mass evacuation began, during which more than 45 thousand people were evacuated. People were forced to leave everything they loved, give up their usual way of life and go into the unknown. The Chernobyl accident deprived people of their home, their favorite atmosphere and a sense of personal security. In total, by the end of 1986, about 116 thousand people from 188 settlements were evacuated.

In May 1986, the USSR government decided to mothball the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This was done in order to avoid the release of radionuclides into the environment and prevent further contamination in the station area. Already in November 1986, the so-called “Sarcophagus” was built, that is, an insulating concrete shelter designed to stop the further spread of radiation.

In the first three years after the accident, more than 250 thousand workers visited Chernobyl, sent there in order to minimize the consequences of the disaster. Subsequently, the number of employees increased further. And although the causes of the Chernobyl accident are still unknown, much has been done to minimize the terrible consequences.

If you want to know more, you can enter “Chernobyl NPP causes of the accident” in the search engine. However, do not forget that the Internet is not a very reliable source of information. For example, some sources claim that the death toll from the accident is in the thousands, although this is absolutely not true.

In 1993, the second power unit was installed at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and in 1996 the first power unit, and already in 2000 the third was installed, which became the last in this matter.

December 15, 2000 was the last day for Chernobyl, and this marked the end of everything. Great, once powerful nuclear power plant ceased to exist forever.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine came to a decision to completely liquidate the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 2065. In addition, in the very near future it is planned to build a special storage facility for draining spent nuclear fuel. This project will make it possible to make the destroyed nuclear power plant safe.

Consequences of a deadly experiment

Quite a lot has already been said about the consequences of the fatal explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but the essence remains the same. An Exclusion Zone was formed 30 kilometers around the station. Along with this territory, the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant especially affected villages and cities within a radius of 100 kilometers. The lands where it was raining at that moment were especially contaminated with radiation. After all, radioactive elements contained in large particles fell along with precipitation. More than five hectares of land were taken out of agricultural use.

It should be noted that the Chernobyl disaster surpasses the notorious Hiroshima and Nagasaki in terms of the power and scale of damage. According to some experts, the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant provoked the development of diseases in people such as cataracts and thyroid cancer, increased the risk of cardiovascular problems, leukemia and other terrible problems that cannot be avoided even 30 years after the accident.

The explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant turned the idea of ​​human power upside down, since it was then that proof was presented that not everything in this world is subject to man, sometimes what is destined to happen cannot be avoided. But let's take a closer look at what exactly caused the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, whether it could have been avoided, and in general, what should be expected in the future. Will we never get rid of the consequences of the terrible event that happened in the eighties of the 20th century?

Echoes of Chernobyl today

The Chernobyl zone, the explosion in the area of ​​which shocked the whole world, became famous throughout the world. Even now, not only Ukrainians are interested in this problem, but also residents of other countries who are interested in ensuring that such a tragedy does not happen again. After all, no matter how sad it is, this tragedy even now poses a danger to every inhabitant on Earth. Moreover, some scientists agree that the biggest problems are just beginning. There is, of course, some truth in this, because the main global catastrophe did not occur on the day of the explosion, but only later, when people began to develop radiation sickness, which is still rampant today.

The event that happened on April 26, 1986 in Once again proved that it is stupid to divide people into countries and nationalities, that if some terrible disaster occurs, then everyone around them can suffer, regardless of skin color and material wealth.

The Chernobyl explosion is a clear example of the need to be careful when dealing with nuclear energy, because one slight mistake will lead to a catastrophe on a global scale. Unfortunately, the Chernobyl explosion has already occurred, so we cannot return time and stop this disaster, but at the same time we can protect ourselves and others from the same mistakes in the future.

No one will argue that there is very little positive in the events that occurred on April 26, 1986, however, our task is not only to remember, but also to prevent something like this from happening again. We never know what will happen next, but we must act in such a way as not to harm nature and the environment.