31 Ocak 2010 Pazar

Sorrow in Pripyat

In 26th April 1986, there was a sudden explosion. It was just a fire. All fire fighting crews ran to the venue. They all knew was an explosion and spreading fire. Nobody thinks that it is a radioactive catastrophe. People, who knew it was a failure, have just died by the incident. The efforts took all night long. By the sunshine appears, peril of the incident was clearly seen. It was terrifying scene.

I want to tell you why these happened. After the Second World War, the USSR and the USA are the part of diplomatic challenge called “cold war”. In this period, which concluded with dissolve of the USSR, both sides worked on nuclear projects. The easiest and cheapest way to obtain main ingredient of nuclear weapon was nuclear reactors. The story begins with one of the reactors located in Pripyat, Chernobyl (Ukraine). The system is implemented in these facilities relies on human factor instead of computerised control units. This causes a big responsibility on the shoulders of officials.

Authorities make a decision about conducting a safety test in the reactor. They wonder the durability and reaction of the plant in extraordinary conditions. The condition that they want to face with is sudden energy loss. It makes a little trick for this plant. Water is used there for both cooling and transforming thermal energy to electrical energy. A possible lack of electricity both affects radioactive progress and cooling. For this critical point they start to test. They cut electricity mainstream and waited for the results. However auxiliary power unit is activated automatically. They continued to the test and increase the water and core cools down quickly and produced energy decreases. This sudden decrease alerts official in other part of the controlling unit. He decreases the number of control rods (adjust core temperature) to six. The minimum value for the rods is twenty-six. This causes uncontrolled and tragic increase in the temperature of the core and it triggers to increasing pressure for water. Cooling unit blasts and structure is heavily damaged. The explosion also affects ceiling of the building and it makes easier to spread fallout. In the middle of night’s darkness, people in Pripyat have no idea about what is going on.

Thousands of people have fight with catastrophe by having no idea about the radioactivity and they lost their lives in a short time. Citizens of Pripyat are forced to leave their houses. City is evacuated and liquidated in hours. No living sign left in the city. Children used to play in parks, parents were happy in the streets of the city. There were more things than leaked radioactives from the Chernobyl. Invisible enemy threatened the lives and ruined completely.

Neighbour countries, Western Europe, Asia, America and Turkey experienced the results of the incident. Many people died, many people struggle with different, cruel types of cancer. Unofficially the USSR dissolved, and the pain remains forever in human history. Empty streets and apartments are still in 26th of April 1986. Time is paused, life is abandoned and recovery waits for more seven hundred years. All pictures are greyish like hopes and clouds on Pripyat.