00:00Welcome back. On April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant located near Pryat, former Soviet
00:09Union, exploded, resulting in what was described as the world's worst industrial disaster.
00:15Four years later, we examine the consequences of the accident that turned the most technologically advanced city into the USSR
00:22in a ghost town.
00:24Let's take a closer look at the details in the following report.
00:30Forty years ago, near the city of Pripyat, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant conducted an experiment that would change the
00:37production of electricity through nuclear fission processes.
00:40The experiment consisted of testing the functionality and self-sufficiency of the facility under extreme conditions, such as a sudden
00:48loss of electrical power, and determining whether reactor 4 could be cooled in blackout conditions.
00:55The test reached a critical point around 3 a.m., the operators carried out the test, despite an accidental drop
01:03in reactor power.
01:04A design flaw that arose when attempting to shut down the reactor under those conditions led to a dramatic power
01:10surge.
01:11The reactor components ruptured and lost coolant, and the resulting steam explosions and meltdown destroyed the reactor building.
01:19The massive explosion caused dozens of direct casualties, and thousands of health complications.
01:25It is considered one of only two nuclear accidents rated at the highest severity level on the international nuclear event
01:32scale, the other being the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
01:38There was the first explosion, then, after some time, the second one.
01:43We couldn't see anything.
01:44We could only hear the groans.
01:46My colleagues were saying, it hurts, it hurts.
01:48The plant explosion was preceded by an explosion at the center of the reactor core, which released radioactive contaminants across
01:57the Soviet Union and Europe, creating a danger zone of approximately 10 kilometers, and 24 hours later, the danger zone
02:05expanded to 30 kilometers.
02:10They had to be put into protected suits within 30 kilograms, including lead armor, shorts, and shoe covers.
02:16They were wearing these protected suits to do the decontamination work, which lasted for a month.
02:23In the hours immediately following the incident, a total of 49,000 people had to be evacuated due to radiation
02:30contamination 36 hours later, an additional 68,000 people were evacuated as a precautionary measure until radiation levels had decreased.
02:42We were told that we couldn't go swimming, that we couldn't go sunbathing, so we started to stay in the
02:47shade as long as possible.
02:48For a while, we were not allowed to go to the forest or the riverside.
02:51The disaster caused the reversible damage to the ecosystem, genetic damage due to radiation in children exposed to the radioactive
03:00cloud, a coordinated response involving more than 500,000 people, and a loss of 18 billion rubles.
03:07Although the event was a tragedy for Europe, it served as a catalyst for the International Atomic Energy Agency and
03:14countries around the world to strengthen safety protocols and procedures for working with nuclear energy in the event of a
03:22crisis.
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