{"id":4,"date":"2016-04-28T09:44:57","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T09:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/euradcom.org\/?p=4"},"modified":"2016-04-30T14:00:21","modified_gmt":"2016-04-30T14:00:21","slug":"chernobyl-30-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/euradcom.org\/chernobyl-30-years-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Chernobyl 30 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"
On April 26, 1986, a horrific accident took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant located in Ukraine \u2013 part of the former Soviet Union. Originally there were four reactors and they were constructed between 1970 and 1983. The disaster at the Chernobyl plant was the worst of its kind in history, and even though the 30th<\/sup> anniversary of the tragedy is approaching, an exclusion zone (a radius of thirty kilometers) still exists around Chernobyl and public access is forbidden.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The nearest inhabited city was Pripyat and at the time of the meltdown it had 50,000 people, many of whom held jobs at the power plant. No one lives there now. What went wrong at Chernobyl on that day in 1986, and who was at fault?<\/p>\n Causes of the Accident<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n There was a special test scheduled, a low power test conducted to find out how long turbines would spin and give power to the main circulating pumps if the electricity supply were cut off. The test involved two steps: insert all control rods halfway to simulate a blackout, then disconnect one of the turbines and allow its inertia to generate power, which would be measured.<\/p>\n