Children of Chernobyl

The Chernobyl Nuclear Accident

The Chernobyl Nuclear Accident was the "worst environmental disaster in the history of mankind," affecting almost 3 million people living in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. 800,000 children have been exposed to radiation contamination during the accident and daily through their soil, plants, and animals. Childhood thyroid cancer, other cancers, and birth deformities have severely increased. Simple joys that we take for granted have been taken from them. They may not walk for more than 2 hours a month in the woods; they shouldn't swim in the rivers or lakes, nor should they grow their own food.

The following two articles provide background to events leading up to the accident, details about the accident, and its aftermath.

The Children of Chernobyl

Background

On April 26, 1986, a poorly planned and supervised experiment at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Ukraine went terribly out of control. A partial meltdown of the nuclear core was followed by a violent explosion, and the top of the reactor, called the Upper Biological Shield and weighing 2 million pounds, blew off the sides and destroyed part of the reactor walls when it fell. The core and reactor then continued to burn for ten days, open to the atmosphere. Tens of tons of uranium fuel, plutonium, other radio nuclides and debris went into the atmosphere, totaling over 90 times the fallout emitted from the 1945 Hiroshima bomb. Prevailing winds blew these north and westward across Belarus, Russia, and Europe, with at least 70% of the fallout falling on Belarusian soil. Thirty two people died from exposure to radiation in the days immediately following the explosion, and as many as 15,000 of the 800,000 workers who built the hastily conceived shield around the damaged reactor are believed to have died prematurely as a result of radioactivity received during their efforts.

Current Situation

The small Republic of Belarus lies just miles north of the damaged reactor, and was most heavily contaminated. This was partly due to the Soviet government's decision to seed the radioactive clouds to rain over Belarusian territory before Moscow could be severely affected. About one third of it's once fertile, arable land is considered unfit for use. Tens of thousands of people have been uprooted from their lands and homes in the most heavily contaminated areas. Yet, in a country of 10 million people, over two million, including 600,000 young children, still live in the areas contaminated by Chernobyl fallout. These people, too poor to import food grown in non-radioactive areas, eat and drink contaminated food, water and milk, and the children play in contaminated soil. Their immune systems, particularly those of the children, are considerably weakened, leaving them very susceptible to common diseases. Thyroid cancer rates in children living in these areas are 100 times greater than before the nuclear accident.

Respite Programs

Each summer, as many as 10,000 young Belarusian children leave their parents to escape, however briefly, their contaminated homeland. Unaccompanied by their parents, they travel all over the world where they are taken in, fed, clothed and cared for. Programs are active in Germany, Poland, England, Italy, Ireland, Cuba, Japan and Canada, to name just a few countries, and nearly two thousand children are expected in the United States this summer. Once here, they breathe clean air and eat and drink uncontaminated fresh food and water. As a result of these stays, doctors have found that their bodies recover to a remarkable extent, their health is noticeably improved, and the children are literally given a new lease on life.

These programs are generally not run by governments or large non-governmental organizations. Rather, small groups of people learn of the plight of the Belarusian children and decide to make a difference in their lives. Money is raised locally, contact is made with charitable groups in Belarus to identify those most in need and the children are brought over during their summer vacations from school.

The Program at AUMC

The program at Annandale United Methodist Church brings children from Belarus who are between the ages of 8 and 12 to the Northern Virginia area for a 6-week stay. The youngsters speak no English and are completely unfamiliar with our way of life. They are placed with host families in our community, matching age and gender of Belarusian children with host American children as closely as possible. The Belarusian children benefit from our clean water, healthy food, fresh air, exercise and, of course, love. Dental care is sadly lacking in Belarus, and the children receive treatment donated by local dentists. They experience our culture and way of life with sightseeing trips, parties and outings with the other Belarusian children and their American host families.

Many of the Belarusian children arrive in this country with only the clothes that they are wearing. They return home with winter clothing for themselves and their family. Most have gained weight and are noticeably more fit than when they arrived. Teeth have been cleaned and cared for, and a year's supply of toothpaste and brushes are tucked into their suitcases, along with bandages, aspirin and vitamins, all prohibitively expensive back home.

The effects on everyone involved in the program are profound and long lasting. Many of our host families have formed loving, lasting relationships with their "Belarusian Children" and stay in touch with regular letters and presents at Christmas and birthdays. Some children return to their American families year after year. Most importantly, the Belarusian children and their families keep the sure knowledge that someone cares for them, has some understanding of what they are living through, and stands beside them in their difficult lives.

The Chernobyl Accident

Prelude to Disaster

At 1:00 a.m. Friday, April 26, 1986, preparations began to conduct an experiment with a special magnetic field regulator installed in the number eight turbine of the Chernobyl nuclear power station unit number 4.

At 2:00 a.m. the operators were about to begin the experiment when the Kiev Regional Grid Controller rescheduled the experiment for 11:00 p.m. that night. When the operators were told the experiment was postponed, they did not bother switching back on the reactor's emergency water cooling system.

At 11:10 p.m. the experiment was resumed. A new shift came on duty and failed to set an automatic control unit. This allowed the reactor to be run at levels of dangerously low power. The system was designed to operate at levels of 700 Megawatts. The failure to set the power control was one of the primary reasons for the reactor power to drop to 30 MW. At 30 MW this style of reactor is extremely unstable. For the next hour the operators had to struggle to increase the power of the reactor.

At 1:00 a.m. the operators had managed to increase the power of the reactor to 200 MW by withdrawing control rods. Less than 30 of the 211 control rods were left in place in the reactor.

The operators caused water to enter the reactor in order to create more steam to bring up the power. It had the opposite effect: lower temperatures and less steam output. The lower reactor temperatures caused even more control rods to be withdrawn from the core. In order to keep the steam turbines operating, the experimenters disengaged the emergency protection controls at l:l9 a.m.

At 1:21 a.m. they sharply reduced the amount of water entering the core in order to increase the reactor's temperature. Some control rods, which were designed to respond automatically to sudden temperature increases, fell into the reactor core as designed.

At 1:22 a.m. there were fewer than 15 of the 211 control rods in the reactor core. There may have been as few as six or eight. We will never know for sure. Data on a computer printout in the control room indicated the need for an immediate shutdown of the reactor. It was ignored.

At 1:23 a.m. the experimenters blocked a trip, which would have shut down the reactor. For a moment the reactor stabilized. The test on the Magnetic Field Regulator began. The temperature changes and reduced water levels caused a massive increase in steam, which in turn, produced more power. Power surged from 200 MW to 32,000 MW, which is 100 times full power. This was immediately followed by another surge of power (to 440 times full output).

The 1661 fuel rods became red hot from their lack of coolant and disintegrated into powder and fragments. The control rods were dropped in an attempt to shut down the reactor. The rods would not drop to their proper stops. The supervisor cut off power to the sleeves of the control rods so the rods would fall into the core by their own weight. The control rods could not be dropped in time.

The fuel rods (which by this time were white-hot) broke through their protective cladding and interacted with the outer steam water enclosures.

Quite literally, at that moment, Hell broke loose on Earth. The fuel and water mix exploded with such force it tore the lid right off the reactor. The lid, called the Upper Neutron Shield, was a steel fabrication filled with concrete. The lid measured 56.5 feet across and was 10 feet thick~ The shield weighed 2,000,000 pounds.

When the Upper Neutron Shield fell it landed on its side and was in an upright position. This ruptured all the remaining uranium fuel rods and most of the control rod channels, which were welded to the Neutron Shield. The explosion ruptured the floor, the walls and ceiling. The core was now exposed to the air. A second explosion ripped through the complex almost immediately. A ball of fire burst over the reactor core. Almost a fourth of the reactor, pipes, control rods, fuel rods and reactor structures were found outside the vault.

Despite heroic efforts by fire, military and civilian personnel, they did not extinguish the burning core. Sand, clay and boron mix were delivered by helicopter and dropped over the burning core in an attempt to smother the fire. Later investigations would show that every drop missed.

After 10 days, the reactor simply burned itself out.

Aftermath

Official Soviet sources acknowledged 50,000,000 Curies were released in the accident In 1~4, Alexander Sich (a nuclear engineer) presented his 500 page doctoral dissertation. Dr. Sich estimated that between 185 and 250 million Curies were released during the ten days the reactor burned. A Curie is the amount of radiation contained in one gram of radium. Sich's estimates are now accepted by most experts as accurate.

Winds blew 70% of the radiation from the Ukrainian-plant to neighboring Belarus. Of the 10,000,000 Belarusians, one in five suffered contamination. Of these contaminated, one in three was a child. A fifth of the arable land in Belarus was lost, but many have moved back to their former farms in spite of the contamination.

The Soviets permanently evacuated 116,000 individuals within a forty-mile zone around Chernobyl.

The blast released huge amounts of Iodine 131 and Cesium 137 into the atmosphere. These radioactive isotopes enter the food chain through plants and animals, so the Belarusians are not only victims of the initial blast but are continuing to suffer. It is in this manner that most victims have received their doses of radioactivity. The thyroid gland soaks up Iodine like a sponge. Because the body cannot differentiate between radioactive isotopes and normal Iodine, the Iodine 137 was absorbed into the system through the lining of the small intestine. This is the cause of acute Hypothyroidism.

According to the World Heath Organization, thyroid cancers in Belarus have increased more than 100 times since before the Chernobyl disaster. Increases in Leukemia have not been detected (1995) probably because it takes so long to develop.

Lee MacDonald, Christ Church
118 North Washington Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314