The environment surrounding the Chernobyl powerplant is severely contaminated with radioactive radiation. Lots of people have heard these words, and some of them, especially Ukrainians, get scared by only hearing it. Radiation can not be seen or heard, and it doesn't have a smell. Maybe this elusiveness is exactely what makes radiation this scary. Radiation can be lethal, it can cause radiation sickness and cancer, and when it is used in a bomb it serves as a weapon of mass destruction. But radiation can also be used for X-rays, and as a treatment for cancer. It can be both poison and cure. But what exactely is radiation?

ABOUT ATOMS

The entire universe, or at least our little corner of it, is build out of atoms. The atom is the very foundation of all matter. Atoms aren't visible for the naked eye, and even under a microscope they are not visible. It takes a powerfull machine like an electron microscope to enlarge them enough to make them visible. There are different kinds of atoms, and all there atoms are classified in the 'periodic system of elemets'. Examples of those elements (atoms) are: led, carbon, hydrogen and magnesite, but also metals and precious metals like gold and silver are atoms.

Every atom is build out of even smaller particles, and those are called: protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons and neutrons are located in the inner part of the atom; the nucleus. Electrons are floating in a cloud around the nucleus. The ammount of protons defines the kind of atom. For example; lead has 28 protons, magnesite only has 2. Protons have a positive charge, electrons have a negative charge. The ammount of protons in the nucleus of the atom have to be in equilibrium with the electrons surrounding the nucleus. The atom becomes instable if there is no equilibrium, and the atom becomes radioactive, spreading ionising radiation.

If an atom is instable, which occurs naturaly, but can also be achieved by nuclear fission, it is missing a particle. This particles goes wandering around by itself, and can split other particles from other atoms. Radioactivity is able to spread this way. When atoms become radioactive in the human body, this can cause problems. A low dose of radiation can damage atoms in the DNA, the genetic code of the body. This can result in cancer years after the damage is done, and it can also cause defects in the offspring. A high dose of radiation can cause radiation sickness, a disease that causes the body to literally fall apart. Symptoms of radiation sickness are spontaneous burns, skin coming loose from the underlying tissue, and internal bleeding. The first symptoms of radiation sickness are alike to the symptoms of a flu. Because of this radiation sickness is often diagnosed to late. Some of the firemen who arrived at the powerplant in Chernobyl first, died later on of radiation sickness.

NUCLEAR POWERPLANT CHERNOBYL

A nuclear powerplant uses radioactivity to induce heat. This heat is used to cook water, and the steam of this water is used to activate a generator. The movement of the generator generates electricity. There are a lot of safetymeasures to make a nuclear powerplant safe. The core, for example, has to be isolated from the outside world, to make sure that in case of an accident no radiation can be released in the environment. Usually this means that the core is surrounded with several layers of steal and concrete, and a concrete dome is placed over the entire reactor. All nuclear powerplants in Western Europe and the United States are secured this way.

But the Chernobyl nuclear powerplant wasn't secured this way. Though scientists knew about the danger of this lack of security, they didn't speak up. People living in the Sovjet Union were used not to contradict the government, because history taught them this could get you killed. So despite the lack of security measures the powerplant was put into use. The plant provided electricity without any problems, and the fear the scientists had seemed needless. Until everything went wrong on that fatefull night in April 1986.

Because of a test with the reactor several safetysystems were put out of use. The coolingwater started boiling and there was a meltdown of the reactor. This resulted in a small explosion inside the reactorcore. But because of this explosion a second explosion was triggered, which blew an enormous radioactive dustcloud into the atmosphere. The Chernobyl accident shocked the entire world.

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