Sustainability

Chernobyl accident

In April 1986 the technicians of the energy plant in Chernobyl, a town close to Kiev, did a series of tests to verify the reactor operating capacity. In order to do so, they deactivated the security system and lost the control on nuclear reactions that occurred inside the reactor core. This situations provoked an extremely violent explosion that released a huge quantity of radioactive material (also made of caesium-137) into the air (half of atoms loses its radioactivity in 30 years). The consequences resulted to be immediately severe in the area around Chernobyl, but the radioactive cloud, pushed by the wind, moved towards the north-west and the radioactive material fell back on the ground with rainfalls. This phenomenon affected more than 20 countries and more than 100 million people. In fact the radioactive rain reached people at more than 2000 km of distance, like the Norwegian tundra. Caesium-137 passed from rainwater to lichens and reindeers, that showed a quantity of caesium that was considered unsafe for human food. This high concentration was not just found in reindeer meat, but also in milk, representing a problem for Lapp people that were in the last position of the food chain. If you want to read more about the changes of the food chain and pollution caused by pesticides, please read the main text.