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On April 26, 1968, at 1:23 AM, Unit 4 of the RBMK Chernobyl power plant experienced an unexpected power surge. This power surge had arisen during a routine safety test carried out to determine whether in the event of a power failure, the still-spinning turbines within the plant could produce enough electricity to keep coolant pumps running during the brief gap before the emergency generators kicked in.. In fact, the test was deemed so routine that the plant director did not even bother showing up. Operators had started preparing for this test a day earlier, however it was temporarily delayed to meet the region’s power needs. After gaining permission to carry forward the test, it was resumed, although by an inexperienced work staff who had purportedly never received proper instructions on how to perform the test. It was the confluence of a series of crucial missteps including the violation of safety protocols, RBMK reactor design flaws and failed attempts to shut down the reactor that caused the untimely power surge which subsequently triggered the explosion. As air entered the core of the reactor, the graphite blocks in the reactor caught fire, which led to the emanation of harmful quantities of radioactive materials like plutonium, iodine, strontium and cesium into the environment. As a result of exposure to such toxic materials, human health suffered greatly, especially the plant operators, firefighters, workers engaged in clean up operations - known as liquidators - and the 49,360 inhabitants of the nearby city of Pripyat in northern Ukrainian SSR. Though the threat to the inhabitants was less immediate and direct compared to the workers and firefighters, those communities saw a rise in cancer cases. The most recurring cases have been that of thyroid cancer among adults who were children living near the site of the explosion at that time. The scale of the explosion was so massive that the radiation could be detected in the neighboring countries of Belarus, The Russian Federation and some cities of Europe. As of 2015, almost 20,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected among those residents. It feels obvious that there will be health concerns as a result of a nuclear explosion. But why cancer? The thyroid gland is particularly radiosensitive, absorbing as much as radiation so that there is less exposure to the rest of the cells within the body. However, when the cells are exposed to large quantities of radiation, tumours can develop near the area causing thyroid cancer. The glands of children are smaller, hence they are more susceptible to the disease. Before the Chernobyl disaster, there were about one or two cases of thyroid cancer detected among children each year. Approximately 38 cases were recorded in Gomel - the most contaminated region - in 1991. Additionally, in six regions of Belarus and the city of Minsk, 131 thyroid cancer cases were detected in younger children, some of whom were still in the womb when the incident occurred. Even the World Health Organisation believes "the experience in Belarus suggests that the consequences to the human thyroid, especially in fetuses and young children, of the carcinogenic effects of radioactive fallout is much greater than previously thought." Though thyroid cancer remains the most common cancer detected due to radiation exposure, other cancer cases such as leukemia (blood cancer) and vitreoretinal lymphoma - a particularly rare type of cancer - have been traced to the Chernobyl disaster. Even today, 35 years after the explosion, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster reminds us of the consequences from human induced catastrophes. The aftermath of the incident impacted not only the nuclear industry, but the lives of neighboring communities. Fortunately, civilian and authoritarian groups continue to advocate for the implementation of additional safety measures for the careful operation of power plants. This incident also had another unintended benefit. Since thyroid cancer is now known to be caused by radiation, the Chernobyl cases have become a special resource for studying the molecular biology of radiation and non-radiation induced thyroid cancer. Sources: https://www.history.com/news/chernobyl-disaster-timeline#&gid=ci02447912a000266d&pid https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/chernobyl/faqs https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article/27/1/56/520833 https://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/resources/health/health-effects-chernobyl-accident.cfm https://www.curetoday.com/view/chernobyl-disaster-may-be-linked-with-rare-cancer-30-years-later https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/03/world/a-cancer-legacy-from-chernobyl.html https://www.britannica.com/event/Chernobyl-disaster https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/chernobyl-disaster Poulomi PitalePoulomi Pitale is the current head of our interview team here at Cancer Together. She works on writing informative pieces along with interviewing others to raise awareness about cancer in our community.
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Scavenger Hunt Hint!
2/3/2022 12:58:18 pm
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