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Nuclear Regulatory Commission from US, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What’s nuclear energy?
Nuclear energy is a type of energy used to create electricity.
Nuclear energy is produced inside a nuclear power station. In these stations, there are machines called [[nuclear reactors::A nuclear reactor is a big machine that makes energy using tiny particles]] where this energy is created. Nuclear reactors become very hot while making nuclear energy.
Creating nuclear energy is a dangerous process that needs to be done extremely carefully. Otherwise, a lot can go wrong, as the Chernobyl disaster shows us.
Oh no! How did it start?
Chernobyl is a city in Ukraine that used to be a part of another country called the Soviet Union. There was a nuclear power station located near Chernobyl.
The Soviet Government ordered the workers of the power station toperform an experiment on a reactor in the station. Before starting the experiment, the workers should have reduced the electricity being produced by the reactor to cool it down. But they didn’t.
Tell me more!
After producing electricity all day long, the reactor was too hot. The workers tried to cool the reactor very quickly for the experiment. But, this caused the reactor to become way cooler than was needed. So now they had to heat the reactor again. To do this, they removed the safety rods of the reactor.
This caused the reactor to heat up too quickly. On 26th April 1986, around 1 AM, the reactor exploded.
That’s awful - what happened next?
The explosion led to a fire that burned for ten days. The explosion released very large amounts of [[radioactive::A type of dangerous and harmful energy that's produced during the process of creating nuclear energy.]] material into the atmosphere of countries all over Europe. About 350,000 people had to leave nearby cities because of the explosion.
All the forests, cattle, and animals in the area died. About 56 accident workers died directly as a result of the fire. Thousands of people died in later years because of illnesses they developed due to being exposed to harmful [[radiation::The form of energy produced in a nuclear reaction that's very harmful to health.]]. 36 years later, Chernobyl is a [[ghost town::A town where no one or very few people live because something bad happened there.]].
The Chernobyl explosion is the worst nuclear disaster in human history. Since then, people have been extra careful when it comes to handling nuclear energy.
Quick Revision
Nuclear energy makes electricity inside reactors using tiny particles.
It’s very powerful but dangerous if not handled carefully.
In 1986, workers at Chernobyl (Ukraine) made mistakes during an experiment.
The reactor exploded, causing a fire that lasted 10 days.
Radioactive material spread across Europe — people, animals, and forests were harmed.
Chernobyl became a ghost town, and it’s the worst nuclear disaster ever.
