Nuke disaster. One after another. Yet the human being are not even regret with the past mistakes. If there are regrets or sorrows they are just for the time being only. Yesterday we cried and felt sorry, today we regret and feel sorrow, but tomorrow we will forget and adrift again. Humans will remember their Gods when they are ill, suffering or in hardships. Humans always forget their Gods when they are healthy, rich and in pleasures.
Mankind are subject to negligence, carelessness, laziness, irresponsible, disrespect and disobedience. They have to fight those bad attitudes with self discipline and sole willing powers to enable to be good human being. I f not, human will make mistake even at the highest level where humans life are at stake. Chernobyl is the example of the tragedy which had happened due to the humans mistakes. Facts revealed that the Chernobyl disaster happened as a result of carelessness, disobedience, ignorance of knowledge and procedures at the highest modern scientific level.
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian USSR (now Ukraine). An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western Russia and Europe. It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima I nuclear incident). The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles, crippling the Soviet economy.
The disaster began during a systems test on 26 April 1986 at reactor number four of the Chernobyl plant, which is near the town of Pripyat. There was a sudden power output surge, and when an emergency shutdown was attempted, a more extreme spike in power output occurred, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions. These events exposed the graphite moderator of the reactor to air, causing it to ignite. The resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive smoke fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area, including Pripyat. The plume drifted over large parts of the western Soviet Union and Europe. From 1986 to 2000, 350,400 people were evacuated and resettled from the most severely contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. According to official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus.
The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, as well as nuclear power in general, slowing its expansion for a number of years and forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive about its procedures. Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus have been burdened with the continuing and substantial decontamination and health care costs of the Chernobyl accident. Thirty one deaths are directly attributed to the accident, all among the reactor staff and emergency workers. A UNSCEAR report places the total confirmed deaths from radiation at 64 as of 2008. Estimates of the number of deaths potentially resulting from the accident vary enormously: the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest it could reach 4,000; a Greenpeace report puts this figure at 200,000 or more; a Russian publication, Chernobyl, concludes that 985,000 excess deaths occurred between 1986 and 2004 as a result of radioactive contamination.
The nearby city of Pripyat was not immediately evacuated after the incident, for the general population of the Soviet Union was not informed of the disaster until 29 April. During that time, all radio broadcasts run by the state were replaced with classical music, which was a common method of preparing the public for an announcement of a tragedy that had taken place. Scientist teams were armed and placed on alert as instructions were awaited.
Only after radiation levels set off alarms at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, over one thousand kilometers from the Chernobyl Plant, did the Soviet Union admit that an accident had occurred. Nevertheless, authorities attempted to conceal the scale of the disaster. For example, while evacuating the city of Pripyat, the following warning message was read on local radio: "An accident has occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. One of the atomic reactors has been damaged. Aid will be given to those affected and a committee of government inquiry has been set up."
The government committee was eventually formed, and tasked to investigating the accident. It was headed by Valeri Legasov, who arrived at Chernobyl in the evening of 26 April. By the time Legasov arrived, two people had already died and 52 were receiving medical attention in a hospital. By the night of 26–27 April – more than 24 hours after the explosion – Legasov's committee had ample evidence showing extremely high levels of radiation had caused a number of cases of radiation exposure. Based on the evidence at hand, Legasov's committee acknowledged the destruction of the reactor and ordered the evacuation of Pripyat.
The evacuation began at 14:00 on 27 April. In order to expedite the evacuation, the residents were told to bring only what was necessary, as the authorities had said it would only last approximately three days. As a result, most of the residents left their personal belongings, which are still there today. An exclusion zone of 30 km (19 mi) remains in place today, although its shape has changed and its size has been expanded.
That was in Europe. But now it is in Asia...Japan to be exact. Below is the story of the latest position of the Fukushima tragedy which I have copied and pasted here for our common sharing of sad and sorrow moments with the poor people of Japan...
Japan ups Fukushima nuke crisis severity to 7, same as Chernobyl
TOKYO, April 12, Kyodo
Japan on Tuesday raised the severity level of the ongoing emergency at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from level 5 to the maximum 7 on an international scale, recognizing that the tsunami-caused accident matches the world's worst nuclear catastrophe in 1986 at Chernobyl.
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency upgraded its provisional evaluation based on an estimate that radioactive materials far exceeding the criteria for level 7 have so far been released into the external environment, but added that the release from the Fukushima plant is about 10 percent of that from the former Soviet nuclear plant.
The nuclear regulatory agency under the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, a government panel, said that between 370,000 and 630,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials have been emitted into the air from the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors of the plant. Level 7 accidents on the International Nuclear Event Scale correspond to the release into the external environment of radioactive materials equal to more than tens of thousands of terabecquerels of radioactive iodine 131. One terabecquerel equals 1 trillion becquerels.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano emphasized that the raising of the severity level does not mean the situation at the Fukushima plant is ''worsening.'' The top government spokesman said the latest assessment is simply based on data which are more accurate than the time it made its previous assessments. The plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. offered an apology to the public for being still unable to stop the radiation leakage, pointing to the possibility that the total emission of radioactive substances could eventually surpass that of the Chernobyl incident.
A considerable amount of radioactive materials emitted is believed to originate from the plant's No. 2 reactor, whose containment vessel's pressure suppression chamber was damaged by an explosion on March 15, said Kenkichi Hirose, a Cabinet Office adviser serving for the safety commission, at a news conference.
''Our estimates suggest the amount of radioactive materials released into the air sharply rose on March 15 and 16 after abnormalities were detected at the No. 2 reactor,'' Hirose said. ''The cumulative amount of leaked radiation has been gradually on the rise, but we believe the current emission level is significantly low.''
The safety commission said it estimates the release has come down to under 1 terabecquerel per hour. Japan believes the Fukushima crisis, triggered by the devastating March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, is different from the Chernobyl accident in many ways, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the nuclear agency.
As examples, Nishiyama said no one in Fukushima has died from acute diseases caused by exposure to massive amounts of radiation, compared with about 30 in the accident that happened in the former Soviet Union, and that the reactors themselves did not explode as in Chernobyl.
''Even though some amount of radiation keeps leaking from reactors and their containment vessels, they are not totally destroyed and are functioning,'' Nishiyama said.
Hirose ruled out the possibility that the evacuation zone set by the government within 20 kilometers from the plant will be reviewed following the upgrading of the severity level. Nishiyama said it took about a month to raise the severity level of the Fukushima contingency due to a delay in securing reliable monitoring data. On March 18, the agency had provisionally set the level at 5, the same as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979.
The provisional judgment will be finalized after examinations by a government panel of nuclear experts, Nishiyama said, adding that the government will further bolster radiation monitoring to collect data. The INES only reflects radiation emitted into the air, and Japan needs to independently assess the severity of the incident by also monitoring contamination levels in the sea and soil, he said.
Earlier, the safety commission released a preliminary calculation for the cumulative amount of radiation, saying it has exceeded the yearly limit of 1 millisievert in areas extending more than 60 km northwest of the plant and about 40 km south-southwest of the plant. Within the 20-km exclusion zone, the amount varied from under 1 millisievert to 100 millisieverts or more, and in the 20-30 km ring where residents are asked to stay indoors it came to nearly 50 millisieverts.
Let us pray for the safety of the engineers, personnel and workers that risking their lives to prevent further catastrophe for the sake of their nations and perhaps for their Asian neighboring countries too.
Radiation injuries to three workers at Japan's stricken nuclear plant have put a focus once again on the unnamed and largely faceless corps of men. First dubbed the "Fukushima Fifty," their number has now risen to more than 700 workers toiling inside an evacuation zone at the facility on Japan's northeast coast that was battered on March 11 by an earthquake and then a tsunami.
Feted by foreign media and on social networks, the men have also won quieter admiration and sympathy from Japanese.
"Their job was in that sort of workplace, and I think they always knew that this might be their destiny, that at some point they might have to fight this kind of thing," said Yasuchika Honda, a 27-year-old advertising executive in Tokyo.
"They're trying very hard and I'm very grateful."
Three workers replacing a cable at the plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), were exposed to radiation 10,000 times higher than expected when they stood in contaminated water this week. Though encased in protective suits, it turned out two of the men had boots too short to stop water seeping in.
In a rare glimpse into conditions inside the reactors, photos released two weeks into the crisis showed shadowy figures working in near-darkness to restore the power and cooling systems, the gloom illuminated by a few weak lights.
"They're all the real Samurai," said one admirer on a Facebook page dedicated to the Fukushima workers and mainly containing messages from outside Japan.
"Let us pray for your healthy and safe return to your homes. May God help all of you in each single minute when you are still fighting desperately for your country and people. Thank you, Fukushima 50," commented another person on Facebook.
'Like a war'
The only public appearance by anyone who has been inside the plant was a news conference by firefighters earlier this week.
They cried with relief and spoke of their commitment to duty.
Most of the workers are too busy to go home.
The wife of one told the daily Yomiuri Shimbun that she had not seen her husband since the day of the quake and tsunami, and had only spoken with him briefly several times.
"It's like a war here," she quoted him as saying. Asked if he had been exposed to radiation, he told her: "A little."
The lack of effusive praise or public fuss over them inside Japan may be due to cultural norms that emphasize the group over individuals.
Sociology professor Takashi Miyajima, of Hosei University near Tokyo, said praise in Japan was generally reserved for the whole team -- and only when they finally succeed.
Reservations about the role of plant operator TEPCO could also be a factor.
"Among the mainstream media there's also a growing sense of how responsible TEPCO is for this whole mess, and this is making them reluctant to praise anybody involved in cleaning it up," Miyajima said.
"After all, these workers are mainly TEPCO people or from TEPCO affiliates."
Foreign media have reported the Twitter comments by one of the men's daughters who said he had volunteered despite being just six months from retirement.
"My eyes are filling up with tears," posted @NamicoAoto.
"At home, he doesn't seem like someone who could handle big jobs...but today, I was really proud of him. And I pray for his safe return." — Reuters
The Lessons
For country like Iran, I would suggest that they should restudy their nuke power plant program seriously. Iran is one of the country sitting on the active earthquake cycle and the disaster had been occurred several times in the country, killing many citizens and animals, destroying buildings and cities, plants and changing the landscapes forever. Imagine if the nuke power station in Iran being destroyed by the earthquake...does not it face the same problems suffered by the Chernobyl and Fukushima tragedies?
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