HIS 100 Module One Activity #2
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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History
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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HIS 100 Module One Activity: Project Topic Exploration.
Identify the topic you chose to explore:
I have always been interested in the Chernobyl Nuclear accident. I will be focusing on
that.
Explain what you already know about the chosen topic based on your personal history or
experiences.
I was watching television on 26 April 1986 when the first rumblings of something
happening in the Soviet Union around the Chernobyl nuclear plant. As I was 15 at the
time, it piqued my interest. The initial emergency response involved more than 500,000
personal and initial costs ran about 18 billion roubles (roughly $68 billion in US
currency). Chernobyl is listed as the worst nuclear disaster in history. As I learned a while
later, the accident occurred during a test of the steam turbine’s ability to power the
emergency pumps in the event of a simultaneous loss of external and a coolant pipe
failure. Following the disaster, the city of Pripyat was completely evacuated (approx.
49,000 people). Later the exclusion zone was increased to 19-mile radius, displacing
another 68,000 people (Wikipedia, 17 October 2023). A wildly cited study conducted by
the World Health Organization in 2006 predicted 9,000 cancer-related deaths in Russa,
Ukraine, and Belarus (Wikipedia, 17 October 2023).
Describe the beliefs, assumptions, and values you have related to the topic chosen.
I have been concerned about nuclear power plants all my life. I consider them valuable
sources of energy but at the same time, very dangerous. It takes valuable, highly trained
individuals backed up with correct procedures. If any of these go wrong, something like
Chernobyl could happen again anywhere that these power plants are active. I fear the
next Chernobyl like disaster will happen somewhere in the middle east. Such a violable
area of the planet, anything like a terrorist attack or an attack from a neighboring country
could cause a meltdown.
Explain why this topic is relevant to current events or to modern society.
Chernobyl continues to expel radiation. The 19-mile exclusion zone will be uninhabitable
for between 20 years and several thousands of years (Newsweek, 26 April 2018). There
are several reports that say the area around Chernobyl will be uninhabitable for 20,000
years. With the war now raging in the area of the Chernobyl exclusion site, it could stir
up radioactive soil and plant material making it dangerous for decades to come. Even
those living outside the exclusion zone still are effected with higher risk of cancer. We
can not really understand the immense disaster if another one of those reactors melts
down. Probably unlivable for 40,000 years.
References
BBC Future, (25 July 2019). Gray, Richard.
The True Toll of the Chernobyl Disaster.
Retrieved from
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190725-will-we-ever-know-chernobyls-
true-death-toll
Glowatz, Elana. Newsweek 90, (26 April 2018).
When Will Chernobyl Be Live Able?
Facts on the Anniversary of the Soviet Nuclear Disaster.
Retrieved from
https://www.newsweek.com/when-chernobyl-livable-facts-anniversary-soviet-nuclear-disaster-
902831
Wikipedia. (13 October 2023).
Chernobyl.
Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl
Wikipedia (24 October 2023).
Chernobyl, Deaths Due to the Chernobyl Disaster.
Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_due_to_the_Chernobyl_disaster
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