Take the Chernobyl Quiz: Nuclear Disaster Facts and History

Questions and Answers

Failure of the emergency cooling system

C-14

10 days

Skin cancer and blood abnormalities Signup and view all the answers

Phosgene Signup and view all the answers

Thick winter fog and thermal inversion Signup and view all the answers

Storage of MIC for more than 3 months Signup and view all the answers

Rapid loss of weight Signup and view all the answers

Device circulating liquid nitrogen Signup and view all the answers

By using caustic soda with a vent scrubber Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

The main cause of the explosion and fire at reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl complex was a safety test gone wrong.
The radionuclide with the longest half-life released during the Chernobyl disaster is Iodine-129, with a half-life of 15.7 million years.
Most of the radiation was released within 10 days of the accident.

Chronic health impacts reported following the Bhopal Gas Tragedy include respiratory problems, eye and skin irritation, and birth defects.
The Union Carbide factory in Bhopal was licensed to produce Sevin, a pesticide, which involved the production of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC).
Environmental conditions contributing to the severity of the Bhopal gas tragedy included weather conditions (temperature inversion and wind direction) that prevented the gas from dispersing.
The main cause of the disaster was a malfunction in the storage tank containing MIC, which led to a massive MIC leak.
Inhaling MIC can cause respiratory failure, leading to death.
The vent gas scrubber and flare tower failed to operate, worsening the situation.
If the flare tower failed, the gas was supposed to be neutralized by the vent gas scrubber.