Q2Chernobyl

= **What chemicals were involved?** = =**Chemicals involved with the disaster included krypton and xenon, which were released immediately into the atmosphere by the first steam explosion.**= =** Why are they bad for the environment and people? **= =**Chernobyl affected the health of many people throughout Russia. Altogether the total number of fatalities cause by Chernobyl stands at 31 officially. Around 600,000 however were classified as being "significantly exposed" and will have their health monitored their whole lives 24 poeple were disabled by the accident, some so severly they were left as invalids for the rest of their lives. 238 have suffered acute radiation syndrome. This was updated later in the 1988 at a conference in Kiev. At the conference the estimates were updated and around 50,000 people had received 50 rad.**= =**(0.5GY) and about 2,000 people had received around 200 rad. (2.GY) Note that an exposure of about 100 rad will cause symptoms of radiation sickness.**= =**The main economic cost of the Chernobyl explosion was from the effect the fallout had on the agriculture. Enormous amount of milk in Poland, Hungary, Austria, and Sweden were made unusable by the contamination from the radioidine and radiocesium. Also many countries across Europe had numerous amounts of vegetation burned because of contamination. Because of the contamination a ban on many agricultural goods was placed in Eastern Europe. The longest effect the radiation had was on the reindeer and sheep in Sweden. The sale milk, meat, many fruits and vegetables was banned in 1986 and 1987 int he russian markets of Kiev, Chernigov, Minsk, and other cities and towns. The cost of this ban in Russia totaled 11 billion roubles. The argicultural effects will continue to last for many years after the health effects cease. Another aspect of the argicultural impact is the eventual health effect it has with the consumption of contaminated food. The contaminated livestock was also affected as much as the vegetation. When the initial evacuation occurred, 86,000 head of cattle were evacuated also. a major effect on the livestock was mutation.**= = = ==

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= = = = =**By Mona Melhem**= Question 1 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6