<
https://theconversation.com/chernobyl-was-historys-worst-nuclear-disaster-now-its-teaching-geologists-about-the-history-of-our-planet-201227>
"Thirty-seven years ago, on April 26 1986, the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown. In the weeks that followed, the
deadly event drove hundreds of thousands of people to relocate from the
surrounding area, which is still a deserted “exclusion zone” today.
The Chernobyl nuclear accident was caused by an unfortunate cocktail of human
error and flawed reactor design. It was the worst nuclear disaster in history,
releasing more than 400 times as much radioactive material as the Hiroshima
atomic bomb.
An uncontrollable chain reaction inside the reactor caused a sharp increase in
temperature that ultimately resulted in the fusion of the fuel rods, a steam
explosion and a fire. The melted fuel rods pooled temporarily at the bottom of
the reactor chamber before making their way into the deeper levels of the power
plant.
This hellish molten soup has proved an unexpected source of insight for
geologists like me. In new research published in
American Mineralogist, my
colleagues and I show tiny zircons formed at Chernobyl change our understanding
of how these crystals behave – and what they tell us about Earth’s past."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
