# The Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents and their tragic consequences

- Institution: CERN
- Department: CERN Colloquium
- Speaker: Fulcieri Maltini
- Year: 2016
- Language: English
- Subjects: Physics
- Source: [CERN](https://videos.cern.ch/record/3001517)
- Licence: [CERN](http://copyright.web.cern.ch)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

On April 26, 1986, the Unit 4 of the RBMK nuclear power plant of Chernobyl, in Ukraine, went out of control during a test at low-power, leading to an explosion and fire. The reactor building was totally demolished and very large amounts of radiation were released into the atmosphere for several hundred kilometres around the site including the nearby town of Pripyat. The explosion leaving tons of nuclear waste and spent fuel residues without any protection and control totally contaminating the entire area. Several hundred thousand people were affected by the radiation fall out. The radioactive cloud spread across Europe affecting most of the Northern, Central and Eastern European countries. Some areas of southern Switzerland, of northern Italy as well as western France were subject to radioactive contamination. The initiative of the G7 countries to launch and important programme for the closure of some Soviet built nuclear plants was accepted by several donor countries. A team of engineers was established within the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development were the Nuclear Safety Account Fund was provided by 41 donor countries for the entire design, implementation and management of all projects for the plants decommissioning. Fulcieri Maltini has been in charge of the conception of the Chernobyl and the Ignalina programmes including the establishment of the safety strategy for the entire site remediation and the planning for the plant decommissioning. Several facilities have been designed and built for the processing and storage of the spent fuel and the radioactive liquid and solid waste as well as to protect the plant damaged structures. This lecture will describe the Chernobyl accident, the contamination of the surrounding areas as well as the radioactive effects of the "cloud" on several European countries that have provoked more than one million casualties over several years. The detailed presentation includes the construction of several facilities for…

## Lectures

1. [The Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents and their tragic consequences](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/cern/3001517/9cbe91ee51b6), 1 h 25 min (CERN's player)