Accidents That Involve Toxic Substances

Accidents That Involve Toxic Substances

Toxic Substances

The impact of an accident related to toxic substances can be very deadly to the environment, the aquatic life as well as human lives. This can be dated back in the world wars I and II whereby the toxic substances that were used to make the then warfare artillery caused very major destructions. These substances that include chemical and biological element are up to this day used in making of some nuclear weapons. They include the mustard agent and nerve agents.

Russian nuclear explosion

One such incident that recently occurred is the Russian nuclear explosion that left several people dead and scores of casualties. According to the European Union (EU) times, the nuclear attack started when suddenly the vast military tunnel that belonged to the Central intelligence agency (CIA) was forced open due to air pressure and as a matter of fact a lot of air rushed out into the atmosphere, and led to a blast. This event was characterized by a sound that was apparently captured by Russian engineers. As the engineers were trying to vent the tunnel so that some of the steam could come out in order to control the situation, another explosion occurred on the eastern terminus twelve hours later. A great quake was felt by many Americans; speculations are that the timing between the two blasts was planned.

A meltdown occurs in the nuclear rector when the reactor melts; this happens when there is a rise in temperature in the core that causes the fuel rods to liquefy and in the long run sink below the power planet. The molten uranium which is a constituent in the reactor ends up mixing with the groundwater thereby producing explosions of radioactive steam and fragments that are released to the atmosphere. This apparent residual heat is brought about by the decay of fission products.

In this case, the air that rushed out seems to have reduced the level of the coolant which led to the collapse of the fuel rods since there was a sharp rise in temperature. The moderator in this case seems to have been graphite which is just carbon and is flammable; when combined with oxygen from the air emissions it forms carbon monoxide that ended up catching fire. Radioactive smoke was also emitted to the surrounding atmosphere. These emissions according to the World health organization (WHO) increased the number of cancer cases within this surrounding area especially thyroid cancer since they were iodine emissions.

Mitigation measures

In order to bring the situation under control the engineers pumped in liquid nitrogen to the core of the reactor to cool it down. Fire fighting material and sand were also useful in reducing the fire caused by graphite Construction of sarcophagus which was meant to hold the radioactive waste within began and its service has been quite useful only that it has some flaws in that it accumulates rain water which can cause corrosion to the structure. Due to the large size of the population, evacuations may be costly hence it would be important to have medical personnel on site. The medical personnel are to ensure that casualties are stabilized before being rushed to hospital; the workers engaged in clean up at the site are to be given extra protection by the medical officers as well including protective gear, procedures for decontamination as well as a work plan for the site including emergency requirements. Because such an incident can easily provoke rumors and misguided information leading to panic, regular bulletins should be provided. (Alberta, 2012).