Chernobyl Informative Speech
Attention Getter: There are currently 442 active nuclear power reactors worldwide according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Of all of the reactors worldwide, 14 have been classified as accidents where the public has been exposed to radiation. The most devastating of these incidents was the core meltdown of reactor 4 at Chernobyl, better known as the Chernobyl disaster.
Introduction:
Today I am going to tell you 3 things about Chernobyl. * First, I am going to tell you what Chernobyl was. * Second, I will tell you Why it happened and * Finally, I will tell you what the effects were and why it’s relevant today.
Body 1 “What was Chernobyl”?: * April 26, 1986 in the early morning hours, an explosion rocked a thriving city near the heart of Ukraine. * Within days 150 nearby towns had been evacuated. * This explosion would become the beginning to the worst nuclear disaster in history. * Chernobyl’s power reactors were graphic reactors, not commonly used anywhere outside of the Soviet Union. * In certain circumstances, the graphite reactors could speed up the nuclear reaction. * This was a flawed Russian Design that ultimately led to the disaster. * Chernobyl was classified as a category 7 nuclear event, the most severe classification according to the Nuclear Event Scale. * Comparatively Three Mile Island was only classified as a category 5.
Body 2 “Why did it happen?”: * Next I am going to tell you why it happened. * The disaster occurred due to an experiment which was being run by the reactor engineers. * The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether electricity could be drawn from a turbine and redirected to the water pumps. * High electrical demand during the day time meant they could not run the experiment until 11pm. * The engineers grew impatient, reducing the rate of nuclear reaction too rapidly. * Reducing the rate this quickly caused a rapid buildup of radiation
Introduction:
Today I am going to tell you 3 things about Chernobyl. * First, I am going to tell you what Chernobyl was. * Second, I will tell you Why it happened and * Finally, I will tell you what the effects were and why it’s relevant today.
Body 1 “What was Chernobyl”?: * April 26, 1986 in the early morning hours, an explosion rocked a thriving city near the heart of Ukraine. * Within days 150 nearby towns had been evacuated. * This explosion would become the beginning to the worst nuclear disaster in history. * Chernobyl’s power reactors were graphic reactors, not commonly used anywhere outside of the Soviet Union. * In certain circumstances, the graphite reactors could speed up the nuclear reaction. * This was a flawed Russian Design that ultimately led to the disaster. * Chernobyl was classified as a category 7 nuclear event, the most severe classification according to the Nuclear Event Scale. * Comparatively Three Mile Island was only classified as a category 5.
Body 2 “Why did it happen?”: * Next I am going to tell you why it happened. * The disaster occurred due to an experiment which was being run by the reactor engineers. * The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether electricity could be drawn from a turbine and redirected to the water pumps. * High electrical demand during the day time meant they could not run the experiment until 11pm. * The engineers grew impatient, reducing the rate of nuclear reaction too rapidly. * Reducing the rate this quickly caused a rapid buildup of radiation
References: Chernobyl | Nuclear Reaction | FRONTLINE | PBS. (n.d.). PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/chernobyl.html Chernobyl: Cause and Effect. (n.d.). RichEast. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://www.richeast.org/htwm/chernobyl/chernobyl.html International Nuclear Events Scale (INES). (2012, September 25). Nuclear Safety and Security. Retrieved October 22, 2012, from http://www-ns.iaea.org/tech-areas/emergency/ines.asp Nuclear Energy Institute - U.S. Nuclear Power Plants. (n.d.). Nuclear Energy Institute - Clean-Air Energy. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/nuclear_statistics/usnuclearpowerplants/