Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, 1986

At 1:23 a.m. on April 26th, 1986, reactor four at the nuclear power plant near Chernobyl, Ukraine exploded, releasing more than a hundred times the radiation of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirty-one people died shortly after the explosion and thousands more are expected to die from the long-term effects of radiation. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster dramatically changed the worlds opinion about using nuclear reaction for power. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in the wooded marshlands of northern Ukraine, approximately 80 miles north of Kiev. Its first reactor went online in 1977, the second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983; two more were planned for construction. A small town, Pripyat, was also built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to house the workers and their families. Routine Maintenance and a Test on Reactor Four On April 25, 1986, reactor four was going to be shut down for some routine maintenance. During the shutdown, technicians were also going to run a test. The test was to determine whether, in case of a power outage, the turbines could produce enough energy to keep the cooling system running until the backup generators came online. The shutdown and test began at 1 a.m. on April 25th. To get accurate results from the test, the operators turned off several of the safety systems, which turned out to be a disastrous decision. In the middle of the test, the shutdown had to be delayed nine hours because of a high demand for power in Kiev. The shutdown and test continued again at 11:10 p.m. on the night of April 25th. A Major Problem Just after 1 a.m. on April 26th, 1986, the reactors power dropped suddenly, causing a potentially dangerous situation. The operators tried to compensate for the low power but the reactor went out of control. If the safety systems had remained on, they would have fixed the problem; however, they were not. The reactor exploded at 1:23 a.m. The World Discovers the Meltdown The world discovered the accident two days later, on April 28th, when operators of the Swedish Forsmark nuclear power plant in Stockholm registered unusually high radiation levels near their plant. When other plants around Europe began to register similar high radiation readings, they contacted the Soviet Union to find out what had happened. The Soviets denied any knowledge about a nuclear disaster until 9 p.m. on April 28th, when they announced to the world that one of the reactors had been damaged. Attempts to Clean Up While trying to keep the nuclear disaster a secret, the Soviets were also trying to clean it up. At first they poured water on the many fires, then they tried to put them out with sand and lead and then nitrogen. It took nearly two weeks to put the fires out. Citizens in the nearby towns were told to stay indoors. Pripyat was evacuated on April 27th, the day after the disaster had begun; the town of Chernobyl wasnt evacuated until May 2, six days after the explosion. Physical clean-up of the area continued. Contaminated topsoil was placed into sealed barrels and radiated water contained. Soviet engineers also encased the remains of the fourth reactor in a large, concrete sarcophagus to prevent additional radiation leakage. The sarcophagus, constructed quickly and in dangerous conditions, had already begun to crumble by 1997. An international consortium has begun plans to create a containment unit that will be placed over the current sarcophagus. Death Toll From the Chernobyl Disaster Thirty-one people died shortly after the explosion; however, thousands of others who were exposed to high levels of radiation will suffer serious health effects, including cancers, cataracts, and cardiovascular disease.

Stress Term Paper - 2628 Words

The Effects of Stress Stress is an ongoing dilemma which occurs in everyones life. It is a factor that is without a question apart of daily living. Due to the minor problems that occur in peoples daily lives, massive amounts of stress can arise. Stress means different things to people and effects people in different ways. Some people think stress is something that happens to them such as an injury or a birthday. And others think that stress is what happens to our mind, body, and behaviors in a response to an event. While stress does involve events and how one responds to them, these are not the critical factors, but our thoughts about the situation in which we are involved are the critical factors. Essentially, stress exists†¦show more content†¦A burnout is an increasingly intense pattern of psychological, physiological, and behavioral responses to a continuous flow of stress or chronic stress. It is commonly found among employees and professionals who have a high degree of personal invest ment in their work and have high performance expectations. In the initial stages, people often have a variety of physiological and behavioral symptoms and lose interest and confidence in their work. The following physiological symptoms may occur: shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight, headache, fatigue, and exhaustion. People who experience a burnout may have some of the behavioral symptoms like: lack of interest in fellow employees, risky behavior, and mood swings. In the later stages, people often engage in the following problems such as, abuse of alcohol and other drugs, smoke excessively, drink more caffeinated beverages, and become more rigid in their thinking. They often lose faith in the abilities of co-workers, management, the organization, and themselves. As a result they then become less productive. In fact, many people dont associate these symptoms to stress and this burnout stage. This burnout stage goes behind the subject ego depletion. Ego depletion is w hen an indivual acts of volition-making choices and decisions, taking responsibility, initiating, or inhibiting behavior, and making plans of action to carrying them out. (Wall,2001 ) This stage draws outShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Testing On Human Trials On The University Of Buffalo s Research1375 Words   |  6 PagesArticles often manipulate scientific inquiries to appeal to their audiences. Due to these exploitations in scientific research papers, media sites interpret data incorrectly, and distort the results of scientific research. Although many media sites, give faulty information, The Huffington Post does a fair job at interpreting the University of Buffalo’s Research Institutes work on endocannabinoids and their effect on cognitive behavior. 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Analysis Of The Water Related Adaptation Interventions For...

At the community level, from my observation in work, I recognized that the local communities have the best capability to adapt with the adverse impacts. People had managed to protect their livelihood resources such as cropping fields, ponds, aquaculture farms and domestic facilities. For example, in the early rainy season, some focal groups of local residents are formed. These groups are responsible for monitoring the water levels and protecting proactively the irrigation facilities and the critical areas of dykes. In order to cope with inundation, local residents have to work together to dredge the small channels and to upgrade the paddy field embankments when they get the heavy rain forecast. They have stored fresh water and changed in their water use to cope with potential floods, storm, inundation and drought. In short, the water-related adaptation interventions in Thai Binh province focuses on upgrading hard facilities in irrigation and water supply systems; capacity building programs; afforestation in coastal zones and developing the local communities respond effectively to climate change. iii. Management operation Management in climate change adaptation plays an important role to ensure the success of interventions. The primary approach in Vietnam administrative management is a top-down approach. In climate change adaptation management, national organizations develop the policies, strategies, plans and national programs to adapt with adverse impacts. The lower

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America free essay sample

The research gives the patient as well as the doctors and other healthcare professionals the education to be able to make the best decisions possible with treatments for each different individual as well as the support of the Government in this research. â€Å"The economics of medical product development determines how pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies establish their funding priorities. According to industry estimates, it takes an average of $800 million and 10-15 years to develop a new drug, medical device, or biologic and bring it to the market† [ (Resnick, 2003) ] Scope The overall scope of PhRMA is to do research in improving the quality of healthcare and how to do this. With the ultimate goal being patients receiving health care that is most efficient. Making sure that the research that is done is prioritized by the needs of the patients as well as society as a whole, having the research cover not only specific treatments costs and savings, but the costs of all healthcare treatments as a whole. We will write a custom essay sample on Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As well as making sure that all technologies are used appropriately in all of healthcare. Design The design of PhRMA is to make sure that the research that is done is quality research. The data needs to be sufficient in nature as well as having the studies that are done show both the opportunities to improve as well as the strengths to improve upon. Making sure that the research that is done is up to date in this ever changing field so that it is providing the best results possible. The research needs to be both of a broad nature as well as a specifically direct nature, covering aspects that are important to society and the patients. Considering both economic issues and how well patients can be productive members of society, doing additional research to get patients to that point if they are not. Application PhRMA needs to make sure that the research that they are doing shows that not all patients are equal in the needs that they have medically and that if the research is not done on a personal level and done instead on a population level then the results will not show the individuals needs. In short, research that is done on a broader spectrum is only one way that can help people and the doctors to make an informed decision on care. With all of the technology that is out in the world of healthcare people needs to be informed on the other options that they may have for treatment. The government research should consider a balance in communicating the findings of its research. Giving access to peer reviewed results so that treatment decisions are well rounded before a decision is made. â€Å"Government decisions related to the funding and conduct of health outcomes research should be made through open, transparent procedures that ensure appropriate and timely involvement of stakeholders such as patients, health care professionals and medical researchers on issues such as proposed research goals, study designs and communication of study results. † [ (Resnick, 2003) ] In this communication, keeping in mind that all people can react differently to different treatments making sure to keep the needs of the patients as well as the value in mind. Discussion The article that I read was very interesting. I did not realize with the complication of research, especially with in the healthcare industry exactly how much of it really does affect the economy. Giving patients the variety in the different treatments that they receive can have a positive effect on the economy. It can over time change pricing (costs inputs), and with additional research that is constantly done on the variety of the treatments over time will help to create medical advances over time.  In the mission statement of PhRMA it states â€Å"To conduct effective advocacy for public policies that encourage discovery of important new medicines for patients by pharmaceutical and biotechnology research companies.