Why was the Chernobyl power plant abandoned?
Reactor No. 2 was permanently shut down in 1991 after a fire broke out due to a faulty switch in a turbine. Reactors No. 1 and 3 were eventually closed due to an agreement Ukraine made with the EU in 1995.
How did the Chernobyl disaster affect plants?
Overall, in plants and animals, when high doses were sustained at relatively close distances from the reactor, there was an increase in mortality and a decrease in reproduction. During the first few years after the accident, plants and animals of the Exclusion Zone showed many genetic effects of radiation.
Is Chernobyl abandoned now?
Chernobyl today is indeed a place long since abandoned, yet it is still full of relics of its tragic past. Pripyat, the town forged next to the nuclear plant, was meant to be a model nuclear city, a testament to Soviet strength and ingenuity.
How can radiation affect plants?
Radiations disrupt the stomatal resistance. The stomata are a small air hole within the plant leaf that also controls water levels. Affected plants are often small and weak with altered leaf patterns. Prolonged radiation exposure can completely destroy the fertility of plant and the plant gradually dies.
Why are plants not affected by radiation?
Plants, however, develop in a much more flexible and organic way. And while radiation and other types of DNA damage can cause tumours in plants, mutated cells are generally not able to spread from one part of the plant to another as cancers do, thanks to the rigid, interconnecting walls surrounding plant cells.
Does radiation affect plants and trees?
Trees and other kinds of vegetation have proven to be remarkably resilient to the intense radiation around the nuclear disaster zone. Humans and other mammals and birds would have been killed many times over by the radiation that plants in the most contaminated areas received.