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Quiz about Chernobyl Worst Nuclear Disaster
Quiz about Chernobyl Worst Nuclear Disaster

Chernobyl: Worst Nuclear Disaster Quiz


On 26th April 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident occurred at the Vladimir Lenin Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat in what was then the USSR. Here is a short quiz about the disaster and its aftermath.
This is a renovated/adopted version of an old quiz by author Carolle

A multiple-choice quiz by spaceowl. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
spaceowl
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
86,910
Updated
Aug 12 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
307
Last 3 plays: Guest 44 (4/10), Guest 77 (5/10), Guest 67 (8/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Chernobyl is a town located in present day Ukraine, formerly USSR. On Saturday, April 26th, 1986, at exactly 1:23 am, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. What caused the reactor to explode? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. What was the number of the reactor that exploded? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. According to the Soviet government, what was the official number of casualties caused by the accident? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. How many days did the Soviet government wait until formally announcing that the accident had, in fact, happened? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. According to the name given to it in the days after the event, what colour is the 4-square-mile section of forest directly downwind from the power plant? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. In a bid to clear highly radioactive core materials off the reactor building roof, the Soviet Army brought in troops. What was the maximum time the soldiers were permitted to stay on the roof while they were carrying out clearing duties? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What is the name of the stump of black stone-like material found in a maintenance corridor close to the underside of Reactor 4? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. What is the nickname of the vast steel framework roughly 12 kilometres west of the Chernobyl plant, well-known and disliked by ham radio enthusiasts the world over? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. From June to November 1986, a concrete and steel containment structure was thrown up over the ruins of Reactor 4. How was it usually known? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. In February 2022, troops of the Russian Federation occupied the power station. What potentially fatal mistake did they proceed to make? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Chernobyl is a town located in present day Ukraine, formerly USSR. On Saturday, April 26th, 1986, at exactly 1:23 am, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. What caused the reactor to explode?

Answer: an experiment gone wrong

Ironically, the experiment consisted in testing how the power plant would respond in the event of an accident. The operators at the plant wanted to bring down the power output of the reactor to 25%, but over-confidence, poor training and poor knowledge of how a reactor works caused them to overdo it, and they ended up bringing down the power output to 1%.

When they then tried to bring it up to 25%, the reactor overheated and exploded. It's been said that the experiment was supposed to be done a few days before April 26th, but a great demand of power in the area prevented from shutting down even one of the reactors.

It's also been said that they were under pressure to do the experiment, and that if had they been more calm about it there wouldn't have been such a terrible accident.
2. What was the number of the reactor that exploded?

Answer: #4

Among the chemicals that were ejected into the air: 8 tonnes of plutonium, radioactive graphite blocks, caesium and iodine vapors and other radioactive materials - a lethal combination.
3. According to the Soviet government, what was the official number of casualties caused by the accident?

Answer: 31

31 persons was the official number of casualties. Most studies that have been done throughout the years disagree on this one. In the following months after the tragedy, 2,000 persons were supposedly killed by the radiation, but this was never confirmed by the Soviet government.
4. How many days did the Soviet government wait until formally announcing that the accident had, in fact, happened?

Answer: 2

Two days after the accident, when radioactivity was monitored at a Swedish station, the Soviet government admitted there had been a fatal accident at Chernobyl. Until then, no one had been evacuated from the nearby towns. Many people compare Chernobyl to the Kursk accident in the Barents Sea, when rescue crews were sent 3 days after the submarine sank.
5. According to the name given to it in the days after the event, what colour is the 4-square-mile section of forest directly downwind from the power plant?

Answer: Red

According to "Chernobyl, History of a Tragedy" by Sergei Plokhy (published in 2019), the pine forest immediately downwind from the shattered reactor received over 20 times the radioactive material that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined and died very quickly. During the cleanup the pines were bulldozed and buried under a thick layer of sand.

However, it is feared that their continued rotting may be introducing radioactive material into the water table in northern Ukraine and southern Belarus.
6. In a bid to clear highly radioactive core materials off the reactor building roof, the Soviet Army brought in troops. What was the maximum time the soldiers were permitted to stay on the roof while they were carrying out clearing duties?

Answer: 90 seconds

The explosion had dumped over one hundred tons of fiercely radioactive core material onto the roof of the reactor hall, which had to be removed before any reactor covering could be put in place. The soldiers were permitted to spend a maximum of 90 seconds on the roof, dropping to 40 close to the reactor edge.

It should be remembered that they did this without any specialised equipment beyond crudely improvised lead aprons and respirators. Each man took an estimated 25 Rem each - 100 millirem is seen as the usual safe dose for a nuclear worker in the West, significantly less.
7. What is the name of the stump of black stone-like material found in a maintenance corridor close to the underside of Reactor 4?

Answer: The Elephant's Foot

Composed of Corium or Fuel-Containing Material (FCM), the Elephant's Foot is a highly radioactive mass, merely the visible section of a much larger object thought to be directly underneath the reactor vessel. When it was discovered in December 1986, it was radioactive enough to deliver a fatal dose within five minutes but, by 1996, it had cooled enough for the nuclear scientist Artur Korneyev to approach it close enough to take photographs.

They make rather chilling viewing.
8. What is the nickname of the vast steel framework roughly 12 kilometres west of the Chernobyl plant, well-known and disliked by ham radio enthusiasts the world over?

Answer: The Russian Woodpecker

The Russian Woodpecker, Soviet designation DUGA-1, NATO reporting name STEEL YARD, was a highly secret section of the Soviet over-the-horizon radar network, intended to give the maximum possible warning of any western nuclear strike. It was an irritant to ham radio operators during the 70s and early 80s as it sent out a pulse that was picked up as a constant and repeated tapping on radio signals in the high frequencies.

It was evacuated on the morning after the explosion at Reactor 4, as it too had radioactive material shed on it. Over the years it has cooled down enough to visit, and until 2020 tourists could visit the colossal structure, frozen in time at the moment of evacuation.
9. From June to November 1986, a concrete and steel containment structure was thrown up over the ruins of Reactor 4. How was it usually known?

Answer: The Sarcophagus

The Sarcophagus was completed in November 1986, locking in 200 tons of Corium, 30 tons of radioactive dust and around 15 tons of uranium and plutonium. It was, however, never an ideal building - conditions were too radioactive to allow a complete seal to be put in place on the building and it was largely free-standing. By 1996, the Sarcophagus was starting to deteriorate and plans were put in place to replace it with a more secure covering, the New Safe Confinement, which was finally completed in 2019.
10. In February 2022, troops of the Russian Federation occupied the power station. What potentially fatal mistake did they proceed to make?

Answer: Dug fortifications in contaminated forests

Documentary proof shows Russian troops dug in in positions in the dangerously irradiated 'Red Forest', leading to incidents of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ACS) among them. This was reported in the 'New York Times' on the 8th April 2022, with reports that at least one soldier had been killed by radiation and several others hospitalised. Thirty-five years after the event, Chernobyl remains deadly.
Source: Author spaceowl

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
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