Environment

 Transboundary pollution: pollution that is created in one country, then spreads to another  5 main sources of air pollution:  Transportation  Industry  Oil refining  Power Operating  Waste Disposal  *pollutants from human activity mix with sunlight to create new pollutants*

Chernobyl: April 25, 1986  Took place near modern-day Kiev, Ukraine (at the time, part of the Soviet Union)  Chernobyl was a nuclear plant—used nuclear reactions to provide energy  What Happened?  A nuclear reactor got too hot  explosion  release of massive amounts of radiation  It was later discovered that the workers did not follow routine safety checks

Effects  Radiation spread to Sweden, central Europe, across Asia & the Pacific, and the USA  Belarus:  70% of radioactive dust fell here, contaminating the soil, air & water. People are still being exposed to radiation  higher rates of cancer  Sweden  Radiation polluted fishing grounds & reindeer herds, killing them. Those that survived weren’t safe to eat

Immediate Effects  Soviet government delayed the announcement of the incident—originally said it was an “explosion” or a “fire”  Eventually, they took measures:  Built a concrete, iron box around the reactor  Relocated around 135,000 people living very close to the plant

Long-Term Effects  ~8,000 people have died in Ukraine due to related health problems  Lingering health problems among those who were exposed (and their children)  Increased awareness for safety in nuclear plants worldwide  Pripyat, one of the cities close to Chernobyl, will not be safe to live in for at LEAST 150 years.

Black Triangle  Area where Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic meet  Home of many factories & power plants  Burn a soft brown coal (lignite) here  soot released  blackens the air  Also, the chemicals it releases mix with water & create an acid  acid rainfall  Pollution & acid rain is Sudety Mountains  They are downwind (face the direction of where the wind carries these pollutants)

Black Triangle  High chimney use through cities (in power plants) has caused the pollution to be carried elsewhere due to the wind  Has improved the air quality in the industrial areas, ironically  Acid rain & snow falls in many European countries  Ways to reduce  Incentives/rewards for companies who reduce pollution  Promote technology that can lead to less pollution  Decrease dependency on coal as a fuel, look for alternative sources of energy

Tisza-Danube Cyanide Spill  January 30, 2000  Cyanide spilled into a tributary of the Danube in Romania after a cyanide storage dam from a local coal mining operation burst  The toxic waste was enough to fill 30 Olympic-size swimming pools

Tisza-Danube Cyanide Spill  Immediate effects  Spread through the Tisza River  Danube River  Black Sea  Through countries of Romania, Hungary, Serbia & Montenegro and Bulgaria  Water systems shut down through the area  Fish, otters, birds died as a result

Tisza-Danube Cyanide Spill  The effects didn’t last long…why?  Cyanide breaks down by sunlight  By the time the water reached the Danube, it wasn’t harmful to fish  Positive outcome: brought awareness to the pollution in the Danube & environmentalists are working to clean up the area  Scientists do not know when the river will completely recover