The Problem of Pollution in Ukraine

Pollution is the contamination of the environment, including air, water, and land, with undesirable amounts of material or energy. Such contamination originates from human activities that create waste products. An industrial and intensively farmed country, Ukraine contains some of the most polluted landscapes in Eastern Europe. Pollution became evident in Ukraine with industrial development in the 19^th century.

Air pollution is especially severe in many of the heavily industrialized cities and towns of south-eastern Ukraine.

Over one-third of the emissions into the atmosphere originate from automobile transport.

Almost all surface waters of Ukraine belong to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov basins. The high population density, heavy industrial development, and relatively low freshwater endowment of those basins, have given rise to chronic and serious levels of water pollution throughout Ukraine. Widespread fear is growing in Ukraine that a substantial fraction of those water arteries are so polluted as to pose fatal health risk to the people who depend on them. Moreover, surface runoff from industrial territories is highly contaminated.

On 25 April 1986 the Number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station was being tested. The workers, however, didn’t follow the safety regulations. The emergency cooling system was shut down and almost all of the control rods were removed from the reactor. At 1.23 a.m. on April 26 the reactor exploded. The huge concrete and steel top of the reactor was blown off and radioactive material was released into the atmosphere.

All the people who lived within 30 kilometres of the power station had to be evacuated. Helicopters crews flew over the burning power station and dropped thousands of tones of concrete onto the burning reactor. It took nearly two weeks before the reactor was completely sealed. But by that time a huge cloud of radioactive material had been blown across almost the whole Europe by the wind. As far away as Italy and Wales grass was polluted when the radioactive dust was washed down by rain. Milk and meat from animals that ate the grass could not be used.

Chernobyl is the world’s biggest nuclear accident. More than thirty people died, and another two hundred became seriously ill from radiation sickness. But we shall never know how many people will die as a result of the accident. Scientists say that anything between five and sixty thousand people could die of cancer from the radiation that they received. What Chernobyl showed most clearly was that one country’s nuclear power stations are everybody’s problem.

3. Find the answers to the questions:

1. What is pollution?

2. What is the origin of contamination?

3. What are the major sources of pollution?

4. What is water pollution caused by?

5. What do you know about Chernobyl nuclear accident? When was it?

4. Complete the sentences:

1. …including air, water and land, with…

2. An industrial and intensively farmed country, Ukraine…

3. … originate from automobile transport.

4. On 25 April 1986 the Number 4…

5. … had to be evacuated.

6. What Chernobyl showed most clearly was…

5. Match the words that go together:

1. industrial a) products

2. health b) pollution

3. human c) material

4. nuclear d) development

5. waste e) station

6. power f) risk

7. water g) accident

8. radioactive h) activity

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1175