BY: Ivy Phillips

The Arctic Investigation!

ChernobylChernobyl was a Russian power plant located in Ukraine. In 1986 the power plant blew up and radioactive material was spread everywhere. The inhabitants were mutilated and the land is not yet livable. Even now, after such a long time, people are being born with diseases and deformities because of Chernobyl. This could have been prevented if the workers had ben trained properly, or there had been more monitoring on the plant itself.

• Chernobyl affected the arctic because there was a sudden buildup of Radiocesium in arctic places near Chernobyl.

• Animals like polar bears, foxes rabbits were born deformed or died because of the radioactive material in their body and environment.

THE EFFECTS…

Radiocsium is dangerous because it can live a long time in plants and the soil (It’s half-life is 30+ years). When it rains, the radiocesium can be transferred to other places through river, streams, and glaciers. When radiocesium is deposited in other locations this effects the entire ecosystem.

Radiocesium levels were found in soil, plant, and animal samples from the subarctic and the arctic. They have been found from Alaska to the highest points in Greenland. Radiocesium was found inside glaciers, also. All concentrations of Radiocesium (that was found) were low, or nearly below detectable. The amount of Radiocesium is decreasing very much from the arctic to the subarctic now.

Radiocesium

Whenever one ecosystem is damaged, the one right next to it has a big chance that it will become damaged too. This is because all ecosystems are interlinked with each other. If the pond ecosystem fails, then the pasture ecosystem that depends on the on will fail, also.

Humans play an important role in ecosystems, also. Chernobyl was caused by human negligence, and that destroyed a whole chunk of Ukraine! When we kill out a species, then the ecosystem from which the extinct species was from goes out of whack. Hunters don’t have prey, and animals go unchecked and unchallenged.

What About Us??Our survival depends upon other ecosystems. If your town’s lake ecosystem suddenly collapse for some reason where would that leave the town? There would be no hydroelectric power, no lake recreation, no fish, birds. We depend on stable environments. Without a stable ecosystem, species would begin to die off, meaning that we too, might die off.

I guess you could say we are all connected in a CIRCLE OF LIFE.

Sources• http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html• http://www.jstor.org/pss/40511291• http://

www.treehugger.com/files/2011/03/indirect-radio-cesium-exposure-long-term-concern-to-are-indirect-effects-co2.php

• http://arctic.synergiesprairies.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/view/1557