Question

Case Study

This case study is about the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl in 1984. It covers all the ethical mistakes and aspects involved in the occurring of the disaster. The ethical dilemmas, responsibilities, whistle blowing & cultural norms of engineers are discussed in it.

The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April, 1986 at 1:23:45 AM at the No. 4 nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR. It is one of only two nuclear disasters rated as INES 7, the maximum severity classification.

The accident started during a safety test on a common Soviet reactor, the RBMK type.

A very large amount of energy was suddenly released vaporizing superheated cooling water and rupturing the reactor pressure vessel in a highly destructive steam explosion. This was immediately followed by an open-air reactor core fire. The core fire released considerable airborne radioactive contamination for about nine days which precipitated onto parts of the USSR and Western Europe, before being finally contained on 4 May 1986. The radioactive contamination dispersed over this period was approximately the same amount as that released during the initial explosion. Thirty-six hours after the accident, a 10-kilometre exclusion zone was created, with the rapid evacuation of 49,000 people, primarily from Pripyat, and this was increased from 10 to 30 km shortly after when a further 68,000 persons were evacuated, including from the town of Chernobyl itself.

From years of research we know what technically went wrong in Chernobyl disaster. Write few things, what “Ethically” went wrong while keeping in mind following points.

Question number 1:

1. Discuss awareness of professional, social and ethical responsibility of engineers in the disaster [CLO1,PLO6]                                                                                                                                          5                                                                               
2. Should the engineers have blown the Whistle? [CLO2, PLO8]                                                              5                                                                 

Question Number 2:

1. Choose different dilemmas in engineering practice of Chernobyl disaster according to ethical behavior? [CLO3,PLO7]                                                                                                                                       5
2. Explain the impact of personality and cultural norms on engineer’s responsibilities in the Chernobyl scenario? [CLO4, PLO6]                                                                                                                         5

Answer 1

Q1 (a): Chernobyl accident is one of the result of a weak or imperfect reactor design. Untrained operating personnel also add the severity of the case. It was indeed as a result of cold war isolation, a lack of safety culture. The disaster occurred from negligence from the concerned engineers, leading to the explosion to occur. A communication error also adverted the conditions. Professional ethics must be of prior preference and each and every engineer should stick on to the social, professional and ethical responsibilities and integrity, while meeting the production requirements.

Q2 (b): The engineers must have blown the whistle. Instead they tried to cover up the situation, even if they are well aware of the consequences and adverse effect of radiation. They should have worked with professional and social integrity and ethics. A good and perfect decision in time saves many. They should have to take a necessary and instant action against the expanding aftereffects of such crucial situations. Moreover they must be aware of, handling such situations, operating the machinery safely and conducting experiments, holding on to all safety precautions.