- 1. When did the Chernobyl Disaster occur?
A) April 26, 1986
B) August 15, 1991
C) March 28, 1979
D) October 11, 2000
- 2. In which country did the Chernobyl Disaster happen?
A) Russia
B) Poland
C) Belarus
D) Ukraine
- 3. Which animal population increased in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone post-disaster?
A) Grizzly Bears
B) Pandas
C) Wolves
D) Polar Bears
- 4. Which neighboring country provided shelter for thousands of refugees fleeing from Chernobyl?
A) Poland
B) Belarus
C) Romania
D) Russia
- 5. Who was the first country to detect the radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl Disaster?
A) Australia
B) United States
C) China
D) Sweden
- 6. Which term refers to the immediate protective efforts taken by the firefighters at Chernobyl?
A) Firemen
B) Rescuers
C) Liquidators
D) Saviors
- 7. What is the name of the highly radioactive debris left in the immediate aftermath of the disaster?
A) Corium
B) Green Slime
C) Toxic ash
D) Radioactive residue
- 8. What is the name of the city nearest to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant?
A) Kiev
B) Minsk
C) Pripyat
D) Moscow
- 9. Which reactor exploded during the Chernobyl disaster?
A) Reactor 5
B) Reactor 2
C) Reactor 4
D) Reactor 3
- 10. What was the primary cause of the explosion at Chernobyl?
A) An earthquake
B) A terrorist attack
C) A power surge due to design flaws during a test
D) Operator error unrelated to testing
- 11. How many personnel were involved in the response to the Chernobyl disaster?
A) 750,000
B) 100,000
C) More than 500,000
D) 250,000
- 12. What was the estimated cost of the Chernobyl disaster in US dollars?
A) $700 billion
B) $1 trillion
C) $200 billion
D) $50 billion
- 13. How many people were initially evacuated from the 10 km exclusion zone after the Chernobyl disaster?
A) 30,000
B) Around 49,000
C) 70,000
D) 100,000
- 14. How many workers showed symptoms of acute radiation syndrome (ARS) after the Chernobyl disaster?
A) 237
B) 200
C) 134
D) 50
- 15. What was the first structure built to contain the Chernobyl reactor debris?
A) Containment Dome
B) Chernobyl New Safe Confinement
C) Reactor Shield
D) The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus
- 16. When was the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement constructed?
A) 1995–1999
B) 1986–1987
C) 2000–2003
D) 2016–2018
- 17. How many cases of childhood thyroid cancer were reported within the affected populations as of 2005?
A) 8000
B) 10000
C) 6000
D) 3000
- 18. What was the initial size of the exclusion zone established by the Soviet government after the Chernobyl disaster?
A) 10 km
B) 20 km
C) 30 km
D) 50 km
- 19. How many people died within three months due to acute radiation syndrome (ARS) after the Chernobyl disaster?
A) 28
B) 134
C) 237
D) 50
- 20. What was the estimated long-term death toll across Europe due to the Chernobyl disaster, according to some estimates?
A) 5000
B) Up to 16,000
C) 10,000
D) 25,000
- 21. What city replaced Pripyat after it was abandoned due to the Chernobyl disaster?
A) Minsk
B) Slavutych
C) Kiev
D) Moscow
- 22. When did the Soviet government publicly acknowledge the Chernobyl disaster?
A) Two days after the explosion
B) Immediately after the explosion
C) A month later
D) One week later
- 23. What percentage of heat in a nuclear reactor is generated by radioactive decay after shutdown?
A) 50%
B) 10%
C) Over 6%
D) 25%
- 24. How many individual fuel channels did Reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl have?
A) 3,000
B) 5,000
C) 2,500
D) 1,661
- 25. How much coolant was required per hour for the entire reactor at Chernobyl's Reactor No. 4?
A) 60 million litres
B) Over 45 million litres
C) 30 million litres
D) 10 million litres
- 26. How long did it take for Chernobyl's backup diesel generators to reach full load?
A) 30–45 seconds
B) 10–20 seconds
C) 90–120 seconds
D) 60–75 seconds
- 27. What was the power requirement for one main pump at Chernobyl?
A) 3 MW
B) 5.5 MW
C) 10 MW
D) 7 MW
- 28. How long could the rotational momentum of the reactor's steam turbine potentially provide electrical power to run the coolant pumps?
A) 90 seconds
B) 45 seconds
C) 30 seconds
D) 60 seconds
- 29. What was theorized as a potential method to generate electrical power for the ECCS in case of an external power failure?
A) Using manual cranking mechanisms.
B) Using the rotational momentum of the reactor's steam turbine.
C) Using solar panels installed on-site.
D) Using wind turbines nearby.
- 30. In which year did the initial test indicating insufficient excitation voltage take place?
A) 1982
B) 1984
C) 1985
D) 1983
- 31. What was identified as a problem during the 1985 test?
A) Problem with the recording equipment
B) Inadequate cooling of the reactor
C) Insufficient excitation voltage
D) Failure of the emergency core cooling system
- 32. Which system was disabled during the test procedure?
A) Off-site power supply
B) Steam-turbine generator
C) Main circulating pumps
D) Emergency core cooling system
- 33. At what time did preparations for the Chernobyl test begin on 25 April 1986?
A) 00:00
B) 14:15
C) 23:04
D) 01:06
- 34. Who was in charge of the Chernobyl Unit 4 night shift during the disaster?
A) Leonid Toptunov
B) Aleksandr Akimov
C) Anatoly Dyatlov
D) Kiev grid controller
- 35. What was the age of Leonid Toptunov during the Chernobyl disaster?
A) 40 years old
B) 30 years old
C) 35 years old
D) 25 years old
- 36. At what time did the Kiev grid controller allow the reactor shutdown to resume?
A) 23:04
B) 01:06
C) 14:15
D) 00:00
- 37. How long was the Chernobyl reactor allowed to run without emergency protection during the test?
A) 8 hours
B) 5 hours
C) 24 hours
D) 11 hours
A) A stable isotope of xenon used in medical imaging
B) A fission byproduct that absorbs neutrons and inhibits reactions
C) A type of control rod used in nuclear reactors
D) A catalyst for increasing reactor power output
- 39. What is 'burned off' during steady-state operation?
A) Uranium-235 becomes uranium-236
B) Xenon-135 becomes xenon-136
C) Plutonium-239 becomes plutonium-240
D) Iodine-135 becomes iodine-137
- 40. Which automatic regulator failed to activate during the incident?
A) AR-2
B) Neither AR-1 nor AR-2
C) AR-1
D) Both AR-1 and AR-2
- 41. Who reported that the power drop was due to a fault in the AR-2 system?
A) Dyatlov
B) The test plan author
C) An anonymous operator
D) Toptunov
- 42. How long did it take to restore the reactor to 160 MW?
A) Several minutes
B) A few seconds
C) Instantly
D) Over an hour
- 43. What was the required level for the inserted control rod equivalent value?
A) 10
B) 15
C) 5
D) 20
- 44. What was the state of the reactor after nearly all control rods were withdrawn?
A) Stable
B) Partially stable
C) Moderately stable
D) Extremely unstable
- 45. What was unique about the RBMK reactor design compared to other light-water reactors?
A) It had a positive void coefficient
B) It had a neutral void coefficient
C) It had a negative void coefficient
D) It had no void coefficient
- 46. What was a speculated consequence of the power spike during the Chernobyl accident?
A) The reactor was automatically shut down without issues.
B) All main circulating pumps stopped working.
C) The control room alarms were triggered immediately.
D) Control rods may have been jammed at one-third insertion.
- 47. What was torn off and blasted through the roof of the reactor building during the first explosion?
A) The control panel
B) The upper biological shield
C) The containment vessel
D) The cooling tower
- 48. What happened to most of the coolant lines feeding the reactor chamber after the first explosion?
A) They were severed
B) They were reinforced
C) They were replaced
D) They remained intact
- 49. Who proposed a hypothesis involving the uncontrollable escape of fast neutrons for the second explosion?
A) Yuri V. Dubasov
B) Konstantin Checherov
C) Sergei A. Pakhomov
D) Lars-Erik De Geer
- 50. What material was used inappropriately in the construction of the roof of the reactor building at Chernobyl?
A) Asbestos
B) Bitumen
C) Concrete
D) Steel
- 51. Who made the decision to shut down reactor no. 3?
A) Dyatlov
B) Yuri Bagdasarov
C) Nikolai Fomin
D) Anatoli Zakharov
- 52. Who was the commander of the first firefighter brigade to arrive at Chernobyl?
A) Nikolai Fomin
B) Mikhail Gorbachev
C) Yuri Bagdasarov
D) Lieutenant Volodymyr Pravyk
- 53. What did firefighters initially mistake the accident for?
A) A chemical spill
B) A regular electrical fire
C) An explosion
D) A gas leak
- 54. What continued to burn inside reactor no. 4 until May 10, 1986?
A) The cooling systems
B) The fire
C) The containment structure
D) The control rods
- 55. What was the main cause of the Chernobyl accident according to INSAG-1?
A) Lack of protective gear for workers
B) The reactor's design
C) Inadequate safety culture at managerial levels
D) The operators' actions
- 56. What tactic did the Soviet Union use by discussing other American nuclear accidents?
A) Whataboutism
B) Justification
C) Deflection
D) Denial
- 57. Who was the first Ukrainian official to arrive at the Chernobyl disaster site?
A) Khrushchev
B) Yeltsin
C) Gorbachev
D) Shevchenko
- 58. What was the radiological background level in Kiev reported as on 30 April?
A) Unmeasurable
B) Normal
C) Dangerously high
D) Moderately elevated
- 59. How much radioactive debris remained on the roof after the explosion?
A) 50 tonnes.
B) 500 tonnes.
C) An estimated 100 tonnes.
D) 200 tonnes.
- 60. How many men were involved in removing the majority of the debris?
A) 10,000 men.
B) 1,000 men.
C) 3,828 men.
D) 500 men.
- 61. What was constructed to protect workers in reactor no. 3?
A) A soundproof enclosure.
B) An anti-seismic structure.
C) A thick radiation-shielding wall.
D) A fireproof barrier.
- 62. How long did the massive clean-up effort last in the contaminated zones after the Chernobyl disaster?
A) Seven months
B) Three months
C) One year
D) Six months
- 63. How many evacuated villages were resettled by the time 75% of the land was cultivated?
A) Two-thirds
B) Half
C) All of them
D) A third
- 64. What substance was used to entrap radioactive dust during cleanup efforts?
A) "Barda", a sticky polymerizing fluid
B) Activated charcoal
C) Water mixed with chemicals
D) Sand and gravel
- 65. When did a section of the roof of the turbine-building collapse, causing a new release of radioactivity?
A) 12 February 2013
B) December 1997
C) February 2025
D) 29 November 2016
- 66. What was the New Safe Confinement (NSC) constructed from?
A) Steel panels
B) Concrete blocks
C) Metal arch
D) Wooden beams
- 67. How high is the metal arch of the New Safe Confinement (NSC)?
A) 150 m (492 ft)
B) 105 m (344 ft)
C) 50 m (164 ft)
D) 200 m (656 ft)
- 68. In what year did construction of the New Safe Confinement begin?
A) 2025
B) 2016
C) 1997
D) 2010
- 69. What event in February 2025 caused damage to the New Safe Confinement?
A) An earthquake
B) Heavy snowfall
C) A fire started by workers
D) A Russian drone strike
- 70. What was one of the consequences of the February 2025 drone strike on the NSC?
A) The structure could no longer perform its main safety function
B) It completely destroyed the NSC
C) It improved the structural integrity of the NSC
D) It caused a meltdown in reactor no. 4
- 71. How many fuel assemblies from units 1 and 2 were damaged?
A) Exactly 75
B) More than 100
C) Approximately 50
D) Less than 10
- 72. What was the original contractor for the construction of ISF-2?
A) General Electric
B) Holtec International
C) Bechtel Corporation
D) Areva NP (Framatome)
- 73. In which year did Areva withdraw from the ISF-2 project?
A) 2010
B) 1999
C) 2007
D) 2011
- 74. Who was contracted for a new design and construction of ISF-2 after Areva withdrew?
A) Siemens AG
B) Areva NP (Framatome)
C) Westinghouse Electric Company
D) Holtec International
- 75. When did construction of ISF-2 complete?
A) January 2014
B) August 2017
C) June 2016
D) December 2015
- 76. What solution was used to quench neutrons at Chernobyl?
A) Water flooding.
B) Lead shielding.
C) Copper barriers.
D) Gadolinium nitrate solution.
- 77. What unexpected change in neutron density was recorded from 2017 to late 2020?
A) A decrease by half in neutron density.
B) A doubling in neutron density in the sub-reactor space.
C) No change in neutron density.
D) A complete halt of neutron activity.
- 78. How many locals had returned to live permanently in the Exclusion Zone as of 2016?
A) 1000
B) 50
C) 500
D) 187
- 79. When was the sealed zone around the Chernobyl reactor opened to tourists?
A) 1999
B) 2011
C) 2005
D) 2016
- 80. When was the Chernobyl Trust Fund created by the United Nations?
A) 2010
B) 1991
C) 2000
D) 1986
- 81. Which radioactive isotope's half-life was referenced in estimates for when the Exclusion Zone could be habitable again?
A) Cesium-137
B) Strontium-90
C) Plutonium-239
D) Uranium-235
- 82. When did the first limited guided tours at Chernobyl begin?
A) 2002
B) 2017
C) 2021
D) 1999
- 83. Which video game released in 2007 increased Chernobyl's popularity as a tourist site?
A) Call of Duty: Black Ops
B) Metal Gear Solid
C) Resident Evil
D) S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
- 84. In what year did the HBO mini-series about Chernobyl release, coinciding with a peak in tourist visits?
A) 2020
B) 2021
C) 2019
D) 2018
- 85. What subculture developed around illegal visits to Chernobyl?
A) Adventure tourism subculture
B) Ghost hunting subculture
C) Stalker subculture
D) Survivalist subculture
- 86. What method was used to remove radioactive particles from clouds over Belarus?
A) Cloud seeding with silver iodide
B) Use of chemical dispersants
C) Deployment of anti-radiation drones
D) Rain was deliberately seeded
- 87. Which area received about 60% of the contamination from Chernobyl within the former Soviet Union?
A) Latvian SSR
B) Ukrainian SSR
C) Russian SFSR
D) Belarusian SSR
- 88. How much core radioiodine was released during the Chernobyl disaster, in terms of becquerels?
A) 1760 PBq
B) 5200 PBq
C) 85 PBq
D) 1150 PBq
- 89. What form was caesium-137 released in during the Chernobyl disaster?
A) Organic iodine compounds
B) Aerosol form
C) Solid particles
D) Sublimed vapour
- 90. What was the estimated atmospheric release of xenon-133 in PBq?
A) 85 PBq
B) 1150 PBq
C) 5200 PBq
D) 1760 PBq
- 91. How much caesium-137 was released during the Chernobyl disaster, in terms of becquerels?
A) 5200 PBq
B) 1150 PBq
C) 1760 PBq
D) 85 PBq
- 92. What was the name given to the 4 square km of pine forest that died after Chernobyl?
A) Red Forest
B) Black Forest
C) Silent Forest
D) Dead Forest
- 93. What was the radiation dose range that destroyed the thyroid glands of horses near Chernobyl?
A) 150–200 Sv
B) 300–350 Sv
C) 50–100 Sv
D) 200–250 Sv
- 94. What was the factor by which mutation rates for plants and animals increased after Chernobyl?
A) 10
B) 20
C) 5
D) 50
- 95. How many grossly deformed animal births were reported in Narodychi Raion from 1986 to 1990?
A) nearly 350
B) over 500
C) about 100
D) less than 50
- 96. What year did a paper report the discovery of an Escherichia coli mutant after Chernobyl?
A) 1998
B) 2000
C) 2010
D) 1986
- 97. Which type of soil had higher soil to dairy-milk transfer coefficients for radiocaesium?
A) Loamy soils
B) Sandy soils
C) Kaolinite-rich clay soils
D) Peaty soils
- 98. In what year did Soviet medical teams conduct whole-body count examinations on inhabitants?
A) 1987
B) 1990
C) 1995
D) 1985
- 99. What type of fungi was found in the no. 4 reactor by a robot in 2007?
A) Black, melanin-rich radiotrophic fungi
B) Red, iron-rich ferruginous fungi
C) Green, chlorophyll-rich photosynthetic fungi
D) White, calcium-rich calciferous fungi
- 100. Which country reported that 18,000 livestock required uncontaminated feed in 2009 due to Chernobyl contamination?
A) United Kingdom
B) Norway
C) Sweden
D) Finland
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