The Chernobyl disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Chernobyl disaster - Essay Example There were economic, technological and political factors alongside the almost complete lack of effective health and safety measures were highly evident causes of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Indeed despite its then status as a military superpower in the mid 1980s the Soviet Union had serious problems that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster amply demonstrated. By the mid 1980s the Stalinist era economic planning and one party political systems of the Soviet Union were beginning to show their age and their propensity for economic failure, administrative inefficiency, and declining political legitimacy. More ominously the Soviet Union’s outdated industries were a danger both to its own people, other countries, as well as the environment. The strain of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and a renewed a nuclear arms race with the United States were not taken by the stagnant economy (White, 1990). The main economic and political institutions as well as it systems dated back to the infrastructure constructed by Stalin in the late1920s and the 1930s. The collectivisation of agriculture and industrialisation had been achieved at great human cost, with political obedience and loyalty to the Communists counting for more than efficiency or ability to do their jobs (James, 2003 p. 53). When such an approach was typical of the managers and the workers of nuclear power stations it was always a potential cause of accidents. The Soviet Union had suffered horrendous losses during the Second World War which were partially compensated by the gaining of satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the desire to prevent itself being invaded ever again (James, 2003 p. 301). Yet the onset of the Cold War meant that the Soviet Union took undue risk in both its civil and its military nuclear programmes in order to generate electricity and make atomic weapons as quickly as possible. Undue risks that

Sustainable architecture design award- handmade school Assignment

Sustainable architecture design award- handmade school - Assignment Example Pollution to the environment is alsmost zero rated in this construction considering the way that the materails were being used to construct the school. There are various features that have been positively realised by the work of Anna heringer in the construction of the handmade school that are both good for the locals and also for the planet (Archdaily, 1). 1. Involving the whole community was a positive step: the school was constructed jointly by the architects and the locals thus making them have a feeling of taking a positive contribution towards sustainable development for their future 2. The school is a product of a program called METI which focuses on child education and development of the rural areas. This indicates that there is concern for the community in the building. Above meeting the ecological standards, the structure is oriented to the plight of the locals. 3. The school has used material that was supposed to be old fashioned and only destined for the poor to come up with a modern structure. This is a representative mode of doing things that would be able to make the community as a whole rethink of how they relate. 4. Use of the local materials was a factor that raised the economy, created jobs for the locals and was a method that would facilitate the local craftsmen to be able to improve their housing conditions. 1. These are things that were realized in the process of construction. This is evident in the use of an endogenous potential in a very sustainable manner. This has also been reflected in the use of the local materials. The materials used to construct the buildings have low energy dissipation thus being right for a green future (McCaulay & McLennan, 3). 2. Sustainability has also been ensured by making sure that there is no destruction of materials that require a lot of energy. This has