Ten Years of the Chornobyl Era

1.) How much graphite was burned in the ten day period that the nuclear power plant was on fire?

2.) The nuclear power plant liberated hundreds of times more radiation than which two famous WWII bombings?

3.) Many people living in or around the contaminated area, grew ill with "Chernobyl AIDS." What were the symptoms of this disease?

4.) How much has the number of Thyroid cancer cases increased since 1981?

5.) How long and how much money would it cost to make a structure around the rapidly decaying "sarcophagus" that was built around the reactor?

Questions for the panel

1.) How would the chemicals that are trapped by layers of material come upward and make a second appearance?

2.) Many people say that once the material above the chemicals biodegrade, Love Canal won't be safe, but that will not be for a very long time so is it safe for the time being?

3.) Why are people so nervous to live at Love Canal if scientists say that it is safety live there.

4.) What chemicals are underground still and could they potentially harm people, animals, and the environment through the thick layer protecting them?

5.) Is the upper Niagara River still contaminated, or has it been completely cleared of any harmful chemicals?

Love Canal-catalyst 8-30-10

The chemicals in Love Canal began being pushed to the surface after the blizzard of 1977. When the snow melted, it was forced underground and took the hazardous chemicals with it as it pushed its way into the Niagara River. The river was then contaminated and the chemicals were forced upward because of the water. Some of the hazards associated with the chemicals at Love Canal were various types of cancer, liver failures and other liver issues, central nervous system problems, and birth defects. Not only did humans suffer from Love Canal, but the whole ecosystem was thrown off balance because of the chemicals. The upper Niagara River was contaminated and any life forms died from the chemicals. The water that was underground had to go though Niagara Falls Waste Water Treatment Plant to be filtered. The chemicals will no longer be pushed upwards because the water that is underground and could force them out again are being filtered out.

Envronmental engineering is the combination of science and engineering to improve the condition of the environment. It is used to remove pollution to make the Earth a safer place for animals and humans. One of the ways environmental engineering is used is by recycling. Engineers study ways to stop air pollution such as car exhaust and industrial air pollution.

Chemistry and chemical engineering is used in aiding the oil clean-up because various chemicals can be added to the water to possibly make the oil easier to clean-up, but the chemicals that have already been added to the water are now harming the marine life and engineers need to find a way to get those chemicals out of the water possibly through other chemicals. Chemistry is very important in the efforts to clean-up the oil, but the engineers need to be very careful with the Chemicals they put into the water because the could be more harmful then the oil which has already happened and once a chemical is in the water, there is no way of reversing the situation. They also need to make decisions very fast which puts pressure on them to fix the problem of the oil spill that may lead to mistakes that don't end up solving anything. Chemicals can be very dangerous and Chemical engineering is a dangerous job because the engineers handle chemicals that are hazardous to them and to the animals they are attempting to save.

Environmental engineers can be chemical engineers or they can specialize in another field, but they are all very Imporant to the well being of the human race and the animal kingdom. They fix the mistakes humans and companies make. Without them, there would be no hope for a clean, pollution free future. Even with them, there is no chance that they can reverse what has been done to the Earth, but air and land pollution

Hazards of oil dispersants

I do be believe that solving one problem creates a larger problem. By putting oil dispersants in the water, we may be coating the oil, but if the coating is dangerous, it doesn't do any good for that reason. It is proven that the oil dispersants and the oil together are more dangerous and harmful than either of them alone. The marine life is at risk just by breathing and eating. If the plankton eats the kelp covered in the oil, then the plankton's predators eat the plankton and they eat the oil and the oil and the oil dispersants steadily progress through the food chain.

The government is not helping with the oil spill as much as they could. BP is trying to cover up just how bad the oil spill is by telling the public that the oil is getting cleaned up much faster and more efficiently than it actually is and that the oil is being cleaned through chemicals that are not nearly as harmful as they actually are. The problem with this is that if they are lying, then the oil spill will be much harder to clean up because no one knows exactly what is in the various chemicals that are now in the ocean. While we should all be working together to get rid of the oil and save the environment, that has not presented itself to be an option. The reason is because BP's goal is to defend the company in order to save its reputation instead of save the environment.

What many people don't understand is that when BP says that the oil is gone, what they really mean is that the oil is in the air or just in another part of the ocean. The oil will never be completely gone. What environmentalists, like Susan Shaw are working on now is getting the oil away from the animals. Poor animals should not be dying because of the mistakes humans make. It is now our job to make sure that as few animals as possible due to the oil. Although we cannot reverse the spill, we can try our best to make sure the oil is out of their habitat and be extra careful to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

8th Grade DLC Reflection

• Are chemical dispersants breaking down oil or clumping it together?
• Is it more important to society on the whole to get rid of the oil safely or save the money involved in the process?
• Is there any known way to clean up the oil other than chemical dispersants?