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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. At what time did a purple cone of iridescent flame leap 150 meters into the air around Chernobyl's ventilation stack?

2. During a 4 p.m. meeting, how many hours did attendees believe they had to intervene before a new criticality began?

3. In 1956, how long did Igor Kurchatov believe it would take to create a network of giant nuclear power stations and produce 2 million kilowatts?

4. How many children attended School Number Four in Pripyat in the 1980s?

5. How many patients did a doctor say needed to evacuated to Moscow at 4 p.m. on Saturday?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Vitali Sklyarov's position in 1986, and how did he attain that position?

2. What happened at Three Mile Island nuclear power station on March 28, 1979?

3. What did Korol do when he got to the hospital looking for his friend Toptunov?

4. Why was the turbine generator test on April 25, 1986, late in getting started?

5. When did Anatoly Dyatlov begin working at Chernobyl and what was his background?

6. What was the emergency bunker like at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant?

7. Why was the name of Chernobyl used for the nuclear power plant in the Ukraine in 1970?

8. What was Alexander Esaulov's job in 1986?

9. Why did Dyatlov struggle to manage the operators and engineers of Chernobyl?

10. When did people in Pripyat begin to realize something was happening?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Era of Stagnation was a term coined by Mikhail Gorbachev to describe the economic, political and social policies of the Soviet Union under Brezhnev’s rule. What was the Era of Stagnation? How did it affect the economic, political, and social policies of the USSR?

Essay Topic 2

While the fire raged at the nuclear plant, the citizens of Pripyat enjoyed a typical Saturday. How does the way that Higgenbotham compares the frantic situation at the nuclear plant to citizens enjoying a typical Saturday demonstrate the seriousness of the tragedy?

Essay Topic 3

The cleanup efforts were described as Sisyphean. What work was required for the clean-up and why were those efforts described as Sisyphean?

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