Upon test completion, the operators triggered a reactor shutdown, but a mixture of unstable conditions and reactor design flaws caused an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction instead.Ī large amount of energy was suddenly released, vaporising superheated cooling water and rupturing the reactor core during a highly destructive steam explosion. This risk wasn’t made evident within the instruction manual, therefore the operators proceeded with the electrical test. The operators were ready to only partially restore the required test power, which put the reactor during a potentially unstable condition. On this fourth attempt, an unexpected 10-hour delay meant that an unprepared operating shift was on duty.ĭuring the planned decrease of reactor power in preparation for the electrical test, the facility unexpectedly dropped to a near-zero level. Three such tests had been conducted since 1982, but that they had did not provide an answer. it had been hoped to prove that the residual rotational energy during a turbine generator could provide enough power to hide the gap.
This gap was about one minute and had been identified as a possible safety problem that would cause the reactor core to overheat. The test was a simulation of an electric power outage to assist the event of a security procedure for maintaining reactor cooling water circulation until the back-up electrical generators could provide power.
The accident started during a security test on an RBMK-type reactor, which was commonly used throughout the Soviet Union.
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