Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
...night of the disaster was intended to guarantee that incase the shutdown of reactor number 4 was necessary, enough electric power would be left in reserve to operate vital emergency and core cooling pumps until backup power generators were activated. (http://wwww.chernobyl.co.uk) What was not expected however was the way the Soviet built RMBK nuclear reactor would respond to the shutdown sequence Soviet operators initiated. Nuclear reactor number 4 became highly unstable at a low operating power because it could not create enough power to generate electricity for its production of power, and operate its vital cooling systems. This resulted in the need for operators to make adjustments manually to help the reactor cool itself. Manual adjustments could not be made quick enough to keep the reactor stable. (http://www.chernobyl.co.uk) An increase in steam pressure and temperature caused nuclear fuel to rupture, creating a chemical reaction with the fuel particles and steam to produce a fireball strong enough to incinerate the reactor's heavy steel/cement roof. (http://www.chernobyl.co.uk) Archived documents attained from http://www.chernobyl.co.uk reveal that key safety factors were virtually dismissed in the reactor test, which could have kept operators in control of the reactor. The violation of procedures such as the disabling of cooling systems, and the usage of only 6 control rods, when the use of 30 are recommended to keep control, is evidence that lax regulations and poor judgment aided in the reactor's destruction. "The nuclear hooligans were not only the slap-dash operators at No.4, but also the eminent scientist who designed it and knew that in certain circumstances it could explode". (Read) Soviet designers knew that there were problems with excess steam pockets within the reactor, yet still failed to recognize the potential such defects could possibly have. Russian engineers and designers knew the potential harm the RMBK reactors posed. (Read) They disregarded however the precautions that could have been taken because of a lack of funding. The Soviet power plants merely could not afford upgrades to their current systems. In fact, today there are still approximately 15 Chernobyl type reactors and 11 older model VVER-230 model reactors operat...