Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

If you’ve never heard of Chernobyl or Pripyat (which rock have you hid under?) then you can see the route of the cause above!

On the 26th of April 1986 the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded.  The disaster began during a systems test at reactor number four of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the northern area of the Ukraine.

At 01:23 local time there was a sudden power surge inside reactor 4, in order to try and stem the extent of the surge an emergency shut down was attempted. Due to a number of human failures and a flaw in the reactors RBMK control-rod design a more extreme spike in power output occurred, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions.

Within seconds of the original power surge the emergency shutdown procedure was underway but the length of time required by the cooling water generators and the movement rate of the control-rods to achieve affective speeds and positions was too great. There was a massive build up of steam pressure within reactor 4 which ruptured the fuel channels and eventually the reactors 2000-Tonne shield covering, the force of the explosion sent this shield cover over 100t in the air.

The remaining liquid coolant immediately turned to steam escaping the ruptured reactor which in turn released most of the nuclear material to the atmosphere…