The Chernobyl Nuclear Powerplant Explosion

The abandoned ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Uploaded to Wix by Mads Eneqvist

During the Cold War, the United States and the USSR were ramping up their nuclear divisions and seemingly had all of their nuclear devices aimed at one another. Nuclear power plants, like the one in Chernobyl, were build to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The number four reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986. The explosion killed 2 individuals and radiation exposure killed 28 people within weeks. This accident is partially to blame for anti-nuclear power sentiment in America, and it could have been avoided.

The reactor failed due to human error and a reactor design flaw. The reactor in Chernobyl was one that used water along with hot fuel to produce steam to provide the power. Operators were performing a power shut off test, but disabled the automatic shutdown safety mechanisms. During the test, hot fuel mixed with the cold water and over pressurized the reactor causing an explosion. If the operators were better trained to deal with similar emergencies, and if the designers had made it impossible to disable safety mechanisms, this explosion could have been mitigated/avoided altogether.

Although a tragedy, the World Nuclear Association and the International Atomic Energy Agency created a standard of operation for these power plants to ensure that this can never happen again. Another problem did occur with a nuclear reactor in Japan in 2011, but that was caused by forces outside human control. An earthquake and a tsunami cut the power to the reactor and radioactive material began leaking into the environment.

Works Cited:

McKeon, Albert. "The Lessons of Chernobyl Are Preventing Nuclear Disasters." Northrop Grumman NOW, 23 Apr. 2022, https://now.northropgrumman.com/the-lessons-of-chernobyl-are-preventing-nuclear-disasters

Thilmany, Jean. "Ten Engineering Disasters of the Last 100 Years." ASME, 17 Aug. 2023, https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/ten-engineering-disasters-of-the-last-100-years