#rbmk-1000

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

ℭ𝔶𝔱𝔬𝔱𝔬𝔵𝔦𝔫 - ℜ𝔅𝔐𝔎-յօօօ

[teeth--thief]

Google Drive full of book PDFs about Chernobyl

Link to the Google Drive if you don't want to click the title: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kscKFciW6almJA8p-0sUQPO3c0A4AQYe

Note: It will be updated regularly - for as long as I'll be able to find/get new things =) So far I've compiled 41 books in three languages.

Just to repeat what I said in the first post: I'm open to any requests or suggestions or even PDFs themselves, if someone wants to share theirs from their collection. Message me, send me an ask, throw a rock through my window - whatever you prefer, just please, do it yourself because I'm too scared to message anyone, thanks. No fiction - that's the only rule. Any language is welcome - if you want me to look for a certain book in the language of your choice, I'll do that. If you have a book in language other than English, I'd love to add it to the Drive! If you have a better version of whatever PDF I've already got, then I'd be more than happy to do a swap.

Now, some of my reasoning, if anyone's interested: first of all, I think it's important for everyone to be able to access stuff like this. Think of it as a library, minus the "give these back" part. Secondly, I get soooo mad when people are like haha, found this super rare, basically impossible to find, very expensive book! ...I shall now keep it exclusively to myself. Ma'am, you're ruining the vibe and stalling everyone's hobby research but I guess you do you...

List of all the books (under the cut):

In English:

Voices from Chernobyl - Alexievich S.

Chernobyl Reactor Accident - Source Term

Chernobyl - Insight from the Inside - Dr. Chernousenko V.M.

How It Was - Dyatlov A.S.

(ENG+RUS) Chernobyl Booklet

Chernobyl: The Devastation, Destruction and Consequences of the World’s Worst Radiation Accident - Fitzgerald I.

Final Warning. The Legacy of Chernobyl - Gale R.P.

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster - Higginbotham A.

INSAG-1

INSAG-7

Interesting Chernobyl - 100 Symbols

From Chernobyl To Fukushima - Karpan N.

Manual for Survival. A Chernobyl Guide to the Future - Kate Brown

Chernobyl. Confessions of a Reporter - Kostin I.

The Politics of Invisibility. Public Knowledge about Radiation Health Effects after Chernobyl - Kuchinskaya O.

Memories - Kupnyi A.

Chernobyl 01:23:40 - The Incredible True Story of the World’s Worst Nuclear Disaster - Leatherbarrow A.

Chernobyl Notebook - Medvedev G.

No Breathing Room - Medvedev G.

Chernobyl Record - The Definitive History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe - Mould R. F.

Wormwood Forest - A Natural History of Chernobyl - Mycio M.

Life Exposed: Biological Citizens After Chernobyl - Petryna A.

Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy - Plokhy S.

Ablaze - Story of Chernobyl - Read P.P.

Producing Power: The Pre-Chernobyl History of the Soviet Nuclear Industry - Schmid S. D.

Chernobyl: A Documentary Story - Shcherbak I.

The Vienna Report

Chernobyl - Crime Without Punishment - Yaroshinskaya A.A.

In Russian:

Chernobyl: Kak eto bylo. Preduprezhdeni - Kopchinsky, Steinberg

Chernobyl. Tak eto bylo. Vzglyad Iznutri - Voznyak Ya. Troitskiy N.

Лучевая болезнь человека (очерки) - Гуськова А.К., Байсоголов Г.Д.

Чернобыль. Как это было - Дятлов А.С.

Чернобыль: 30 лет спустя - Кравчук Н.В.

Живы - Купный А.

Чернобыль - Щербак Ю.

(ONLY Pages 367-383) Чернобыль, 10 лет спустя. Неизбежность или случайность?

KGB files - pre and post accident (includes additional information in Ukrainian)

In Polish: 

Jak to było - Diatłov A.S.

Czarnobyl - Plokhy S.

Czarnobyl - Sekuła P.

Katastrofa w Czarnobylu - Sekuła P.

Czarnobyl. Od katastrofy do procesu - Siwiński W.

[reactor-four-official]

Principles of the RBMK Reactor

The RBMK-1000 Boiling Water Reactor is a Soviet-designed nuclear reactor capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity. The core of the reactor is a short, wide cylinder. The active zone is contained inside a large metal drum, known as the core shroud. The reactor assembly is supported by a large metal disk known as the Lower Biological Shield. This sits on top of a larger metal cross labeled “Structure S”. On top of all this rests the 2,000 ton Upper Biological Shield of the reactor, known as "Structure E". The reactor sits in a large reinforced concrete shell which provides structural support and shields plant personnel from radiation.

The core region of the reactor is a large pile of graphite 14.52m × 9.7m. This pile is composed of graphite blocks 25cm by 25cm, with a height of between 20 and 60cm depending on its location in the reactor. Drilled through these blocks is a 11.4cm diameter hole, through which a zirconium alloy tube (known as a ‘technological channel’) is inserted. These contain either a fuel assembly, a control rod, or reactor monitoring equipment. These channels can be opened in situ or removed completely to replace any fuel or equipment inside them. Zirconium is used due to its high melting point and because it allows the neurons that produce the fission reaction in the core to pass through it far easier than other alloys such as stainless steel.

These metal technological channels have water pumped into them from the bottom by the Main Circulation Pumps. The entire reactor vessel is pressurized with a helium-nitrogen mixture, to prevent the oxidization of the graphite. Graphite is flammable in oxygen, but removed from it it can become quite an efficient thermodynamic conductor.

Below: A photo of RBMK technological channels at Chernobyl Unit 2. The length of these gives a good idea as to how massive the core of the RBMK is.

This picture is a screencap from this video.

The fuel of an RBMK is small uranium oxide pellets, stacked into small metal pipes and bundled together into fuel assemblies. Uranium oxide is a ceramic material composed of Uranium 235. This element, under special conditions, can create a nuclear chain reaction which generates heat. The RBMK has three primary components that help create these special conditions to create the controlled fission reactions in the core. These are graphite, water, and boron.

Graphite is used in the core of an RBMK as a moderator. Basically, it slows down the neutrons discarded by U-236 atoms (a U 235 atom which a neutron has collided with) when they split apart. When they are released they are travelling at a tremendous speed, and have very little chance of coming into contact with another atom of uranium. Slowing them down, however, creates a higher chance of the neutrons coming into contact with an atom of U-235, creating the unstable U-236 and then pulling itself apart, thereby creating more neutrons (as well as several other elements) and sustaining a nuclear chain reaction. This sustained reaction is what creates the heat in the core of a nuclear reactor. The more neutrons there are in the core, the more reactivity (and therefore heat) is created. It should be noted that graphite is combustible at high temperatures. The core contained 1,700 tons of graphite.

Water in the core of an RBMK serves as a coolant. Because the core of a nuclear reactor gets extremely hot, it becomes necessary to cool its components if you wish to avoid destructive melting within the core region. Water is the most common coolant in nuclear reactors, as it is cheap and abundant. The water is pumped in under high pressure at about 265 C by the Main Circulation Pumps from the bottom of the reactor up into the technological channels containing the fuel and other components of the reactor. After passing through the channels and heating up to about 284 C, the water is piped out of the top of the reactor. Some of the coolant water heats up so much that it forms into steam bubbles inside the reactor. When the water is pumped out of the core it is then sent into four steam separator drums, where the steam is separated from the water. The water is then pumped back into the reactor, while the steam is sent to the turbine generators of the plant to create electricity. After this, the steam is condensed back into water using cool water from the plant cooling pond and recirculated into the cooling system.

Below: A model showing the circulation system of an RBMK-1000 reactor. Coolant water is in blue and hot water/steam is in red. The yellow structures are the main cooling pumps, and the green structures are steam turbines. This model is spatially to scale, essentially what you would see if you removed every part of the reactor except for the coolant circuit.

Some of the channels in the RBMK contain control rods (large boron carbide rods) that move up and down in the channel as necessary to keep the reactor within operational limits. Boron is a neutron sponge. It absorbs neutrons and can effectively eliminate a chain reaction. It functions as the brakes on a human made nuclear reaction, useful both in making sure a chain reaction does not become a runaway criticality and also in being the off switch on a nuclear reactor. The RBMK has 211 of these control rods, some of which are under operator control and some of which are under the control of a computer. A design quirk of the RBMK is that at the end of each standard control rod was a 14ft 9in graphite displacer. When a control rod was withdrawn out of the core it left behind a space that would be filled with water, a neutron absorber. Since more water in the core would kill reactivity, the designers of the reactor hung this displacer from the control rods to replace the space left by the control rod with something that would increase reactivity rather than kill it. This was a sound design choice, but it was a major factor in the events of the accident at Chernobyl.

Below: An illustration of the control rod displacers in an RBMK.

Below: A top down view of the channels of an RBMK. You can see the layout of the control rods (green), neutron detectors (blue), shortened control rods inserted from below the reactor (yellow), automatic control rods (red), and the fuel channels (grey). The number on the green, yellow, and red squares are the last recorded insertion depths of control rods in Chernobyl Unit 4 1m 30s before the explosion. Only one is fully inserted.

Below: A cutaway of the RBMK system layout.

Two additional factors also come into play regarding the water. Water is naturally a neutron absorber, albeit a far less effective one than boron. The more water in the core, the less neutrons are present and therefore the lower the reactivity. However, when transformed into steam, water loses nearly all of its neutron absorbing properties. The more steam in the core, the higher reactivity is. This is called a ‘positive void coefficient’, and it was a known quirk of the RBMK and indeed several other reactor designs. However, the RBMK had a much higher level of this effect in its core due to its design. This is important to the accident sequence.

It is also important to note that the RBMK is an enormous construction. It is temperamental, unstable unless operating at full power, and requires constant monitoring and guidance from its operators. It requires three operators just to run it normally, and it was notoriously difficult to operate. The core region is so large that the equipment used to monitor it could not accurately read a large portion of it, and hotspots of reactivity would often form resulting in alarming and unexplained jumps in power output and temperature. While in theory not a bad design, the RBMK was a deeply flawed machine.

An enormous thank you is owed to @nicotinebeige , who was extremely helpful in the creation of this post. If you like film photography, you should check out their blog!

This is a technical explanation of the RBMK design. For a history of the RBMK, check out this post. Apologies for any mistakes! I’m most definitely not an expert on nuclear physics, and if anything is unclear you should absolutely check out other sources for more info. As always, thank you for your interest!

[cidnangarlond]

the results are in

[obituarybug]

As interesting as Chernobyl is, I wish people would stop sending me shit about it

I do not care about Chernobyl or nuclear disasters even in the slightest

I really fucking wish people would stop associating that Nuclear Power = Chernobyl

Maybe that's why so many people blindly believe it's bad (*cough cough* Germany *cough cough*)

[yourlocalbreadenthusiast]

ask for infodump about Chernobyl as someone who has never even heard of it

INHALES

Chernobyl is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in history, rated at a 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), the only other disaster ranking at a 7 being in Fukushima back in 2011. The disaster occurred on April 26, 1986. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant was located in Ukraine, which was under the control of the Soviet Union at the time. It was only about 16 miles from the Belarus-Ukraine border, which was also under Soviet control. There were two main towns nearby, Chernobyl itself, which was older, had only about 15,000 residents, and was actually farther from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant than Pripyat, which had about 50,000 residents, and was only about 2 miles from the plant. Pripyat was newer, and residents had an average age of about 26. The town itself was filled with young, well educated people starting new lives. A large number of public buildings were located in Pripyat, including a school and a sports complex, which contains the famous Azure Swimming Pool. The plant supplied Pripyat with energy, and the place was considered a sort of "dream city." The plant was an RBMK-1000 type reactor, a generation I nuclear reactor, which are the earliest, and generally most hazardous, nuclear reactors. RBMKs were used to produce Plutonium, a radioactive material primarily used in nuclear weapons. However, they could also be used to produce civilian energy, so a few were constructed to supply parts of the USSR with power. At the time of the incident, there were four reactors in operation, with reactors 5 and 6 under construction. A test was scheduled to be conducted to see if the backup generators could successfully turn on in time to keep the cooling systems running at safe levels. However, the test was delayed until the less experienced night shift was in. They turned off the reactor's shutdown feature and lowered the power to the reactor. Reactors need energy to function, as they have to be cooled. For these reactors, large amounts of water were used to cool them. Without the shutdown function, the reactor was in danger of overheating if it wasn't cooled. Regardless, they ran the test. When the backup generators took too long to turn on, panic set in, and the reactor began to overheat. Then, somehow hit the AZ-5 button, which lowers all control rods into the reactor at once. Control rods are used to absorb excess amounts of shed neutrons from the nuclear reactions. However, they momentarily increase reactions when first introduced into the reactor chambers. The undertrained staff of the night shift were not aware of this. With the increased reactivity, the reactor was now dangerously hot, and the casinging around the fuel rods began to rupture, causing white-hot radioactive fuel to come into direct contact with steam. At 1:23 A.M., April 26, 1986, Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor #4 exploded. The contact between the fuel and the steam caused a steam explosion, blowing the 1000 tonne reactor roof into the air and spewing radioactive debris and particles into the air.

Two plant workers were killed instantly by either the force of the blast or from being hit by debris. Although plant workers realized what had happened rather quickly, superiors were slow to act. Firefighters were called in, but they were not told the dangers of the radiation. Most died within a few months. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. In Pripyat, the Amusement Park that had been scheduled to open the next day was hurriedly opened a day early to distract residents from the fact that the reactor was on fire.

It took 36 hours for Soviet Officials to finally begin to evacuate Pripyat, only after residents had begun to report nausea, dizziness, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches, all symptoms of radiation poisoning. A few weeks earlier, citizens were trained with gas masks in case there ever was an incident. Officials said that they didn’t need them, as they didn’t want to cause a panic.

Residents were also told they would be returning soon, and to leave everything behind. They did not come back. This left Pripyat as an eerie ghost down where everything seemed to have simply been dropped and left. Today, it is still abandoned, and is being slowly reclaimed by nature.

During the cleanup of the incident, “Liquidators” were called in. Some knew the dangers, others didn’t. The fire of the reactor was too hot to be put out by water, so tons and tons or boron, sand, and lead were dumped onto the burning reactor by helicopters that flew over. It didn’t help much, and the reactor finally stopped burning after about 2-3 weeks. A structure dubbed “The sarcophagus” was built over the reactor to contain the radiation, though it was rushed and leaked radiation. A large area of woodlands was contaminated by the radiation, and it turned red and died, earning the nickname “The Red Forest.” Most of these trees were cleared and buried. Highly contaminated houses were knocked down, animals were shot, and crops destroyed. Absolutely everything that was highly contaminated was at least attempted to be destroyed and buried. Still, not everything could be destroyed and buried, there was simply too much. One object, dubbed “The Claw of Death” was, according to conflicting accounts, either used to assist in the overall cleanup or was used specifically in the cleanup of the plant roof. It is radioactive enough to give a lethal dose if sat in for about 11 hours.

Another rather infamous object is “The Elephant’s Foot” which is a mass of sand, concrete, and melted reactor fuel that had melted its way through the floor and down into the basement. Upon discovery, the sheer amount of radiation it gave off was enough to give you a fatal dose within about 90 seconds. Today, that’s increased to about five minutes. The foot was unyielding to sampling tools, so, they shot it with a Kalashnikov Rifle (AK-47) to get a sample.

After a very short period of time, the remaining three reactors were up and running again, as the USSR simply needed power desperately. By December of 1987, all three reactors were up and running again. They were operated for years, until the last reactor was finally shut down for good in 2000. Being so close to the border, and with the wind conditions of the time, mass amount of radioactive particles were blown north to Belarus. The Soviet Union had planes fly over and seed the clouds with chemicals, forcing them to rain on rural land instead of heavily populated areas, but this still had a major effect, as about 1/3 of Belarusian farmland was contaminated. However, the winds began to shift, blowing radiation towards Europe. Sweden was the first to sound the alarm, asking if something had happened after detecting dangerous amounts of airborne radiation and determining it was not from any of their own reactors. The USSR finally admitted there had been a “very small” incident at Chernobyl, and was very reluctant to give the world information. Careful monitoring protocols were put on resources everywhere in Europe, from grain to milk to wood, all were carefully measured for radiation. Years later, after the Sarcophagus was determined to be unsafe, the New Safe Confinement unit was constructed, which is a semicircular dome over the existing Sarcophagus. The New Safe Confinement was finished in 2018. 

DONE!

(For now)

@not-wizard-council-aristocrat @anarcho-neptunism @siley-the-wizard @villainessbian

[peacefulatom]

Hi.  This is a  side blog  for @atomshchik; not that this one will be used less (actually, the opposite), but that this one is not at all similar. A parallel, or adjacent  blog,  if  you  would.   As  always,  you  can call me  Rodion or Byrd, and the pronouns are he and him.  This  blog  will be used for commentary on my life,  what I’m reading,  as well as anything else  worthy  of  reporting.   Dog   photos   might  be posted  as  well.   Maybe   humor,   if   you’re   lucky…

As for asks: please feel free! Especially if about Chernobyl or RBMK-1000 type reactors. Please.

   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

To obtain. >75%. Read. Reading. <50%. In hand.

The Russians.   Midnight in Chernobyl.   INSAG-7. INSAG-1.            Foma   Gordeyev.          The   Manchurian Candidate.    More, if I remember to add them all.

[canis-or-cannotis-lycaon]

TIMING: A Few weeks ago LOCATION: About the Town PARTIES: Alan @alan-duarte & Gael @lithium-argon-wo-l-f SUMMARY: Gael and Alan chance into each other at a bookstore and they explore what similarities they have that connect them. CONTENT WARNINGS: cheating mentions, drugs mentions

“I just … It never quite looks realistic enough. You have no idea how much supplies I have thrown away out of sheer disappointment,” the clerk didn’t seem to know a whole lot about modelism and Alan was submerged with regrets while the other attempted to come up with a solution Alan already had tried. The answer, unsurprisingly, didn't come from that guy, but from a voice behind. “Anyway…” He didn’t like when people were so nosy they interrupted someone’s personal conversation. He frankly hated that. Turning toward the intruder, the realtor frowned, and the more he thought about it, the more his eyebrows furrowed. That could work, actually. 

“That’s… smart,” a bit more technical than what he was used to coming up with, quite frankly. “Are you also into dioramas and model making ?”  ______________ Why were all these books derivative? Gael was looking for a hobby, not a lullaby, which was all most of these books had to offer him. He rolled his eyes, already having wasted too much time in one area when he could be anywhere else actually reading and just picked one up - it seemed to be about crocheting, of all things. Whatever, maybe he could donate it to the school library. He made his way to wherever the line was and as he approached, he found a man in an active, if one-sided discussion with the beleaguered clerk, though Gael’s unusual hearing could pick up the conversation before he saw them. From what he gathered, there was an attempt to make a simulated fire for a… model or something, he was just guessing and he had half a mind to leave himself out of it but he felt for the clueless employee and he gave a noncommittal shrug, speaking loudly enough to make himself heard behind the duo. “I, uh… recommend a silicon bi-pin lamp with a dominant wavelength of 605nm,” He suggested, leaning slightly and keeping his dark eyes on the back of the stranger who at first seemed to shrug him off before acknowledging what he said. Gael straightened back up as the man turned and asked him about the subject material - so he was right. “I hadn’t really thought about it before,” He admitted casually. “I constructed a model RBMK-1000 Reactor for a presentation on Chernobyl once but I don’t know if that would qualify.” ______________

“Oh you just came up with a solution on the spot then,” there wouldn’t be any awards held for being incredibly responsive, Alan hoped the other was aware of that. His gratitude and respect were, however, worth more than an Oscar. They were rare. “Haven’t meddled with electricity in a bit, though I suppose I’ll have to bring the soldering iron out of the closet again,” the clerk was standing right next to them, and Alan could tell from the held up, weak index , that he was wishing he could vanish or be just anywhere else. “I think I’m good, thank you so much,” for nothing. With a warm smile, he watched the younger man walk off. The werewolf wondered what this guy specialized in, before deciding he didn’t really care. Some people just were useless from start to finish.

“So you do know a thing or two about model making,” this man, however, seemed to know things. That was a lot more valuable. “It wouldn’t be my first pick, but you know, to each their own, right?” A nuclear reactor really wasn’t his idea of a good subject, but the same could have been said about the many planes he had sitting on shelves in his basement. He started out with those, but they were now all in cardboard boxes, getting forgotten. “You said a lamp with… That wavelength, is it a color thing, or …” High school was far away, but he remembered a thing or two from his physics classes. You had to be good at it to be in the air force, although mechanical sciences were more deeply anchored than optical ones. “I’ll need it to flicker. Maybe a transistor could do the job, what do you think?” A pause. “I don’t want to hoard your time, of course. If you have better things to do…” He trailed off. “Yeah, I really don’t want to hold your leg man, you’ve already done your good deed,” he smiled, yet something about his eyes seemed to carry hope and was silently begging him to have no life outside of helping him out.  ______________ The stranger was blunt in his response and opinionated to boot but he hadn’t dismissed Gael yet so the latter figured he must’ve done something right. Or at least not wrong. “A transistor might work but I think you’d be better with, like, a diode to give it that flicker effect,” He replied, setting the book down and placing his hands in his pockets and keeping his gaze on the model-maker. He quirked an eyebrow as the other man seemed to give him an impression of wanting to continue this conversation - either that or Gael had gotten worse at reading people. Either way, he got some hint (though whether or not it was the right one was to be determined) and he gave another small half-shrug. “I literally have nothing better to do,” He removed a hand and gestured to the crochet book he picked up out of boredom. “Gael, by the way,” That same hand reached out in an initiation for a handshake from the stranger.  ______________ “Mmm, maybe,” crossing his arms over his chest, Alan reflected on his options. There wasn’t much he could do now other than try it out now. His gaze went toward the book in the other man’s hands. Crocheting. Not the most common hobby, but who was he to judge? “Crocheting and electronics isn’t a combo you often see,” he commented with a light smile. Holding out his hand to shake, Alan introduced himself as well. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Alan.” 

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” not that he knew everyone, but having been born here, raised here, and having lived here most of his life gave him the sizable advantage when it came to knowing folks : 6 degrees of separation and whatnot. “Anyhow, I’m… have you played Dark Souls?” He paused, “I’m doing the campfire, hence the need for a flickering fire,” he explained. “I haven’t played in ages, I probably couldn’t beat the first boss these days,” he scoffed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Anyhow, you wanna help me find that diode ? That clerk seemed a bit lost…”  ______________ Alan. Gael wondered as he ran the name through in his head a few times if he knew who this guy was in passing but ultimately concluded that he most likely hadn’t, at least not consciously. “Oh yeah, I moved here a few months ago at the start of the semester,” He explained, putting his hand back in his pocket. There was a pause as the model-maker named Alan asked him about Dark Souls and he had to rack his brain for a moment. “I have not played Dark Souls,” He admitted. “BUT I can help you find that diode; that shouldn’t be a problem.” Regardless of the reason, he wasn’t one to turn down a challenge. “You haven’t, like, checked online for it, though, right? There’s a lot of kits that might have what you’re looking for without the hassle of running around trying to find it.” He suggested.  ______________ “Semester?” Only two categories of people spoke in semesters: professors and students. If people could go back to college at any moment of their life, he doubted this guy was a student. “You teach at the University? I did a conference there last semester,” a pause. “For the business students. I’m a local business owner,” Alan scratched a spot behind his ear absent-mindedly, feigning humility. He had none, but that was apparently unbecoming. 

“Aw, you’re missing out. It’s hard, I’m not gonna lie, but…” He trailed off. He used to play those games with his first husband, though Rafael was always a lot better at them than Alan ever was.

“You’re in electronics? Engineering?” He tried to guess, as he tagged along down the aisle. “I suppose so. I’m not huge on Amazon, but there’s also the hardware store if…” He trailed off. “Yeah, Whitlocks might have it. It’s a 5 minute walk though,” he pursed his lips. “I can offer payment in drinks at the bar, or guided tours of the town,” both would be an introvert’s nightmare, he supposed, but there was a chance the guy was sociable enough if he had the nerve to interrupt a conversation to offer help.  ______________ “Oh, yeah. I teach chemistry.” Gael replied, keeping his gaze on Alan with a sense of curiosity in his tired, yet energetic eyes. He put a pin in the part where the other man said that he owned a business; he was sure to mention it later. “And I do suppose there’s no better teacher of business than someone who owns one,” he added. He paused, noting that Alan trailed off and he wondered if the latter had some memory that kept him from finishing what apparently made Dark Souls so great because if they were going off that brief explanation, Gael wasn’t really sold on “you’re missing out, this game is hard”. As far as he was concerned though, it was small talk that sprung from the model thing so he didn’t think too much about it. “I’ll pass on the game and take your word for it but I certainly won’t say no to a drink,” He agreed. “I’m guessing you’re from around here if you’re willing to offer a tour in exchange for a diode.” ______________ A chemistry teacher at UMWC named Gael. Monty’s words echoed in Alan’s memory then. It couldn’t possibly have been anyone else but this guy. He had promised he’d be discreet about it, and Alan liked to think that he was good with people, when he wanted to be. “Pardon me, but I think I might have heard of you through a common friend,” he pointed out. He lowered his voice. “The man from the farm?” It wasn’t the most comfortable conversation to have. Alan had been through this too, and he didn’t like it then. He sure didn’t like it now. 

“I’m from around here, yeah,” he nodded along, motioning the other to tag along. “My family has been in the region for three generations already, so I suppose you can say I know the area like the back of my hand,” mostly the real estate market, mostly the woods. He avoided certain areas religiously. Yeah, you could say he knew the town well. “Since you won’t say no, I’ll take this as a yes.” ______________ Alan motioned for Gael to follow so he did, but not before his brain seemed to bounce the words the other man had said around in his head longer than he’d have liked. Common friend, ‘man from the farm’? His mind put two and two together rather quickly; this must’ve been the aforementioned princesa that Monty told him about, the snooty friend who Monty spoke fondly of! His mind buzzed with questions but he didn’t want to make it seem like he wasn’t listening to the rest of what Alan had said. So, he instead brought up the second part of the new conversation first. “Three generations?” Gael repeated. “So you’re part of the old blood of the town.” He wondered why he’d never heard the name before but then again, he didn’t know Alan’s last name so for all he knew he might’ve, just in passing. “That means you have insider knowledge on where to get the best coffee and you won’t take me somewhere soul-crushingly disappointing.” He laughed as the duo walked though it didn’t last long and it tapered into Gael turning his head to look curiously, if a little mournfully, at Alan. “You’re… the one Monty told me about, aren’t you?” It was Gael’s turn to lower his voice. “The uh… the other one who sleepwalks.” The professor knew that sleepwalking wasn’t a new concept but he hadn’t had anyone to talk to about it before aside from Monty, and even then, he couldn’t help but get the idea that Monty had something possibly even worse than him. Possibly. His wasn’t–  ______________

“Oh, I suppose you could say that,” there were a lot of families who had been here longer, but the Duartes could pride themselves on being true locals, if that was even something to be proud of. They should have prided themselves on having no one in the family disappear mysteriously, after living in this town for a whole century now. Alan would have been the first to fall this way, he realized. Somehow, he survived. Perhaps he shouldn’t have. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to. “Oh you bet, I won’t be taking you to Starbucks, that’s for sure,” he assured him with a pat on his back. 

“Well, yes,” he set his hand back in his pocket, offering the other a slight smile at the mention of sleepwalking. Yeah, he had once thought about that too. It made a lot more sense than oh, maybe I turn into a wolf at night and wander off into the forest to meet my people. “I’ve been sleepwalking for about ten years now,” his smile grew, and his expression changed. There was no need to get sappy about this. Alan knew, however, that the wolf attack needed to be mentioned. “It started after I got into the woods, one evening. I was heading back home, figured it would be shorter…” He trailed off. This was, all things considered, quite the intimate thing to share, but maybe it would make things easier in the long term. And maybe he’d make friends with another member of his species too? It had been a while, and he missed having someone around who could properly relate. “Anyhow, I couldn’t see much of a thing, but a wolf attacked me that night,” he paused. “Call it trauma, or… I don’t know,” lycanthropy, “but I’ve had those sleepwalking issues ever since…” ______________ Gael listened intently, keeping his eyes on the businessman as the latter spoke about his experience. He found himself comparing what Alan was saying to his own memories or lack thereof… the night, the woods, the attack, the hospital. The way the other man spoke made it seem like– well, he had been dealing with it for ten years so surely he had a much better grasp on what it was, right? A wolf attacked Alan, but Gael couldn’t remember what had happened to him; he just assumed he was mauled by a bear that night in the woods - the scar that screwed up some of the nerves in his lower back was certainly big enough to feel like a bear. “That’s… interesting,” Gael said slowly, keeping his voice from becoming mournful as Alan didn’t speak of it as something he was still… well, not struggling but it was something he was dealing with. He had a few questions he wanted to ask, suddenly feeling as though maybe he didn’t sound quite so ridiculous to someone who had similar sleepwalking issues and Alan was surely a master of coping mechanisms by now, right? He didn’t seem so alone, and yet… The thoughts got mixed up in the chemist’s head and he frowned to himself for a moment. “Ten years?” He repeated softly. “Have you ever, I don’t know, gone to see someone about it?” He hastily added “Not that there’s anything wrong with– I mean that–” He stuttered and cleared his throat, suddenly gripped by some unfamiliar emotion. “Sorry, I didn’t think… I didn’t mean to be nosey,” He concluded awkwardly. “Uhm… Monty told me about you though,” Gael smothered the unfamiliar emotion with a grin; he wasn’t sure if this was what Alan wanted but then again, he also wasn’t sure if Alan wanted to discuss their shared condition. He wanted to ask about the blood, the bodies, the nightmares but he also didn’t want to turn their pleasant conversation into one of either discomfort or begrudging formalities. Or something. Maybe if Alan wanted to discuss it further, he could bring it up on his own terms, in his own time. But until then… “He speaks highly of you.” ______________

“Is it?” Alan’s eyebrows raised in inquiry. It was uncommon, for certain. People didn’t usually have surviving a wolf attack crossed out on their bucket list. He would have rather it never happened. His life was better when he didn’t know about all this, and yet… Would he have walked this road, met these people, if he hadn’t crossed paths with a werewolf? “Nah,” he shook his head. He had, once, but there wasn’t much the therapist could do other than try to rationalize what happened, and ask Alan all sorts of questions he wasn’t willing to tackle. 

Part of him wondered whether the therapist knew. Not once was PTSD mentioned as a cause for his blackouts, and that always seemed weird to him. He didn’t particularly want to find out if the guy knew though. He didn’t want to delve back into that part of his life. This was why he had been hesitant to help Gael out, when Monty asked him, but now that the man stood before him, Alan wondered how he could possibly do anything but that. Still, he didn’t care to elaborate about this, not now. 

Sticking his hands in his pockets, Alan’s eyebrows raised. He knew Monty had spoken to Gael about him, and he didn’t really mind it, considering the circumstances. “You’ve barely asked me any questions,” he pointed out. This much was not entirely true, but Alan figured that this was how he would get the other to ask all his questions. “C’mon, you must have questions that need answering, more important than whether I saw someone to cope with it,” he pointed out with a sympathetic smile. It was easier, pushing the attention away from oneself, in vulnerable times, but Alan was one to do that too, and he could easily spot it. 

“Monty? Of course he does, and I’ll speak highly of him too,” as it usually did at the mention of the zombie, his face lit up. “He’s a great man, and I doubt you’ll meet someone more selfless than him around town,” he affirmed. He hadn’t met everyone, but he’d stand by that statement either way.  ______________ “Yeah, he’s… there’s something about him for sure,” Gael agreed first, his expression softening as he remembered that morning. “He’s…” The man fell silent and simply caught the expression on Alan’s face - the latter, until recently, had this look that wasn’t stern but it was professional but when he brought up the cowboy, sure enough he could tell that the man was affectionate towards Monty. He was starting to wonder who wouldn’t be. Gael also wondered what questions Alan could’ve been referring to. “About… the sleepwalking,” He muttered, glancing down for a moment before his eyes regarded the businessman once more. “I think the questions I have aren’t… I don’t know, it’s–” What, hard to explain? If there was one person he could maybe explain it to, it would be Alan, another man who was found in the woods with nothing but a sleeping bag to protect his manhood. “I guess the biggest one I have is ‘how do I fix it’,” He surmised. “Though I suppose the biggest one should be ‘what’s wrong with me’.” His eyes danced on nothing in particular, as though he were reading something but it was in his head. “But that’s… I don’t know, sometimes people just sleepwalk.” He shrugged. “I got mauled by a bear one night; I remember NONE of it but I assume it just jostled something in my brain.” He glanced down again. “I’m sure I’m just overreacting. I’ve been known to do that,” Gael cast his gaze back to Alan. “You ever think that? That maybe it’s really not a big deal but something in your mind makes you think it might be?” ______________

“How do you fix it?” Yeah, that was precisely why he didn’t want to do this in the first place. He had been there, in denial, trying to figure out what was making him wake up far from his bed, exhausted and lost, wishing it to fucking stop. “You need to learn to control it, those moments where your mind slips,” he eyed him. It was all Alan could do about this : help Gael control it. This was perhaps how he’d make him aware of what he was. What’s wrong with me was a trickier question, somehow. There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t be a lie to some extent. “Same thing that’s wrong with me. We got attacked by a wild animal and it changed us,” that wasn’t really the full truth, but it was all he could do right then. 

“A bear heh?” That didn’t track. It didn’t track with what Monty told him. “You remember being attacked by a bear though, I assume?” Another day, he would have to show him his scar, and perhaps that would help Gael with coming to terms with it all, but that wouldn’t be today. Alan was unable to do that today. He wasn’t sure he would be able to do that at all, and just thinking about it made his expression tarnish.

“I think it’s as big a deal as you want it to be, like everything,” you could care or choose not to give a shit, but the reality would catch up on you and bite you in the ass. “I think you should deal with it sooner than later. You don’t want someone catching you wandering around like that, huh? Not everyone’s going to react like Monty,” no, someone would try to put a bullet in him. “If you want, I can help you with that, but it’s not going to be easy,” a tiny part of him hoped he would refuse, but the guy seemed like a good man, and with werewolves being a rarity, Alan could have used someone extra to share his struggles with.  ______________ Gael paused for a long moment, listening intently to everything Alan was saying though the more he spoke, the more something started to knot up in his throat, making it hard to swallow, literally. He didn’t remember being attacked by a bear - how could he? People told him it was a dog but he wasn’t about to consider that it was a dog. What had to have happened is that the way he and Alan were attacked just… created some neurological damage to them. Short-circuiting in their brain, a psychotic defect that caused them to sleepwalk and kill things in that state. Animals, right? Just animals. He thought he liked it better before this topic of conversation came up. Control it. Control what, the parts where he falls asleep, has terrible nightmares where he prowls through the woods as some… demon, then wakes up God-knew-where, in pain, with no idea where he was. “Those are just dreams,” Gael muttered to himself. Maybe they weren’t as alike as they thought, which was fine but the thought that whatever was happening was something that he could change, something that affected him so deeply, it writhed around inside him like snakes. And then there was the part about someone else finding him and Gael realized that… Monty was the only one who had so far. Every other time this defect flared up, he’d woken up lost, hurt, as though he got pulled apart and put back together but he had also been alone. There HADN’T been a Monty or someone else. The professor, uncharacteristically, remained silent during most of this and he pulled his arms close to his stomach, folding them over each other in thought as his brow knitted. Alan offered to help but he found the connection between the help and what it was for nonexistent. “I wouldn’t want to impose,” was what Gael said first, now avoiding eye contact with the other man. “And it– it sounds like how to fix it is that I check myself into a mental ward.” He added before he could stop himself. “Alan, the way you’re talking makes it seem like we’re… I don’t know, werewolves or something.” He scoffed though he said the word itself almost completely silently. “I can’t tell you how to think or what to feel but this sounds like an issue I need medication for.” He clenched his jaw for a moment before glancing back up at Alan, his expression softening. “Sorry, I’m– sorry. I didn’t mean to… I appreciate the offer for help but…” He faltered. ______________

Alan fell silent. He didn’t really have that sort of patience in him, the sort that would allow him to just smile, shake his head gently and explain once again what he meant. He was terrible at this. Talking people into buying or selling was effortless, but things that directly concerned him? Heh. Pass. 

The realtor looked away, hands in his pockets. His gaze fell to the floor. “Just dreams, yeah.” He scoffed. This was fucked up. 

How was he supposed to let this guy know that he was never going to have a normal life ever again, that he’d never be normal? How was he supposed to tell someone that they’d been bit by a supernatural creature, and that they were now one too. 

He’d been through this before, all by himself, and he remembered just how unpleasant it had all been. Alan would force himself to shift until he could begin to control it, even if that meant forcing his bones to grow and shrink, his guts to shift in his stomach in a matter of seconds. At the same time, because he worried himself to death, wondering if one day he’d not accidentally end up mauling his husband, he’d grown further and further away from him. He’d disappear around full moons on business trips, reappear a few days later, feeling tired, filled with guilt, one that Rafael, all too human, could only associate with the worst kind of treason. 

Alan felt like crying. Though he tried not to let it show, and fought the urge to let it pour down, his lip quivered, and as he nibbled on it, he had no other choice but to look away. It was a damn good thing Gael was too damn embarrassed to even look at him. “You’re right,” he snapped. “Maybe we’re both fucking mental,” if his words came from a place of hurt, it certainly didn’t make them fair. “I’m not a damn psychiatrist. I don’t know why Monty thought I’d be able to help you with that.” This was no longer about his failed marriage then, but this creeping feeling that had been steadily rotting inside of him : how much of him had died that night? Was he the same person as before or pretending, like a kid playing house ? He was a monster now, this, he knew for a fact. He could try and save face, claim that nature didn’t build monsters, that nature didn’t care for good or bad, he didn’t feel much like a good person. “But you think I’m batshit for suggesting you could learn to live with it. Maybe you’re right.”  ______________ The two were silent, Gael trying to find the right words to smoothly transition out of whatever was happening right now to more pleasant things - ‘how is that game?’ ‘what kind of coffee do you like?’ and ‘what do you do aside from make models’ were all questions that absently floated in his brain space. However, he wasn’t anticipating when Alan suddenly reacted the way he did. Almost immediately, surprise painted Gael’s face, shortly followed by a cocktail of emotions, mixing being taken aback, a measure of anxiety and more guilt than he wanted - he had a feeling that by saying what he said, he was risking implying that Alan was the same, even if Gael didn’t think they were. “N-no, that’s not what I meant,” Gael tried to explain, his tone shifting. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that– I just…” He sighed, his pride taking a backseat. “I’m sorry. Of course you’re not mental. You’ve been dealing with this a hell of a lot longer than I have and it was wrong of me to think or assume that…” He fell silent again before giving a tired shrug. “That I would know anything about anything.” He had to think about what the best course of action would be going forward - Gael had unintentionally created a minefield, he felt, and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin this potential connection with Alan or possibly even Monty for insinuating that he was wrong. “I… I don’t understand,” He said slowly, his eyes dancing on his hands that were clenching and unclenching in front of him, trying to work out the stress that suddenly accumulated inside him - a fight or flight response to the animal knowledge that he WOULD be left alone with whatever this was that Alan said. “But…” Lie. “I believe you.” Lie. “I’d like to take you on that offer for help.” He gulped. “I trust your insight.” His gaze rose and he looked at Alan, searching for that connection, the wires he unintentionally frayed in an attempt to gather them back up to salvage this. ______________ “Eleven years. I’ve been dealing with this bullshit, this fucking insane bullshit for eleven years,” he might have not been in his other form then, Alan’s eyes glimmered with a light, with a wrath akin to a dog’s. “But sure, go to the doctor, see what they have to say,” he fell quiet then. Rubbing at his face, if only to rid himself, to wash himself of his annoyance, Alan strode a few steps ahead of Gael. He wouldn’t have faulted him for walking the other way while he could. Most people didn’t particularly stand for this sort of behavior, and they were right not to. 

He walked past a bench. He turned around and went to sit there. Where was he even going, striding like that. “I wanted it to go away,” he knew the other could hear him. They had good ears, their kind. Even if he stood meters away now, of course he could hear him. “I thought it would go away, but it won’t go away,” though his words still were spoiled with angered notes, his shoulders no longer seemed so tense, and his eyes didn’t seem to be filled with thunder anymore. “You don’t believe me,” who knew? Maybe he did believe Alan. The wolf sighed, still he turned around to look Gael straight in the eye. “You will have to trust the process. It won’t be an immediate answer to your problems,” but perhaps he’d manage, and maybe through helping Gael how to get a hold of his other self, Alan would finally learn not to detest a whole side of him. ______________ Alan spoke and Gael’s gaze filled with sympathy, knitting in the middle. Eleven years. Gael hadn’t even reached one yet and he didn’t want to anymore but eleven years was sitting on the surface of his mind, simmering, taking its time to sink in and he wasn’t sure when or even if it would. Maybe they were different, maybe Alan really was a… werewolf or whatever but maybe Gael’s problem was something else…? When the other man stormed past him and went to sit on a bench, Gael turned and his gaze followed him though he himself didn’t move at first. Would it be better for him to just… leave? Leave Alan without having to entertain the chemist’s foolish notions anymore? Walk away, tell Monty that he made a mistake, that Alan wasn’t what he needed. Eleven years of sleepwalking, waking up alone, lost, wounded. Was that going to be Gael’s fate? What could Gael possibly do about this, about Alan, about anything? He should turn and walk off as Alan did, return the resentment and the bitterness. Maybe they couldn’t connect. And yet… ‘I wanted it to go away.’ More words in his head. ‘I thought it would go away.’ Alan spoke as though Gael was beside him and yet the other man remained where he was, able to hear him as though they were sitting across from each other at a table. ‘You will have to learn to trust the process’. He clenched one of his fists again, looking down at it. He noted earlier that when Alan spoke about the length of time that he’d suffered, there was this look in his eye, something that reminded Gael of himself. He exhaled and slowly, letting his shoulders droop slightly to make himself seem a little smaller, he made his way to Alan where he turned on the spot once before sitting down next to him, next to the man he didn’t know aside from the things that he felt other people didn’t know. A diode was two parts, sending the flow of energy in the same direction. “Okay.” Gael breathed, somehow knowing that at his lowest that Alan could probably hear him too. Just another side effect of the brain damage, he assumed. “Okay.” He repeated. “If you’re willing to help me then I’m with you.”  ______________ There was silence for a moment, and Alan figured Gael was going to do the only sensible thing then and leave his side. He’d tell Monty things didn’t work out, that perhaps Gael wasn’t ready yet. But the professor seemed like a genuinely good guy, and he felt bad, letting him leave without warning him about what could happen if he didn’t manage to get some sort of self control. He wasn’t sure what it was that convinced the other to trust him. Perhaps it was best not to know. 

He didn’t look at him, still he nodded. “I think it would be good for you,” a pause. “I think it might do me good too,” having someone like him to talk to would be nice, and it would give him a purpose a bit more noble than what he did for his job (not that he saw himself doing anything else). At last, he tilted his head toward Gael, and though he still bore the traces of his outburst of anger, Alan’s face seemed to have softened, and he uttered an apology he knew the other would be able to hear. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be so bad at this,”  ______________ Alan chose to look at him again and Gael saw a new, if somewhat hidden, emotion under the latent anger that creased his features. While the aspect of it benefiting the chemist seemed to lighten part of the weight he felt on his shoulders nowadays, he wasn’t going to admit that the thought that it would help Alan made him much more accepting of the idea; he truly found it easier to do things for other people and as far as he was concerned, this was an issue that Alan had for much longer and it didn’t seem like he had anyone to really talk to these problems about. Then again, maybe the professor was just projecting. “You don’t need to apologize,” Gael assured just as quietly. “I shouldn’t have just… sprang any of this on you, especially when you were just out and about looking for a diode for your model.” He couldn’t help but give a half-laugh that came out as a scoff, as though highlighting the ridiculousness of how they got to be talking about what they were talking about. He cleared his throat. “But, uhm… I really appreciate your willingness to help.” ______________ “You’re still helping me out with that diode,” he gave the other a small smile, unlike his usual near-arrogant one. “No copping out,” with a scoff to match Gael’s, Alan gave the other werewolf a pat on the shoulder as he stood back up. “C’mon, let’s go get that drink, then we can figure out when to start working on that sleep walking nonsense,” he’d never been one for beating around the bush, he didn’t have the patience for that. In the end, all that mattered was that Gael agreed to get some help. Alan was both excited and anxious with the perspective of helping him find out what he was. It would be nice to have someone like him to be around, it would be devastating to see Gael lose his mind as he realized what his life would now be like now. Alan could only hope the latter would never come to be, but in the end, it was yet another aspect of life that he would have no grasp on. 

[man-and-atom]

Seven hundred thirty-nine people died in the 1995 heat wave.

That’s about ten times the number of confirmed direct fatalities from the Chernobyl accident. The evidence accumulated by the international scientific community, in over 30 years of intensive study, simply does not support the suggestion that there has been any great number of further deaths or other health effects resulting from the radioactive releases.

It must be emphasized that the Chernobyl power excursion was absolutely apocalyptic. The sudden dispersal of a large portion of the fuel load of a large reactor during operation was far worse than the worst credible nuclear accident scenario which had ever been studied. (It’s also physically impossible with any other type of power reactor ever approved for civilian use, and the surviving RBMK-1000 units have been modified to prevent a repetition.) And yet this nightmare scenario proved less deadly than a heat wave in Chicago.

So why not build nuclear power plants?

[deernames]

RBMK-1000 Nuclear Reactor Graphite Control Rod (chunk)

[harestigm]

[Info-dumps on you about the RBMK-1000 specifically] 

[nebris]

@MayaPosch

In order to properly assess the advantages/disadvantages of sabotaging the ZNPP, we have to understand what this could actually mean. Most people seem to picture some kind of Chornobyl-like scenario, with the containment-less core burning for days due to the graphite moderator having caught on fire. This sent a hot plume of radioactive material into the atmosphere that then travelled across Europe. This is however not what happened at Fukushima Daiichi. Why? Because they're totally different reactor designs (Gen I graphite-moderated RBMK with 'cost saving measures' vs Gen II US-designed LWR), and the biggest issue at FDNPP was the hydrogen explosion in the spent fuel pools because TEPCO hadn't installed the hydrogen vents.

So, what happens if ZNPP is rigged up to the hilt with explosives, inside every accessible area? The spent fuel pools would naturally scatter chunks of the ceramic fuel around, but because they're quite heavy (think depleted uranium-heavy), they don't travel very far. For the reactors themselves, pulverising the containment structure and pressure vessel would take a lot of force, more than the fully loaded 747 falling on top of the reactor building scenario that it is designed for.

Reasonable conclusion is that at most ZNPP could be turned into a lousy dirty bomb that'd be annoying to decontaminate (scooping up top soil like around Fukushima Daiichi), but the worst part is that any sabotaging effort would likely render the reactors at ZNPP inoperable. This means the loss of 6+ GW of electrical power plus the heat (for e.g. Enerhodar's district heating system), which would make life much harder for Ukraine in the coming winters.

The fortunate thing about modern NPPs (like the VVER-1000/320 type at ZNPP) is that they are essentially impossible to weaponise (by design) unlike say an HPP or regular dam. They are however critical infrastructure, the loss of which could have devastating effects regardless. Constructing new NPPs would take 5-6 years, during which Ukraine would have to find an alternative to the loss of power and heat.

This would seem to be a perfect 'scorched earth' scenario, but the amount of condemnation would also be immense. Even if the peanut gallery (within a nuclear physics theatre) doesn't quite get the details, they do grasp that 'destroy nuclear plant is bad', and since they have collectively decided that every NPP disaster equals ChNPP #4's destruction, they're far more prepared to lean heavily into retaliatory measures, to the point of invoking NATO Article 5, as has been indicated.

Especially that latter point I think would make it seem rather... ill-advised for Putin to sabotage the plant in any meaningful manner (beyond e.g. destroying the reactors by purging them with corrosive fluids, but that's a big task in itself). Of course, this is geopolitics, which means that reason is the first thing to fly out of the window, even before the first Russian oligarch.

[hutrust]

Inside nuclear reactor meltdown

Inside nuclear reactor meltdown full#

The moderator, whose function is to slow down neutrons to make them more efficient in producing fission in the fuel, is constructed of graphite. A specially designed refuelling machine allows fuel bundles to be changed without shutting down the reactor. The vertical pressure tubes contain the zirconium-alloy clad uranium-dioxide fuel around which the cooling water flows. The water acts as a coolant and also provides the steam used to drive the turbines. Water pumped to the bottom of the fuel channels boils as it progresses up the pressure tubes, producing steam which feeds two 500 MWe turbines. It is a boiling light water reactor, with direct steam feed to the turbines, without an intervening heat-exchanger. The RBMK-1000 (Figure 2) is a Soviet designed and built graphite moderated pressure tube type reactor, using slightly enriched (2% 235U) uranium dioxide fuel. Within a 30-km radius of the power plant, the total population was between 115 000 and 135 000.įigure 1: The site of the Chernobyl nuclear power complex (modified from IA91)įigure 2: The RBMK reactor The RBMK-1000 reactor The old town of Chernobyl, which had a population of 12 500, is about 15 km to the South-east of the complex. About 3 km away from the reactor, in the new city, Pripyat, there were 49 000 inhabitants. This area of Ukraine is described as Belarussian-type woodland with a low population density. To the South-east of the plant, an artificial lake of some 22 km2, situated beside the river Pripyat, a tributary of the Dniepr, was constructed to provide cooling water for the reactors. Two more RBMK reactors were under construction at the site at the time of the accident. The Chernobyl Power Complex, lying about 130 km north of Kiev, Ukraine, and about 20 km south of the border with Belarus (Figure 1), consisted of four nuclear reactors of the RBMK-1000 design, Units 1 and 2 being constructed between 19, while Units 3 and 4 of the same design were completed in 1983 (IA86). While the WWER type of reactor was exported to other countries, the RBMK design was restricted to republics within the Soviet Union. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.At the time of the Chernobyl accident, on 26 April 1986, the Soviet Nuclear Power Programme was based mainly upon two types of reactors, the WWER, a pressurised light-water reactor, and the RBMK, a graphite moderated light-water reactor.

Inside nuclear reactor meltdown full#

Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. can help support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating. How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground from the very beginning of the war - here’s some of their most powerful work. Russia has used an array of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts. U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike farther behind Russian lines against Russian artillery. The weapons: Western supplies of weapons are helping Ukraine slow Russian advances. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station remain as both sides accuse each other of shelling it. In the south, Ukrainian hopes rest on liberating the Russia-occupied Kherson region, and ultimately Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014. The fight: The conflict on the ground grinds on as Russia uses its advantage in heavy artillery to pummel Ukrainian forces, which have sometimes been able to put up stiff resistance. At least 18 ships, including loads of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports had sent food prices soaring and raised fears of more hunger in the Middle East and Africa. The latest: Grain shipments from Ukraine are gathering pace under the agreement hammered out by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July.

[reactor-four-official]

History of the RBMK 1000 (Reaktor Bolshoy Moschnosti Kanalnyy): High Power Channel Type Reactor

The RBMK 1000 reactor, the type involved in the Chernobyl Disaster, is a boiling water reactor (BWR) designed in the 1960s at the Kurchatov Institute, the Soviet Union's nuclear science center.

The USSR had placed a priority on developing nuclear power in the late 1950s in its never ending attempts to improve its infrastructure and power its rapidly expanding industrial base. Nuclear reactors are extremely effective at providing high baseload capacity to a power grid, since they are rarely switched off and (depending on the design) can generate enormous amounts of electricity for lower running costs than a more traditional hydrocarbon power plant. Essentially, since they are (almost) always on, they are always providing the grid with a large and extremely reliable supply of energy. It also allowed the USSR to appear at the front of atomic energy, and laude the successes of the ‘Peaceful Atom’. In the atmosphere of the Cold War, peaceful use of atomic power was a key propaganda tool at home and abroad.

The RBMK was selected for construction by the Ministry of Energy over the rival VVER Pressurized Water Reactor in 1968. It was chosen because it was cheaper to construct in terms of material costs, and the components could be mass produced in pre-existing factories for far lower cost. With an enormous power output of 1,000 MWe (megawatts of electricity) it was declared the 'National Reactor' of the USSR. Construction began on the first RBMK in 1970 at the Leningrad Atomic Energy Station. This unit entered service on December 21st, 1973.

Below: A labeled diagram of the core of an RBMK type reactor.

The RBMK 1000 and its successor RBMK-1500 (basically the same reactor with a slightly higher power output) was fraught with safety issues almost from its inception. This was related to several design features and quirks of the reactor, notably the abnormally high positive void coefficient due to steam bubbles in the coolant circuit and the use of graphite as a moderator. Several other even more concerning design flaws would become apparent over the course of its operation, culminating in the explosion of Chernobyl Unit 4 on April 26th, 1986. These revelations have even continued up until present day, with the most recent example being in 2012 when Leningrad Unit 1 (the one mentioned at the end of the previous section) had to be shut down for 18 months to replace graphite moderator blocks that had deformed due to heat and extensive use. This issue has been identified at several other RBMKs.

The reactor type experienced no less than two partial meltdowns in the history of its operation, one at the Leningrad plant and one at the Chernobyl plant (the partial meltdown incident at the Chernobyl plant is different from the explosion and complete meltdown of Unit 4 in 1986). Both of these were serious incidents with not insignificant radioactive releases, but they only partially damaged the respective reactors. The public was not notified in either case, and all information on the design flaws was kept secret by order of the USSR’s highly centralized government.

RBMK construction was halted only in the wake of the Chernobyl Disaster in 1986. Of the 26 reactors approved for construction, only 18 ever entered service. Several modifications were made to the existing RBMKs to eliminate the dangerous flaws that had lead to the 1986 accident. As of 2023, most RBMKs have been shut down and decommissioned. Of the 18 completed reactors, only eight still operate (Three at the Kursk NPP, two at the Leningrad NPP, and two at the Smolensk NPP. All but one of them are scheduled to be shut down and decommissioned by 2030).

The RBMK’s impact has primarily been showing that graphite moderated reactors have far fewer safety features than other water moderated reactors like those in the West. Ironically, the VVER which had been sidelined by the RBMK has enjoyed massive commercial success both in Russia and abroad as an exported design. VVERs are still being actively built and operated in about a dozen countries worldwide.

This is simply an informative blurb on the history of the RBMK-1000 nuclear reactor. I am going to make a more in depth explainer of how the reactor is built as well as an analysis of the physics of the accident at Chernobyl. I will update this post with a link to them when they are complete. My planned deadline is the 26th of April, the anniversary of the explosion. I hope this post has been informative and I am of course happy to answer any further questions and provide any requested information.

[cidnangarlond]

huge fan of the thought that if chernobyl didn't happen there'd be more nuclear power plants as if the cold war wasn't already making people on edge about anything nuclear and also the three mile island disaster in 1979 had a lot of people in the u.s. looking around like ummmmmmmm. also if that would mean more rbmk-1000 reactors in eastern europe and those were already just destined to fail so if chernobyl didn't happen when it did there could have been another significantly worse accident down the line somewhere else. granted chernobyl was also the perfect storm of managerial fuck ups and incompetence but you cannot put anything past a shitty boss

[christinamac1]

The Chernobyl disaster: Five interesting facts about the worst nuclear accident in history

The Chernobyl disaster: Five interesting facts about the worst nuclear accident in history

Was it human error or not? By Maia Mulko The Chernobyl disaster occurred on  26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Pripyat, in the north of Ukraine, in what was then the Soviet Union. It occurred when an RBMK 1000 reactor overheated and exploded during a safety test, releasing at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the environment and…