The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
Where will you find it?
Around 12 miles (20 km) south of the Belarusian border and about 81 miles (130 km) north of Kiev, Ukraine, is where you’ll find the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It consists of four reactors that were developed and constructed in the 1970s and 1980s. Pripyat, a recently developed city, was the closest town to the power plant, located less than two miles distant (3 kilometres), and it had a population of over 50,000 in 1986. About 12,000 people lived in the smaller, older town of Chernobyl, which was located about 9 miles (15 km) distant. Farmland and forests dominated the remaining portion of the area.
The History
On April 26, 1986, an explosion happened during a regular maintenance inspection. When they turned off crucial control systems, they were breaking safety rules because they intended to test the electrical systems. As a result, the reactor’s power level dropped to potentially unstable levels. While there is still some debate as to what exactly triggered the explosion, it is generally accepted that the first explosion was brought on by too much steam. The surplus steam was produced when the cooling water was reduced, which led to a build-up of steam in the cooling pipes and an immense power surge that the operators were unable to control. On April 26, at 1:23 a.m., the explosions destroyed reactor 4 and set off a raging inferno.
The Confinement Building
The New Safe Confinement shields the structure from external threats like severe weather while also preventing the release of contaminated material from the current shelter. The new building is a remarkable landmark that is tall enough to contain the Notre Dame or St. Paul’s cathedrals in Paris or London. It was built nearby the site in two pieces, which were later united and then slid into place to reduce the risk of radiation exposure for the employees. The New Safe Confinement has a height of 108 metres, a length of 162 metres, a spread of 257 metres, and a lifespan of at least 100 years. The structure’s weight in tones is 36,000. Two longitudinal concrete beams support a massive lattice structure made of tubular steel elements that serve as its frame. It offers a secure working space outfitted with a powerful crane system for eventual shelter disassembly and garbage disposal. Its advanced ventilation system minimises the risk of corrosion, ensuring that there is no need to renew the coating or expose personnel to radiation over the structure’s lifetime. It is sturdy enough to withstand a tornado.
The Reactor
Thermal reactors were the kind used at Chernobyl. At the plant, four RBKM-1000 reactors were installed. The power energy facility is denoted by the number 1000. One thousand megawatts of electricity can be produced by it per hour. The presence of RBMK channels in the device’s core is a crucial component. In them, water that conducts heat moves. In other words, the heat carrier can move because there are channels within the retarder’s thickness, which causes it to warm up and condense into steam. Electricity is created by this technique. A plan like this for energy production makes it possible to build strong units. As a result, the Chernobyl reactor design has an RBMK core with an 11.8-meter diameter and a 7-meter vertical cylinder height. Blocks of graphite fill the whole volume of the device (their size is 25x25x60 cm3). The facility contains 1850 tonnes of graphite in total.
