How Does an RBMK Reactor Explode

[Dartz]

CANDU reactors do most of the same basic thing - except they use heavy water rather than graphite. They're a fair bit more expensive to build and operate - but you get all the benefits with none of the kaboom.

I may turn this into a Useful Notes page on ATT.

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Froom INSAG-7 - https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publicatio...3e_web.pdf - Page 87


"The Operating Procedures permitted operating conditions similar tothose prevailing at Chernobyl Unit 4 on 26 April 1986 and they might haveoccurred without any intervention on the part of the personnel. We only needto assume a perfectly possible situation in which triggering of EPS-3 occurswhen the reactor is operating initially at rated power with an ORM of26 manual control rods. Under these conditions, approximately one hour aftertriggering of EPS-3 the ORM could have fallen to less than 15 manual controlrods at a reactor power of 200-300 MW(th), and any further action, whetherautomatic or remote, to shut down the reactor could have led to a similar repe-tition of the events of 26 April 1986."

No violation of proceedures was required. The conditions that caused the explosion had the potential to occurr automatically in the normal operation of the reactor (EPS-3 is a different automatic protection mode which was a fast power reduction rather than a total stop.)