The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel and without proper regard for safety (World Nuclear Association 1).
Throughout history there have been a select few catastrophes involving nuclear energy. These unfortunate accidents involved nuclear-powered reactors, in power plants or even in nuclear submarines. On April 26, Chernobyl's reactor melted down, causing nuclear waste to be released into the atmosphere (Seaman's Power Journal, Dec. 99). This accident was unavoidable due to the "Bad Science- involved. Unfortunately the engineering theories behind this accident are typically unknown, if not misunderstood. The Soviets used poor engineering in designing their plant; it was unstable, unsafe, and ill-managed. .
The nuclear reactor used for Chernobyl's power plant was the RBMK reactor design (refer to figure 1). This configuration was designed by the Soviets, who used very controversial engineering in building the reactor. To better understand the layout of the reactor, the key features of the RBMK reactor are as follows. Firstly, the fuel is set of eighteen rods filled with pellets of uranium oxide and each of the every two rods occupies a pressure tube. The pressure tubes contain the fuel rods and are cooled by pressurized water at about 290 degrees Celsius. Secondly, Graphite Moderators are placed between each pressure tube to slow down the neutrons released during fission, so there can be a constant level of fission. Finally, the containment layout is simply concrete block over the reactor (Uranium Information Center Ltd. 1). Although there are many other components involved, these are the most important in understanding the instability issue at Chernobyl. .
Graphite should never have been used in the RBMK reactor design. Graphite is highly flammable and radioactive, thus adding the major instability issues at Chernobyl.