The Chernobyl disaster, also referred to as the
Chernobyl accident, was a catastrophic nuclear
accident. It occurred on 26th April 1986, in the
No. 4, Light water graphite moderated reactor, at
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, near pripyat,
in what was then part of the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (USSR)
The power station is located nine miles
northwest of the town of Chernobyl, with a
population 12, 500 and less than two miles from
the town of Pripyat, which contains 45, 000
inhabitants. The explosion and its aftermath,
including the manner, in which the accident was
handled, have raised questions, about the safety
and future of Nuclear Power.
The Chernobyl accident resulted from several
factors : Flaws in the engineering design, which
were compensated by a strict set of procedures,
failure of the plant management to enforce
these procedures, and finally the decision of
the engineers to conduct a risky experiment.
They wanted to test, whether the plants turbine
generator, from its rotating inertia, could
provide enough power to the reactor, in case of
a power shutdown. This experiment required
disconnecting the reactors emergency core
cooling pump and other safety devices.