![]() ![]() The Elephants Foot is a solid mass made of melted nuclear fuel mixed with lots and lots of concrete, sand, and core sealing material that the fuel had melted through. The Elephants Foot of the Chernobyl disaster in the immediate aftermath of the meltdown. They have no knowledge of the radiation and wear no protective clothing. He later dies of radiation poisoning.Īpril 26, 1986, 1:28 a.m.: The first firefighters arrive at the scene. Despite all evidence to the contrary, the nuclear engineer in charge of the test insists that reactor No. Walls and equipment collapse and dozens of fires start up, including one on top of the neighboring reactor. A blackout roils the plant as the air fills with dust and graphite chunks, and radiation begins spewing out. An Unexpected Power Surge Triggers DisasterĪpril 26, 1986, 1:23:04 a.m.: The test officially begins, and an unexpected power surge occurs.Īpril 26, 1986, 1:23:40 a.m.: An operator presses the emergency shutdown button, but the control rods jam as they enter the core.Īpril 26, 1986, 1:23:58 a.m.: The first explosion, to be quickly followed by at least one more, blows the 1,000-ton roof right off the reactor and shoots a fireball high into the night sky. Reactor unit 4 was the one that blew up on April 26, 1986. The control panel of reactor unit 4 inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone and nuclear power plant in 2006. At around the same time, the test and shutdown are temporarily delayed to accommodate the region’s power needs. Though this doesn’t cause the accident, it worsens the impact. 4’s emergency core cooling system is disabled to keep it from interfering with the test. Ironically, this safety test brings about the reactor’s destruction.Īpril 25, 1986, 2 p.m.: Reactor No. The test is supposed to determine whether, in the event of a power failure, the plant’s still-spinning turbines can produce enough electricity to keep coolant pumps running during the brief gap before the emergency generators kick in. 4 in preparation for a safety test, which they have timed to coincide with a routine shutdown for maintenance. A Safety Test Sets the Stage for a MeltdownĪpril 25, 1986, 1 a.m.: Chernobyl’s operators begin reducing power at reactor No. September 26, 1977: The Chernobyl nuclear power station, located about 65 miles north of Kiev, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union), begins supplying power to the grid.įebruary 1986: A Soviet official is quoted saying that the odds of a nuclear meltdown are “ one in 10,000 years.” By this time, the Chernobyl site contains four 1,000-megawatt reactors, plus two additional reactors that are under construction. ![]()
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