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Essay on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster

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The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster It is a silent enemy, it has no odor, no smell, no shape, yet it is one of man’s deadliest foes. Radiation is not something most people face on a daily basis, but for the town of Prypiat in the Ukraine it is a barren wasteland because of it. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster was the worst nuclear catastrophe to have ever occurred and, is a perfect example of what can happen when the blind and unmasked furry of atomic power is left unharnessed. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is near the town of Prypiat, Ukraine, 18 km northwest of the city of Chernobyl, 16 km from the border of Ukraine and Belarus, and about 110 km north of Kyiv. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant …show more content…

Therefore, the test program was not formally coordinated with either the chief designer of the reactor, nor with the scientific manager. Instead, it was approved only by the director of the plant. According to the test parameters, at the start of the experiment, the thermal output of the reactor should have been no lower than 700 MW. If the conditions of the reactor had been as planned, the test almost certainly would have proceeded safely. The eventual disaster resulted from attempts to boost the reactor output once the experiment had started, inconsistent with the approved procedure. (Marples 39-43) The Chernobyl power plant had been in operation for two years without the capability to ride through the first 60-75 seconds of a total loss of electric power. The station managers wished to correct this at the first opportunity. This may explain why they continued the test, even when serious problems arose, and why the requisite approval for the test was not sought from the Soviet nuclear oversight regulator. (Gale 22-25) At 1:23:04 a.m. the experiment began, the steam to the turbines was shut off, and a run down of the turbine generator began, together with the four Main Circulating Pumps (MCP). The diesel generator started and sequentially picked up loads, which was complete by 01:23:43; during this period the power for these four MCPs was supplied by the coasting down turbine generator. As the momentum

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