40 Years Ago Today: The Scram Button was Pushed & the Vladimir Lenin Power Plant Exploded

it is. so is the episode by episode podcast. I highly recommend consuming it in that manner.

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I guess it’s time to rewatch the HBO series. Anyone who hasn’t seen it should, it’s fantastic.

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I've watched it at least 4-5 times since it came out and it's good enough to do so. The only episode I skip parts in is where they kill the dogs.

Bruh, linking a 1 hour video? Lol

Commies running nuclear plants.

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Positive void coefficient and graphite rod tips.


Why is that bad in layman's terms?

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The reactor type having a highly positive void coefficient means at low power production, it has a tendency to surge in power, which can turn too much water to steam and cause a runaway. In really simple terms it means it is very temperamental when operating in certain situations.

The reactor had boron control rods used to control reactivity. When scram was initiated the control rods would be lowered down into the core to basically shut down the nuclear reaction. The problem was the control rods had large graphite tips. So during the scram the the tips went in first but unlike the boron which produces a negative scram (slowing and stoping the fission reaction) the graphite produces a positive scram where the reaction speeds up VERY quickly.

A RBMK reactor can be operated safely but it has less margin than western plants. The Soviet operators did basically everything wrong and produced a positive scram along with conditions that turned all the water to steam so there was nothing to moderate the fission reaction and it go boom.

Not to forget that at the start of the test... there was an issue

They couldn't get the power to the level to where they wanted it to be to start the test so they did something outside of parameters to get the desired result

That was step 1

I went back to find the best explanation I have ever seen on the subject. It is more detailed than most and more classroom-oriented, and it is an hour long so I don't expect hordes of people to watch it but if you are interested, it is great. It is one class out of the MIT Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation course from 2016. While some may not be able to follow the math,* it is irrelevant because you get a detailed explanation from a technical level I think most can follow. I was so interested that after watching it I watched the full course although I am sure my retention is low.




Just accept his 1+1=2 since there isn't going to be a quiz at the end for us.

Dad was in nuclear as an engineer in the late 70’s and early 80’s. He had just gone back to fossil/hydro when this happened. Remember the news saying there were strong radiation readings in the air everywhere and the Russians were saying there were no issues. Dad looked and just said, “What have they done?!”