Oбережно [Trip to Chernobyl]
Today, at 1:23AM thirty years ago, the worst accident in the history of nuclear power was about to happen. During a systems test at the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station, a massive power spike occurred, the core overheated, and caused some of the fuel rods to fracture which lead to an increase in fuel temperature and massive steam buildup. This explosive steam pressure caused the detonation that destroyed the reactor casing, tearing off and blasting the 2000-ton upper plate, to which the entire reactor assembly is fastened, through the roof of the reactor building. The ejected superheated lumps of graphite and the demolished channels still in the remains of the reactor vessel caught fire on exposure to air, greatly contributing to the spread of radioactive fallout and the contamination of outlying areas. Three decades later Stealth and I decided to give it a visit.