![]() This of itself was fairly straightforward, but another potential problem was the safety system. The reactor would need to be run at low power for this test to take place. Modifications had been made to the turbines which should ensure that the pumps could be run from them as they ran down. There was a delay of almost a minute between the power supply failing and the start-up of the diesel generators and this had always been a worry to the engineers. It was not certain whether, should there be a failure, the turbines could generate enough power as they ran down to keep the cooling water pumps working. Unit 4 was to be shut down for routine maintenance, so this was a good opportunity to carry out a test on the turbines driven by the power produced by the reactor. Everything was new, the shops were well-stocked by Soviet standards and most of the residents were very happy living there. The town was linked to Kiev by rail and also by water and the residents were only a short walk away from the forest and rivers. ![]() The Cultural Centre, the focal point, had a theatre, cinemas and sports facilities and just outside was the permanent amusement park with a Ferris wheel, dodgems and other attractions. Pripyat was a well-planned town with plenty of open spaces. The unit was eventually repaired and put back into service. Some of the fuel melted and there was a leak of radiation, but this was not a true meltdown and other than engineers repairing the damage, there was little exposure of any personnel to radiation. Unit 1 had been shut down for maintenance and when it was re-started, the valves to some of the water pipes were inadvertently left closed. This town, Pripyat, was to be a splendid example of Soviet architecture and was indeed a very pleasant place to live in the 1970s and 80s.Ĭhernobyl had already suffered one accident in 1982. Work began on the power station in the early 1970s and also on a state of the art new town nearby to house the workers. Although this is now preferred, in the context of this article I will use the Russian names as these were in use at the time of the accident. The nearest existing town was Chernobyl, this is the Russian name, the Ukrainian version is Chornobyl. The design required an electricity supply to drive the motors of the control rods and also to operate the pumps for the cooling water an aspect which would lead to the disastrous experiment in 1986. All of the reactors, referred to as ‘Units’, were of the RBMK type a graphite-moderated, light water-cooled design peculiar to the Soviet Union. ![]() At the time of the accident in 1986, the plant had four working reactors, another two under construction with one at 85% completed and another four on the drawing board. It was originally intended to have twelve reactors and would have been one of the largest power stations in the then Soviet Union. Lenin Power Station, was still an ongoing construction project at the time of the 1986 accident. The Chernobyl power station, officially named the V. Written by Jane MacGregor on 12 April 2007. Military - Intelligence and Communication. ![]() Close Menu Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube ![]()
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