Everything was wrong with the design, from the control rods to the safety systems and overrides.
Three Mile Island, which happened 6 years prior and even before Chernobyl unit 4 was first brought on line, would have automatically SCRAMed itself in the conditions that the operators of unit 4 put their reactor in. And infact, TMI did SCRAM itself to prevent runaway reactions when it had it’s accident, but a faulty indicators prevented operators from being aware a relief valve was locked open.
All of the other RBMK designs were retrofitted in the final years of the USSR and following it’s collapse to rectify some of the design problems, but Russia is the only country that still operates the design. Ukraine and Lithuania decommissioned theirs by 2009.
This is critical, it blew up during an unsanctioned test in which the director ordered safety protocols ignored.
Nothing wrong with the design, the other three reactors have been working since then.
Everything was wrong with the design, from the control rods to the safety systems and overrides.
Three Mile Island, which happened 6 years prior and even before Chernobyl unit 4 was first brought on line, would have automatically SCRAMed itself in the conditions that the operators of unit 4 put their reactor in. And infact, TMI did SCRAM itself to prevent runaway reactions when it had it’s accident, but a faulty indicators prevented operators from being aware a relief valve was locked open.
All of the other RBMK designs were retrofitted in the final years of the USSR and following it’s collapse to rectify some of the design problems, but Russia is the only country that still operates the design. Ukraine and Lithuania decommissioned theirs by 2009.