Chernobyl Part III

In his book “The Legacy of Chernobyl”, Zhores Medvedyev reveals that the turbine rundown test was to have been completed at the end of 1982, before the reactor was brought into a commercial regime. It was on a list of things, in typical Soviet fashion, that was agreed by the various ministries involved “to be completed later” notwithstanding the point that it was a requirement for the reactor to pass inspection. These kinds of oversights were typical to make sure that various projects were completed on or before deadlines, especially when there were bonuses at stake.

Other issues brought up by Z. Medvedyev, are that this test was written for electrical engineers, as it had to do with the electrical rundown system of the turbine generators. This could explain why Dyatlov was involved, but not why he was in charge. The test should have been performed on a fresh reactor, not one at the end of its cycle (when it is more difficult to control reactor stability). The reactor operators were unsure about the instructions for the test as they had several steps crossed out, not to mention the test plan was never approved by the upper ministry (Z. M. attributes this to the need to hide the fact that this test should have been complete 2 years previously).

When Akimov engaged the emergency power reduction system, all boron rods not already in the reactor (93 rods) began to lower. The graphite tips caused a surge in reactivity. The rods lowered only 2-3 meters and stopped. They could go no further, even after Akimov cut the power to their electric motors to allow gravity to pull them down. The fuel assemblies were already warped from the intense heat and steam.

In the reactor hall, the shift foreman watched in horror as more that 1000 fuel assembly caps weighing 770 lbs. each begin to jump up and down like popcorn. He rushed down some steps and headed for the control room. By this time the reactor had begun to release hydrogen and oxygen as the reactive process was poisoned even further. This highly explosive gas combination spread throughout the reactor. The pressure release valves on the reactor began to release the steam but were destroyed by the immense pressure. Rising at 15 atmospheres per second, the pressure destroyed the water and steamwater communication lines.

With all water to the reactor cut off, the temperature rose quickly. The hydrogen/oxygen gases ignited causing several explosions, destroying the main circulation pump rooms where one man will be forever entombed. The upper biological shield weighing 1000 tons was blown out of place. Half of the nuclear fuel and graphite were blown out of the reactor, some evaporated into a nuclear cloud that floated over Europe seeding radioactive material in its wake. Pieces of burning graphite and fuel landed on the roofs of the turbine hall and adjoining buildings igniting the flammable roofing material. Other chunks fell all around continuing to release deadly levels of radiation. Z. Medvedyev estimated around 20 million curies of radiation was released into the atmosphere in various gaseous forms and another 10 million curies were spread between 2-3 km from the Chernobyl site. One report makes it equivalent to 500 Hiroshimas.

Back in the control room, no one could understand what on earth had happened. They knew there had been at least on explosion. When the shift foreman arrived, a few seconds later, he told them what he had seen. Dyatlov sent two young (barely out of school) engineers who were there for observation and training to see what had happened to the reactor. They worked their way down into the central reactor hall. Through the rubble, they could see the sky outside and red and blue flames through the upper biological shield which was now lying crookedly across the top of the reactor core. They could see the raging inferno within. By the time they returned to the control room they were dark brown all over, even under their clothes and their eyes smarted, they coughed and they felt a tightness in the chest. They had received fatal doses of radiation and died agonizing deaths a couple of weeks later. They reported that the reactor was gone. Dyatlov called the idiots and fools. He told them they must be mistaken, the reactor was intact. This complete ignorance and disbelief cost many people their lives. Later on, they sent a senior engineer who told them the same thing. He also died of acute radiation syndrome. They didn’t believe him either.

As soon as the explosions occurred, the fire brigades went into action. The leader of the brigade realized that the accident was bigger than he could handle and called in help from the Chernobyl city of Pripyat as well as firefighters from the Kiev region. These men were true heroes. Climbing onto the burning roofs of the nearby buildings, they saved the other reactors from damage (imagine four reactors melting down, not just the one), often tossing off pieces of burning graphite and fuel with their hands. It took nearly 5 hours to quench the burning tar. Many of the direct victims of Chernobyl were among these men. Their graves, outside of northern Moscow, are treated as heroes’ graves, tended to and honored.

When Dyatlov and Akimov reported on the accident to their boss Fomin, they reported that there had been an accident. They said that one of the water tanks or drums must have exploded. They reported that water was being fed into the reactor and that everything was fine. The only dosimeter available only read to 3.2 roentgens per hour. It was off the scale but that is what they reported as the background radiation. They seeded a lie that spread and gave everyone a sense of complacency. When another dosimeter was brought in that read up to 250 roentgens per hour, the dosimeterist was told that his machine was broken; to get rid of it. Later, when Dyatlov went to inspect the grounds around the reactor building, he still refused to accept that the reactor had exploded and tried to rationalize where the chunks of graphite and fuel (radiating 15,000-30,000 roentgens per hour, in fact) had come from.

They water, reported as being fed into the reactor never reached it. The lines underneath had been destroyed. The water was being fed into the channels under the reactor. Had the melted reactor core collapsed into the small lake of water underneath it, it would have been the equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb. Fortunately someone realized this and a team of engineers used artillery shells to knock a hole in the foundation to drain out the water.

Because of the, for lack of a better word, idiots running the circus, the town of Pripyat was not evacuated for several days following the accident. People went to work, school, and shopping and played in the radioactive dust. The air was filled with radioactive particles. The city director was described by G. Medvedyev and a man who loved his power and prestige and refused to allow the city to be evacuated until everyone in it had received a nice healthy dose of radiation.

The population, most of them there to man the nuclear power plant, was uneducated as to the dangers of radiation or even what to do in the case of an accident. When some of them started to realize what was happening, they got drunk. They believed that vodka could disinfect the body of radiation. In the US, salt is sold with clean iodine in it. The reason behind this is the thyroid of the human body absorbs iodine. When it is kept full, any other iodine introduced into the body passes through. In Soviet Russia, iodized salt was unused. In event of an accident, iodine tablets were taken. In hospital after being evacuated, those afflicted were irradiating others themselves. They had absorbed so much iodine-135 that their thyroids were emitting 100-150 roentgens per hours for several days.

Some victims were saved after blood transfusions and bone marrow replacement. Those who died of acute radiation syndrome died horrible deaths. Their bodies continued to turn darker and darker. They suffered from severe bowl distress, having painful, explosive bowl movements 25-30 times a day. Their mucus membranes swelled up and disintegrated. The skin on their bodies died and eventually, so did they. Akimov’s wife described him at death as being mummified: skin dark as night, his body dried up, drained of life, and weighing no more than a child. In Russia, people are generally still buried in wooden coffins. The bodies of these men were so contaminated that they were buried in lead coffins with the lids soldered on so that their disintegrating bodies would not find their way into the water table.

Reactor No. 4 was somewhat contained by a cement sarcophagus. Z. Medvedyev accurately commented that the Chernobyl sarcophagus will need to stand even longer than the pyramids. Another will need to be built over it as it succumbs to elements. Even now, there are large gaps in it. One little earthquake or terrorist act and there will be a second Chernobyl.

An estimated 5 million people were affected by the fallout. Over 2,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been reported with the numbers expected to rise. Lung cancer of the cleanup workers is on the rise as well.

The last RBMK reactor at the Chernobyl site was shut down in December 2000. There are still 14 or 15 of the same reactor type active in Russia. Theoretically, they have been corrected so that a repeat of the world’s greatest industrial accident should not happen. I sure as hell hope so. Even now I can hear in my mind Tom Lehrer’s enchanting tune…”We’ll all go together when we go….”

For more reading, see:
Wikipedia article
MSN Encarta article
Nova Online timeline
Acute Radiation Syndrome: A Fact Sheet for Physicians
Kidd Of Speed’s Recent Photos
Kidd of Speed’s More Recent Photos
Good Site with Photos
BBC article on health effects
Zhores Medvedyev’s book “Legacy of Chernobyl”
Gregory Medvedyev’s book “The Truth about Chernobyl”