Why Chernobyl Reactor Exploded?

The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine was the product of a flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators
The accident destroyed the Chernobyl 4 reactor, killing 30 operators and firemen within three months and several further deaths later. The Chernobyl disaster was a unique event and the only accident in the history of commercial nuclear power where radiation-related fatalities occurred.
Watch the video to know how and why this disaster happened.

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[WhatTheScience]

The line at 11:51 " if it was not for their efforts...Chernobyl would have been the last chapter..." is just a figure of speech to honour the valiant efforts of the people who gave up their health and life in the process of clean up. It has been brought to my notice by many viewers, that some are using this line to undermine the importance of Nuclear energy and instilling fear about the hazards of going nuclear.
I want to stress that nuclear energy is one of the cleanest energy, burning fossil fuel kills more than 3 million people each year, which means by the time you read till here, 5 people are already dead due to fossil fuel emission, and by the time you have completely watched this video 74 people would have lost their lives due to fossil fuels.
Nuclear energy gets a bad name because of the explosion and theatrics associated with it. It grabs the headlines, you see people die and people make great mini-series on them. On the other hand, fossil fuels are silent killers, they are dull, lack the bravado and no one is interested to watch a video on them. Hence this video.

[georgefan]

The only video showing what actually happens in the reactor! So many others were just talking about unimportant stuff. Well done sir

[ukidew]

The most important thing to realise is that the cause of that event was not construction flaws, it was human error.

[sarahcampiche]

The best explanation on the disaster I found on YouTube! Thank you, great job!

[stefstaf]

The only video (and I've seen many, believe me) that explains the reason of the graphite tips at the lower end of the control rods.
Everyone was talking about the design flaw of the RBMK reactor, having graphite tips on the control rods but noone explained why were there at the first place. Bravo, well done !

[anhedonianepiphany]

RBMK reactors _were_ cheaper to build and operate, but they weren't _"famous"_ for being cheap. Also, uranium enrichment doesn't "convert" U-238 _into_ U-235. Only U-235 is fissile with thermal neutrons, so it is extracted from natural uranium then added to the uranium which will become fuel, so as to _increase_ its concentration of U-235 (enriching it). U-238 will only fission under fast neutron bombardment.

[hcyun]

This is the most comprehensive and above all the easiest video to understand how and why it happened.
I've looked at many videos about Chernobyl incident but this is the most helpful to me.
Thanks !
From South Korea

[derwildewesten]

The RBMK- reactors that are still in operation today don´t have graphite tips at their control rods endings any more. So the system still works without it, but when you pull out the control rods it takes more time to heat the water into steam and to power the generators. The saftey shutdown push button also was changed into a turn switch key that makes the handling more easy and save too. The control rods now are moving back into the reactor in a faster speed when turning the kill switch.

[willmcbride]

11:42 "... of thousands of brave souls who came together to save humanity by sacrificing their health...". A co-worker of mine was a Russian citizen at the time. The army came and took his younger brother right off the farm to work on the initial clean up. He told me that his brother was one of those whose job it was to run up to the gaping hole, throw a few bricks back in, and run away, fast. My friend was in college at the time so they didn't take him. But he never saw his brother again as he died following his service.

[tigrotom]

Best explanation video on YT about what happened in Chernobyl.

[glenmason]

best explanation I have seen....just moving pictures and simple facts...thankyou

[fyutffdtuibgfetu]

This video should be taught in schools! Well done sir.

[BorislavElenkov]

The best explanation Ever!
Thank You!

[magnustorque]

Excellent detailed technical / chemical explanation of the complex series of events and all of the components that were involved.

[suryateja]

Damn boy ! That was a excellent explanation. Very impressed by animation and you earned one sub :D

[moosepocalypse]

I would point out that enrichment doesn't convert U-238 to U-235, the 238 is simply separated and discarded. This is actually where much of so-called depleted uranium is, the leftover 238 from enrichment.
This is also what the concern a few years ago was with Iran having centrifuges... Since those centrifuges are used to enrich uranium, possibly to weapons grade.

[dustii_patron]

Also if I may U 238 is not converted into U 235.. but the concentration of U 235 is raised through an enrichment process.

[cytrynowy_melon]

The withdrawal of rods that led to violation of the minimum operating reactivity margin is an absurd accusation that was made by authorities. Because, the thing is, RBMK reactor control instruments WERE NOT providing any real time information on the Operating Reactivity Margin (ORM). In the instructions from the designers of reactor, ORM was not even considered as that important safety parameter, it was calculated by SKALA computer in the different room, with 5 minute delay. And it was actually calculated incorrectly at low power. Reactors designers, such as Nikolay Dollezhall and top soviet officials are to blame, Dyatlov was a scapegoat.

[MichaelBevilacqua]

Finally, a clear explanation of why graphite tipped boron control rods were used. That's been bugging me since the series was released. Great job!

[artysanmobile]

This, for me, is the first-ever explanation given in general engineering terminology I understand to point directly to the cause of failure. A positive coefficient of overheating, or in laymen’s terms, ‘runaway’, seems inconceivable to design into a nuclear reactor but yes, indeed it was and for the reasons given here for the first time.

Many instances of positive heat coefficient exist in engineering, generally to enhance efficiency of performance. Turbocharged engines come to mind, and their spectacular failures brought solid solutions. But a blown up motor and a blown up country are not the same. Soviets took the ultimate risk using RBMKs, one even that was fully understood, and paid an enormous price.

You may have jumped the shark slightly with your concluding comment about the end of humanity, but thankfully, I can’t prove that thesis. The contributions of the recovery workers are truly species-defining. Their names should be front of mind for us all..

Thank you very much for this video.