WTF happened at Chernobyl??

\\WRITTEN BY
✍️ @reece_batts

[elm.]

I just finished the series on Max. When they pressed the AZ-5 button, the rods started lowering, but there were two fatal flaws. While the rods were made of boron, which slows the reaction, the tips were made of graphite, which increases reactivity indefinitely. The pressure inside the reactor was so high that the rods couldn’t lower any further, leaving only the graphite tips exposed. Nobody expected this button to act as a detonator. I highly recommend watching it.

[ThermonuclearICBM]

Well not exactly, the shutdown would have worked, but the engineers didn't know that the control rods had graphite tips, which accelerate reactivity. Since loads of the rods were fully removed, the first thing to go back into the core was a bunch of graphite, which meant that the power went even higher, so it exploded.

[abufauzan]

For anyone tryna be Mr. KnowItAll here, let me explain in ez detail. I recommend watching more than the film and seeking accurate videos and sources.

1. First of all, the crew were originally supposed to conduct a test on a backup system of water pumps. When you shut down the reactors, the flywheel of the generators will still be spinning from momentum for a short time. They are testing whether if said spin could temporarily power water coolant pumps of the reactor, so that in case accident happens and the reactor is still hot, the backup water pumps could prevent the reactor from straight up melting.

2. To do this, they need to lower the reaction (~20% or so). But halfway into the power-down stage, someone requested extra power for the power lines, and so Reactor 4's cooldown was paused, stopping at 50% power. This caused the Xenon buildup. Normally (100% power), xenon would be burnt up completely due to the extreme heat, but bc the power is still at 50%, xenon (powerful absorber of neutron, slows reaction extremely), builds up in the reactor.

3. After sufficient power is supplied, reactor 4 is allowed to continue cooldown. But, because of xenon, the power drops down so low, it stalled and the reactor shuts down itself. The crew, instead of quitting and fixing the xenon problem, were ordered to continue no matter what. That means lifting up almost ALL of the control rods, which as said in video, violates safety rules. This is the equivalent of hitting the full gas of your car because the brakepad is stuck. Super risky.

4. All rods are lifted. Now you might wonder "why are the tips graphite tho??" Well they're graphite for a reason. You see, when the rods are lifted, a tiny bit stays in the core. Well you really dont want the reaction in your core to be disturbed by the boron tips right? Well thats why they're made of graphite, which helps bouncing neutron, speeding up the reaction and increasing effectiveness.

5. As the power surges due to almost all of the rods being lifted, the xenon in the reactor quickly burns. This further increases the power surge, already out of control.

6. To stop this, the crew hits AZ-5, an emergency shutdown button which instantly drops all the control rods back into the core. However, as already said by hundreds before me, the tips of the control rods are graphite, which accelerates reaction. That times how much rods are dropping at once, basically evaporates any water still inside the core. Not to mention, water itself is a good neutron absorber (slows down reaction), and bc every single molecule of water is turning to gas, there's nothing stopping the reaction. Worse, the expanding steam bent almost all the control rods, stopping them at once, leaving only the graphite tip touching the water, endlessly accelerating the reaction. The steam pressure jumps upwards, breaking pipes and lines.

7. The concrete lid of the core (approx. 8000+kg heavy) was launched by the pressure into the air. The water, now superheated into hydrogen, mixes with oxygen outside, exploding like Hindenburg in 1937. No, its not an atomic explosion.


Yeah thats it ig. Pls 📌

[Dippyonly]

Actually the tips of the rods were the reason for the blast instead of slowing the process down, it increased it and then boom 💥

[محمدالشولي-عغ]

They didn't need to moan like that for kids 😭

[verifieduchiha]

I'd really recommend watching Chernobyl the series, it is extremely informative to know what happened, how they handeled, what they were worng at and all the important stuff that happened throughout the time.

[shirshdhruw]

Guys this is not what happened.
The boron rod's tips were made out of another boosting agent which increased the surge of power causing a huge blast then followed by another one.
The main problem was in the materials used in the control rods. I hope you guys understand

[nikobarucic]

The control rods were jammed and the reactor was xenon poisoned thats why AZ-5 didn’t help and it exploded respect to those who saved us.

[vakarisdobrovolskas]

Nop, the boron rod tips are made out of graphite, while it was inserting, it heated up sooo much that it turned all water to steam, that preasure exploded the reactor...

[sesidonkor]

Thanks for this video when I literally just finished needing it.

[markzhao]

“50000 people used to live here, now it’s a ghost town”

[The_ressurected]

Bro the moan when they insterted the rod in to nuclear chamber 💀

[firenether]

One more thing to add: the rods didn’t work because the core got so hot, that while the rods where entering they melted and got stuck.

[Joe-nv]

It was not too late, the Soviets were cheap and tipped the rods in graphite which was cheaper but graphite speeds up the reaction causing the steam to crush the rods in place leaving only graphite in contact and the reaction could only increase in power

[albert_onYoutube]

Bro my brother was next to me and heard that moan out loud 😭

[Duic_]

Also the rods when coming back in locked up due to being made of Graphite and graphite increased the reaction speed that's why they locked up, and the reaction kept on getting faster until it exploded

[That_chernobyl_enthusiast]

I have been studying chernobyl for a few years
So i am going to simplify things
Anatoly Dyatlov ordered all control rods to be removed from the core
But at first Akimov, the one managing the control panel was a bit hesitant at first but they did it
But why did the power surge happen you may ask? Well, that's because the control rod tips are made of graphite which accelerates reactivity and the boron rods are outside so the graphite tips and graphite blocks react to each other and produces steam and I mean huge amounts of steam because water runs through the reactor to make steam and that steam goes through a turbine and produces energy but anyway, when the steam level rose, the AZ-5 (АЗ-5) the control rods were supposed to be inserted but because of high amount of steam
It can't go which in return blew off the reactor lid which weighed several thousand tons and it got flipped by a coin and the rest is history
(Btw, this is just my theory and might not be entirely true)

[TheGoofyLad]

The rods were tipped in graphite, a great conductor, that is why it blew when they inserted them.

[Strinmi]

"And it exploded"
Twice. It exploded twice.

[GatorFLL]

I researched this quite a bit and it really is fascinating.