The Chernobyl Accident: Causes and Consequences

Conference · Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6156211

Malinauskas, A. P. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Two explosions, one immediately following the other, in Unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union signaled the worst disaster ever to befall the commercial nuclear power production industry. This accident, which occurred at 1:24 a.m. on April 26, 1986, resulted from an almost incredible series of operational errors associated, ironically, with an attempt to enhance the capability of the reactor to safely accommodate station blackout accidents (i.e., accidents arising from a loss of station electrical power). Disruption of the core, due to a prompt criticality excursion, resulted in the destruction of the core vault and reactor building and the sudden dispersal of about 3% of the fuel from the core region into the environment. Lesser but significant releases of radioactivity continued through May 6, 1986, before attempts to certain the radioactivity and cool the remnants of the core were successful. The amount and composition of material released in the course of the accident remain somewhat uncertain, and inconsistencies in the release estimates are evident. The Soviet estimates, in addition to the dispersal of about 3% of the fuel, include complete release of the noble gas core inventory, 20% of the fission product iodine inventory, 15% of the tellurium inventory, and 10 to 13% of the fission product cesium inventory. The iodine and cesium release estimates are not consistent with the noble gas values and are as much as a factor of two less than some estimates made by experts outside the Soviet Union.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 6156211
• Report Number(s): CONF-8709104-3; ON: DE87014786
• Resource Relation: Conference: American Nuclear Society Topical Conference on Population Exposure from the Nuclear Fuel Cycle , Oak Ridge, TN (United States), 15-18 Sep 1987; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
CHERNOBYLSK-4 REACTOR
EXPLOSIONS
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
BLACKOUTS
CORIUM
DATA ACQUISITION
DATA COVARIANCES
DESIGN
ECCS
FISSION PRODUCTS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTOR SHUTDOWN
TESTING
ACCIDENTS
COOLING SYSTEMS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
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GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
ISOTOPES
LWGR TYPE REACTORS
MATERIALS
POWER REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR PROTECTION SYSTEMS
REACTORS
SAFETY
SHUTDOWNS
THERMAL REACTORS
WASTES
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Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Noble Gas Core
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220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
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