26. Chernobyl — How It Happened

I am a former nuclear opponent. I used to think that nuclear waste was glowing green like they show in the Simpsons and in the Doom 1 game. Once I had access to the Internet in this century, I learned better. Here are some sources of information that helped me understand the two oft-cited nuclear disasters better. The World Nuclear Energy write up on the Fukushima incident: link Some information on the Chernobyl incident: The infographics show: link link A lecture in the MIT Courseware on the incident: ▶ this video This lecture is way more informative where the professor explains how the workers took the system beyond the rated capacity as part of a test. There have been many lessons learned, and the World Nuclear article linked above shares some of these. Here is a writeup of the Three Mile Island incident: link One regular complaint is the costs of nuclear energy. This is likely true in the US due to regulations that have not been revised for newer technology, but such high costs are cited around the world. Likewise, the amount of waste and the danger of the waste is not well understood either, and certainly lots of education is needed here. For e.g., most people do not know that the volume of waste is limited and that the same waste can be reused in reactors of other designs. I do believe that national ego issues get in the way of fixes. I believe that such ego issues got in the way of honest repairs (Fukushima) and timely action (Chernobyl). Certainly, nuclear inspecti

I used to be against nuclear energy. I have realized since then that since it is not nuclear energy itself but the not following of proven safe guards which are the problem. For e.g., nuclear energy is proven and safely run in many countries. There are many problem cases such as corruption in South Korea [1], the Japanese not ensuring that there was sufficient safeguards that they were told to implement but did not [2], improper design and lax adherence to safety procedures at Chernobyl [3][4][5] I had started to research about Nuclear Energy since I believed that as a supporter of the Environment and of Clean Energy I need to prepare myself to add my voice against Nuclear Energy ( this is the result of years of exposure to messaging that nuclear==bad). However, having participated in the electronic automation of factory plants (e.g. using SCADA, touch panels, PLCs and Drives from Siemens) and also having worked as an IT systems administrator, I have come to understand the need for proper design and safeguards and for following safety procedures. I am opposed to out-dated and flawed nuclear designs - e.g. what the French are trying to sell to India - and I am against corruption ( a given in India for such large value projects). However, I am also an hopeful that the world can use safer Nuclear designs such as Canada's CANDU, or even Thorcon's Thorium molten salt reactor technology (five plants to be implemented in Indonesia). When researching about Thorcon's design from a saf

This piqued my interest after visiting the abandoned nuclear plant in Satsop, Washington and having the pleasure of uncovering a number of fun resources in regards to past nuclear accidents. Understanding disasters like Chernobyl really puts into perspective how quickly things can go wrong with radioactive material. I found the following lecture does a great job outlining the Chernobyl disaster and potential impact of similar disasters, both from a meltdown perspective and understanding the impact of radiation. ▶ this video

Of possible interest: ▶ this video This is a presentation to students by an MIT professor that goes over exactly what happened, the sequence of events, mistakes made, and so on.