INTRODUCTION

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located in Pripyat, Ukraine, 130

km north of Kiev, Ukraine and about 20 km south of the border with Belarus.

The power plant consisted of four nuclear reactors of the RBMK-1000 design,

units 1 and 2 being constructed between 1970 and 1977, while units 3 and 4

of the same design were completed in 1983. To the southeast of the plant, an

artificial lake of some 22 square kilometers, situated beside the river Pripyat,

was constructed to provide cooling water for the reactors.

This area of Ukraine is described as Belarussian-type woodland with a

low population density. About 3 km away from the reactor, in the new city,
Pripyat, there were 49,000 inhabitants. The old town of Chornobyl, which had

a population of 12,500, is about 15 km to the southeast of the complex.

Within a 30 km radius of the power plant, the total population was between

115,000 and 135,000 (Chernobyl Accident 1986, 2016).

On April 25, 1986, the unit 4 reactor of the power plant was to be shut

down for routine maintenance. It was decided to perform a test to determine

how long turbines would spin and supply power to the main core cooling

water circulating pumps, until the diesel emergency power supply become

operative. This test had been carried out the previous year, but the power

from turbine ran down too fast, so it was decided to repeat the test using the

new voltage regulators. This test was carried out without proper coordination

between the team in charge of the test and the personnel in charge of the

safety of the nuclear reactor. The operating personnel were not alerted to the

potential danger of the test conducted. The test required shutting down of

the reactors emergency core cooling system (ECCS), which provides water

for cooling the core in an emergency. The reactor continued to operate at

half power while the ECCS was switched off. For this test, the reactor should

have been stabilized at about 700-1000 MWt prior to shutdown, but the

power fell to about 30 MWt at 00:28 on April 26 possibly due to operational

error. Many of the control rods were withdrawn to increase the power level

resulting in a violation of the minimum Operating Reactivity Margin (ORM)

and the operators may not have known this. The minimum permissible ORM

stipulated in the operating procedure was 15 rods but based from the
calculation performed after the incident, the ORM at 01:22:30 was equal to

eight manual control rods. The test still commenced and after few seconds

the power exceeds 530 MWt and continued to rise. The interaction between

the hot fuel with the cooling water led to fuel fragmentation along with rapid

steam generation and increase in pressure. The increase in pressure caused

the 1000 ton cover plate of the reactor to detach which consequently

jammed the control rods which were only halfway down by that time. As the

channel pipes began to rupture, mass steam generation occurred due to

depressurization of the reactor cooling circuit.

Two explosions were recorded, the first being the initial steam

explosion followed by the possible build up of hydrogen due to zirconium-

steam reactions. Two workers die from these explosions. The graphite and

fuel started a number of fires causing the main release of radioactivity in the

environment. Most of the released materials were deposited nearby but

some light materials were carried out by the wind over Ukraine, Belarus, and

Russia and to some extent over Scandinava and Europe.

Nuclear energy in Ukraine had started its development in the early

70s. The first nuclear reactor was first constructed at Chernobyl and there

was no report found for issuance of Environmental Compliance Certificate or

Environmental Clearance to Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. After the

accident at the fourth reactor unit of Chernobyl NPP in 1986, different laws

regarding the construction of Nuclear Power Plant and Nuclear Safety were

developed such as the Law of Ukraine On Decision-Making Procedure for

Locating, Designing, and Construction of Nuclear Reactors and Installations

for Processing Radioactive Waste of National Importance. There was no

Environmental Clearance or Environmental Compliance Certificate mentioned

in construction of Nuclear Power Plants in Ukraine.