DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - chernobyl: steam explosion or self contained nuclear explosion?

**arriplify** · 04-13-2010, 05:27 AM

i think you dont get what i mean so some clarity:

can a nuclear reactor explose?

short answer - NO

long answer - NO unless its a russian RMBK design, then YES.

why yes?

unlike every western reactor , as neeyik said , when you turn off the coolant flow (and you get more voids or bubbles) the reactivity goes down a `negative void coefficent` till eventually it goes `out` , the RMBK is totally opposite - its had a very large - 4.7beta , positive void coefficient - the more bubbles , the more reactivity.

so , as in chernobyl , they turned off 4 of the 8 pumps - ergo , more bubbles.

next is containment - unlike western buildsings , the RMBK doesnt have a proper containment building.

and last - SCRAM or reator trip , the emergency method of shutting down a reactor undergoing a serious power excusrion (or problem) - it dropd the control rods and or reactor poison in an instant;

the RMBK scram cycle was 20 seconds - the control rods instead of being released to fall on there own weight , where attached to motors and driven down slowly into the core , and with the design of the control meaning 1 mete of its length was graphite - it was actually a positive scram (made it worse) on the lowest part of teh core , whilst the top was actually shutting down!

all of thsoe factors (and massive operator negligence - turning off the automatic safety systems) are why it went bag on a low level and why the wests reactors cant.

04-13-2010, 05:27 AM	#36
arriplify Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 383 Senior Member	i think you dont get what i mean so some clarity: can a nuclear reactor explose? short answer - NO long answer - NO unless its a russian RMBK design, then YES. why yes? unlike every western reactor , as neeyik said , when you turn off the coolant flow (and you get more voids or bubbles) the reactivity goes down a `negative void coefficent` till eventually it goes `out` , the RMBK is totally opposite - its had a very large - 4.7beta , positive void coefficient - the more bubbles , the more reactivity. so , as in chernobyl , they turned off 4 of the 8 pumps - ergo , more bubbles. next is containment - unlike western buildsings , the RMBK doesnt have a proper containment building. and last - SCRAM or reator trip , the emergency method of shutting down a reactor undergoing a serious power excusrion (or problem) - it dropd the control rods and or reactor poison in an instant; the RMBK scram cycle was 20 seconds - the control rods instead of being released to fall on there own weight , where attached to motors and driven down slowly into the core , and with the design of the control meaning 1 mete of its length was graphite - it was actually a positive scram (made it worse) on the lowest part of teh core , whilst the top was actually shutting down! all of thsoe factors (and massive operator negligence - turning off the automatic safety systems) are why it went bag on a low level and why the wests reactors cant.
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