RBMK

years ago, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded two times due because of a malfunction in the nuclear fuel rods. “…When extremely hot nuclear fuel rods were lowered into cooling water, an immense amount of steam was created, which---because of the RBMK reactors’ design flaws—created more reactivity in the nuclear core…

Humanity is in a race against time as the threat of global warming looms on the horizon. To prevent catastrophe, the nations of the world must focus on decreasing their carbon dioxide output by as much as possible. While agriculture and industrial processes have a high carbon footprint, fossil fuels are by far the biggest contributor to anthropogenic global warming. Therefore, the best way to mitigate the problem is to replace coal and oil with cleaner sources of energy. Solar and wind power are…

on its own environment as well as the economy. The dense radiation contaminated significant agricultural products. Five years after the accident in 1991, the accident evaluation committee issued a report and accredited the accident to flaws in the RBMK reactor design. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) also agreed that the nuclear station had design flaws.…

What is the most important element of an engineer’s job? Speed or safety? There is no doubt that most engineers choose the public’s safety as their first priority instead of speed, for even a small difference between draft and reality can lead to engineering disaster. For some engineers who hold the speed as the highest goal, they had left several sever disasters caused by flaws in their engineering design; from their unforgettable experience, engineers put more thought in to the design before…

Chornobyl is 15 km southeast of the complex with a population of 12,500. Figure 1 shows where the Chernobyl power plant is located in the Ukraine. Description of the Meltdown at Chernobyl The four reactors at Chernobyl were pressurized water reactors of RBMK design; they produced both plutonium and electric…

On March 11, 2011, a disaster took place in Fukushima, Japan. A magnitude of 9.0, an earthquake struck Tohoku, which resulted in a Tsunami. Due to a chain of disasters on this day, the Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima had a malfunction. This is not the first time something like this so drastic happened in Japan. Chernobyl, the disaster in 1986 was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. Although, Fukushima following the Chernobyl disaster was not as deadly, it not only affected people…