Chernobyl
The Core Explodes
Scientist testifies about the events that led to the explosion at Chernobyl.
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Video Transcript
0:01
12345
0:04
Hakeem off engages
0:05
a said five
0:14
the fully withdrawn control rods begin moving back into the reactor
0:18
is rods are made of boron which reduces reactivity but not the tips
0:23
the tips are made of graphite
0:25
which accelerates reactivity
0:28
by
0:34
why
0:37
for the same reason
0:39
we actors do not have containment buildings around them
0:43
like those in the West for the same reason
0:45
we don't use properly enriched fuel in our cause
0:49
the same reason
0:50
we are the only nation that builds
0:52
water-cooled
0:53
graphite moderated reactors
0:56
are they positive void coefficient
1:00
it's cheaper
1:08
the first part of the rides that and to the core
1:10
are they graphite tips
1:12
and when they do
1:13
the reaction in the core which had been rising
1:15
skyrockets
1:17
every last molecule of liquid water
1:20
instantly converts to steam which expands and ruptures a series of fuel Rod channels
1:26
the control rods in those channels can move no further
1:30
the graphite tips are fixed in position
1:32
endlessly accelerating the reaction
1:35
Chernobyl reactor for
1:38
is now a nuclear bomb
1:40
run 23 42
1:42
but it was chanko looks down on the enormous steel lid of the reactor
1:46
and sees the impossible
1:48
the control rod and fuel Channel caps which each weigh 350 kilograms are jumping up and down
1:55
he runs to warn the control room
1:57
but there's nothing he can do to stop what is coming
2:00
123 and 44 seconds
2:04
the steamboat more fuel channels apart
2:07
you do not know how high the power went to the only know the final reading
2:13
reactor for
2:14
designed to operate at the 32 hundred megawatts
2:18
went beyond 33,000
2:27
the pressure inside the core
2:29
and no longer be held back
2:31
at long last we have arrived
2:33
12345
2:36
explosion
2:38
in the instant the lid is thrown off the reactor
2:41
oxygen rushes in
2:43
it combines with hydrogen
2:45
and superheated graphite
2:49
chain of disaster
2:50
it's not
3:33
no one in the room that night
3:35
knew
3:36
the shutdown button could act
3:38
as a detonator
3:41
they didn't know it
