The title sounds too technical?
Hmm.. it is just a title after all..
This blog is designed to be fun!
Turning technicals into something that is easy to be digest by the majorities.
Ever heard of Chernobyl accident?
Chernobyl Power Plant located in Ukraine (Soviet Union at that time) was hit by disaster in 1986.
One of the reactor exploded and cause major catastrophe.
The accident is said to be caused by the combinations of the design and operating characteristics of the reactor and human error.
Yeah, human do make mistake.
Chernobyl reactor have a feature known as Positive Reactivity Feedback.
When the output power increase, the temperature and multiplication factor increase.
In short, Positive Reactivity Feedback Effect enhances the effect that produced it and is destabilizing.
The RBMK reactor design used at chernobyl is a pressurized water cooled reactor which uses boiling water as the coolant and using graphite as its moderator.
It is very different from most other power reactors in the world, as it is derived from a design that produce both plutonium and power generation.
When the coolant water temperature increase, the boiling increase, which creates voids.
In RBMK reactor, the void coefficient is positive thus making it less stable.
As the accident showed, positive void coefficient is fairly unsafe.
Major modifications have been made to RBMK reactors to solve these problems.
The last unit of reactor at Chernobyl were still used until the year 2000.
As for now, there is nothing to worry about.
The flawed design characteristics of the RBMK reactor is seen as one of several cause of Chernobyl accident.
Those were 1970s design reactors after all. :)
Reactors design nowadays is far more safer!
Chernobyl Power Plant located in Ukraine (Soviet Union at that time) was hit by disaster in 1986.
One of the reactor exploded and cause major catastrophe.
The accident is said to be caused by the combinations of the design and operating characteristics of the reactor and human error.
Yeah, human do make mistake.
Chernobyl reactor have a feature known as Positive Reactivity Feedback.
When the output power increase, the temperature and multiplication factor increase.
In short, Positive Reactivity Feedback Effect enhances the effect that produced it and is destabilizing.
The RBMK reactor design used at chernobyl is a pressurized water cooled reactor which uses boiling water as the coolant and using graphite as its moderator.
It is very different from most other power reactors in the world, as it is derived from a design that produce both plutonium and power generation.
When the coolant water temperature increase, the boiling increase, which creates voids.
In RBMK reactor, the void coefficient is positive thus making it less stable.
As the accident showed, positive void coefficient is fairly unsafe.
Major modifications have been made to RBMK reactors to solve these problems.
The last unit of reactor at Chernobyl were still used until the year 2000.
As for now, there is nothing to worry about.
The flawed design characteristics of the RBMK reactor is seen as one of several cause of Chernobyl accident.
Those were 1970s design reactors after all. :)
Reactors design nowadays is far more safer!
