On April 26 of 1986, the fourth nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded.
It began around midnight, on April 25. Due to the Soviet Union still being in power, the leadership was corrupt, and some construction projects could possibly be badly designed, or not very well. This was the reason that an EPO (Emergency Power Off) test that was supposed to take place a while ago had still not been performed. The workers and staff in the power plant were rushing to get the tests done, as they had delayed too long. Suddenly, a new shift of workers came in, not fully aware of the situation. They were told by Anatoly Dyatlov, the deputy chief engineer (one of the people supervising the workers and staff including playing the role of a manager) to hit the EPO button for the test. The workers in the control room had checked the instruction manual for the EPO process multiple times but everything Dyatlov said conflicted with the instructions. The workers tried to explain to Dyatlov that the instruction manual had different directions, but Dyatlov threatened to fire the workers if they didn’t follow his command. The workers were left with no choice but to listen to Dyatlov.
When one of the workers pressed the EPO button, everything went fine at first. The power levels were normal, in the hundreds. Suddenly, after a few seconds, they started dropping drastically! The workers panicked and called Dyatlov for help, but Dyatlov only told them to continue the test and said that everything would be fine. However, Dyatlov was very, very wrong.
The power levels suddenly stopped decreasing. They stayed in the low hundreds for a second or two, then out of nowhere, they started increasing rapidly! The power level was supposed to stay in the high hundreds, but it exceeded 1,000 megawatts! The workers in the control room were shocked and frantically called for help from Dyatlov, but to no avail. The power was now almost at 32,000 megawatts.
Meanwhile, in the room where the reactor core was, a disaster was about to occur. The nixie tubes (devices to display numbers and information) showed that the power was at 32,000 megawatts. Just then, the fuel rods in the reactor core began jumping up and down. The water circulation around the core that was supposed to cool it down and keep it from overheating had stopped, adding to the problem.
It was now one in the morning, April 26...that is when the reactor core exploded. Nuclear radiation filled the reactor. Unlike a burn from a regular fire where the heat rises upwards, nuclear radiation spreads in all directions. This makes it extra dangerous. This is the reason why the Chernobyl disaster is such a disastrous event. Many people died from the radiation, which affected not only the power plant, but the whole city of Pripyat too, which is why it’s important to be aware of this event.