1:23 AM. April 26, 1986. Control Room 4. The rundown test is hours behind schedule. Xenon-135 poisoning has severely suppressed the core's power output. To force the power back up and proceed with the test, operators extract the boron carbide control rods. The RBMK-1000 requires a strict Operational Reactivity Margin (ORM) of 15 inserted rods to maintain baseline control. The crew pulls the rods far past this limit. The synchro map on the wall displays the reality: the reactor is effectively stripped of its brakes. The analog instrumentation in the room fails to convey the severe positive void coefficient developing inside the core. The thermal mass is highly volatile. At 1:23:40 AM, the AZ-5 emergency shutdown button is pressed. The control rods begin to descend. The graphite tips of the rods enter the core first, displacing water and causing an instantaneous, massive spike in reactivity. Control is lost. The physics of the machine take over. #Chernobyl #NuclearEngineering #ControlRoom4 #RBMK1000 #NuclearPhysics #EngineeringFailure #Pripyat

Ik heb intussen na de HBO-serie Chernobyl zoveel YouTube video’s over de reactor en alle gebouwen daaromheen gezien dat ik er zowat zélf rondleidingen zou kunnen gaan geven :) #GoldenCorridor #TurbineHall #NewSafeConfinement #PumpingRoom #ControlRoom4 etc ;)