Volume 37, Number 12 · July 19, 1990
The Catastrophe and After
By David Holloway
The Legacy of Chernobyl
by Zhores A. Medvedev
Norton, 352 pp., $24.95
The worst nuclear accident ever to take place began with a safety test. At 1:23 AM on Saturday, April 26, 1986, the operator of Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station started an experiment to see how long a spinning turbine could provide electricity in the event of a loss of power to the plant. If the power supply failed, it would take more than thirty seconds for the backup generators to come into play. The purpose of the test was to see whether the turbine could provide enough power to pump cooling water over the uranium fuel until the emergency generators took over.
Review, 3828 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |