To: Maurice Winn who wrote (6709 ) 12/26/1997 3:35:00 AM From: Caxton Rhodes Respond to
Maurice- Chernobyl was a horrific disaster. Unacceptable and no excuses. The accident was caused by violations of numerous safety procedures and precautions. There was no containment building to contain the radiation released into the air. The design of the plant was obviously inadequate. The explosion was a steam explosion (not nuclear) and the resulting fire was the carbon material used for neutron moderation which ended up burning like a briquette filled with radioactive fuel products. There are no similar reactor designs anywhere except those in Russia. A containment building ( a bubble surrounding the reactor that has walls that are minimum 10 ft thick of concrete and woven steel) surrounds virtually all commercial reactors outside Russia and would have prevented the massive release of radiation. The costs associated with preventing any similar event are a NECESSARY PART of nuclear power and certainly have made building them uneconomic, at least where alternative are available. No nuclear power plant should ever be built or continue to be operated where a such a consequence is possible! Newer designs make such events physically impossible to occur.
