[vyper]

http://www.grs.de/en/topics/eastern_europe/chernobyl/sip.html?pe_id=76

The last reactor being shut down: http://www.neutron.kth.se/gallery/chernobyl/

[karajorma]

Anyone else find it tragically ironic that the whole Chernobyl disaster happened because of a poorly thought out safety test?

[Singh]

Originally posted by karajorma
Anyone else find it tragically ironic that the whole Chernobyl disaster happened because of a poorly thought out safety test?

Half expected it actually. Cutting corners may seem as a good option today....but then, it turns out that it can affect millions in the long run.

[Unknown Target]

I've always wanted to go into the ghost cities around Chernobyle and see if there's any good loot

Not to be disrespectful, but i mean, there's gotta be tons of stuff in there for the brave/stupid salvager.

[karajorma]

The thing is that it wasn't a problem of cutting corners. The Technicians in Chernoybl deliberately ignored safety instructions and operating proceedures and actually turned off other safety devices that would have prevented the disaster.

Whenever I read an explaination of what happened on that day I'm amazed by the stupidity of all concerned.

[Singh]

as I said, cutting corners. Although the government didn't do it, they did. Look where it got them now tho.

Still.....should they decide to send a rover into the sacrophagus I bet seeing the inside of the reactor core would be pretty haunting, especially since its been empty for almost twenty years now. Imagine what the radiation has done to the interior of that place.....

[Unknown Target]

They also cut corners. Some of the safety gear wasnt installe,d and the stuff that was installed went to the lowest bidder. I forget the specifics, though.

[Unknown Target]

Also:




What's that tag in the bottom for? That website doesn't exist.

[vyper]

I think we should for once put our curiosity aisde and just seal the thing up more effectively, with a memorial on the new tomb as a warning to future generation: Don't mess with power you can't control.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by karajorma
The thing is that it wasn't a problem of cutting corners. The Technicians in Chernoybl deliberately ignored safety instructions and operating proceedures and actually turned off other safety devices that would have prevented the disaster.

Whenever I read an explaination of what happened on that day I'm amazed by the stupidity of all concerned.

AIEA blamed cost cutting (on the shielding in particular IIRC) in their revised 1993 result, though (the earlier report - in 89 or so - blamed the technicians).

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
They also cut corners. Some of the safety gear wasnt installe,d and the stuff that was installed went to the lowest bidder. I forget the specifics, though.

I'm not doubting that they cut corners. However the stupidity involved was such that even if they had those devices installed they would have simply turned them off like they did with the other devices which were installed.

Aldo : That's like blaming a faulty seat belt for not saving your life if you deliberately drive into a tree at 100mph. Sure it would have helped if it had worked but a better solution would have been to have not driven into the tree in the first place.

[IceFire]

Chernobyl was not a hoax...or at least nothing leads me to believe that (hell, they say Apollo programme was a cold war hoax).  That question answered

All I've heard is that this traveling through the dead zone thing was a hoax.  But I could be totally wrong...I have nothing more on it.

The pictures are still very well done.

[Stunaep]

Originally posted by Rictor

or just wait for STALKER to be released.

Or see the movie with the same name.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by karajorma

Aldo : That's like blaming a faulty seat belt for not saving your life if you deliberately drive into a tree at 100mph. Sure it would have helped if it had worked but a better solution would have been to have not driven into the tree in the first place.

But if you're driving at, say, 10 miles over the speed limit and your steering fails........... it's a different issue.  The '93 report revised the root cause of the accident as due to being design error.

[karajorma]

You got a link to where you read this? The catalogue of idiocy I read had nothing to do with cost cutting.

[aldo_14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_accident

I can't find the actual IAEA report/s, though.  The IAEA FAQ isn't too explicitly about who or what was to blame, natch;
1. What caused the Chernobyl accident?

On April 26, 1986, the Number Four RBMK reactor at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, Ukraine, went out of control during a test at low-power, leading to an explosion and fire that demolished the reactor building and released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Safety measures were ignored, the uranium fuel in the reactor overheated and melted through the protective barriers. RBMK reactors do not have what is known as a containment structure, a concrete and steel dome over the reactor itself designed to keep radiation inside the plant in the event of such an accident. Consequently, radioactive elements including plutonium, iodine, strontium and caesium were scattered over a wide area. In addition, the graphite blocks used as a moderating material in the RBMK caught fire at high temperature as air entered the reactor core, which contributed to emission of radioactive materials into the environment.

It mentions both the ignorance of safety procedures and the lack of containment.... this bbc thing mentions a fault in the cooling systems as being the initial cause.  I think it's down to both; shoddy equipment led to the accident, shoddy workers led to it becoming a disaster.

(Stumbled on this too)

[StratComm]

You also have to remember that in 1986, the Soviet Union, failing as it was, would have been quick to distance itself from blame in this sort of disaster.  The way I've always heard it, though, is that the "safety test" and negligence of the workers/oversight led to the meltdown, and the design of the reactor itself led to the catastrophy.

[karajorma]

Exactly StratComm. That's the point I was trying to get across. A western reactor might have survived the stupidity that went on in Chernobyl but the fact remains that the people there should have known that they were using a less robust design and therefore should have avoided the stupidity that was involved in the accident.  

You want to know why I regard the accident as being caused by stupidity. Here's a layman's explaination of the disaster.

The reactors in Chernobyl used the electricity they themselves produced to power the pumps used in the cooling mechanisms. If the reactor loses power backup diesel generators kick in and power the pumps. However these generators take 50 seconds to power up which if far too long to leave the core without any cooling.
 What the technicians wondered was would the inertia in the turbines keep the production of electricity going for long enough to power the pumps for 50 seconds.

In order to test this they dialled the reactor down to the lowest possible power setting and disabled any safety system that would have gotten in the way of the test.  They then deliberately destablised the reactor and reduced the coolant supply.

There was one small flaw in the plan. In preparing a test to see if the pumps would keep turning no one stopped to consider what would happen if they didn't! They also broke the other important rule. Don't f**k about with a live nuclear reactor unless you know that the f**k you're doing.

[Sandwich]

Stalker looks awesome.

[Rictor]

I'm completely in love with their sky textures. They look better than any game out there. Not to mention that the lighting model is right up there with HL2 and that they have managed to capture the atmosphere of the Chernobyl zone (yeah, like I would know) masterfully.