Chernobyl Disaster: Difference between revisions

Line 186:

For forty seconds, everything proceeds as normal. Everything looks normal.

The test is succesful. The stalling generator is able to maintain the pumps for long enough for the generators to start.

The test is apparently succesful. The stalling generator is able to maintain the pumps for long enough for the generators to start.

There is no moment of forboding. There is no sense of impending doom.

With the test completed, Akimov calmly chooses to shut down the reactor. There is a button on the reactor operator's control panel, hidden behind a wax-sealed guard labelled AZ-5. AZ-5, in this case, being translated as Emergency Protection System 5. The button immediately forces all control rods to be inserted into the reactor at once.

With the test almost completed, Akimov calmly chooses to shut down the reactor - instructing Toptunov to smother it. There is a button on the reactor operator's control panel, hidden behind a wax-sealed guard labelled AZ-5. AZ-5, in this case, being translated as Emergency Protection System 5. The button immediately forces all control rods to be inserted into the reactor at once.

This should terminate the reaction.

~~Akimov~~ puts his finger on the button and holds it. It has to be held in place, or else the rods will stop moving.

Toptunov puts his finger on the button and holds it. It has to be held in place, or else the rods will stop moving.

The control rods begin to move into the reactor core, sliding down their channels. The graphite displacers push forward, pushing water out of the reactor ahead of them. This water, which aborbs neutrons, is replaced by graphite, which moderates neutrons. Reactivity is added to the bottom of reactor, even as it is being removed from the top.