On April 26, 1986, a major accident occurred at Unit 4 of the nuclear power station at Chernobyll, Ukraine, in the former USSR.
The operating crew was planning to test whether the turbines could produce sufficient energy to keep the coolant pumps running in the event of a loss of power until the diesel generator was activated.
To prevent any interruptions to the power of the reactor, the safety systems were deliberately switched off. To conduct the test, the reactor had go be powered down to 25% of its capacity. This procedure did not go according to plan and the power level fell to less than 1%. The power therefore had to be slowly increased. But 20 seconds after the start of the test, there was an unexpected power surge. The reactor's emergency shutdown (which should have halted a chain reaction) failed.
The reaffirms fuel elements ruptured and there was a violent explosion. The 1000-tonne sealing cap on the reactor building was blown off. At temperatures of over 2000°C, the fuel rods melted. The graphite covering the reactor then ignited. The graphite burned for 9 days, churning huge quantities of radiation into the environment. The accident released more radiation than the deliberate dropping of a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945.
{Http://www.Greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/nuclear/nomorechernobyll/what-happened-in-Chernobyll/}
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