Chapter 1143 Memories of Dyatlov

"Let's talk about what happened early this morning."

After paving the way for several questions, Bessonova gradually got to the point.

After hearing this, Dyatlov subconsciously glanced at the three players not far away. He had already seen that this time the expert group was headed by the three people over there. They were standing at the other end of the room, seemingly acting as The jury members whispered to each other and exchanged opinions from time to time, but their voices were very low, and there was a distance between the two parties, so Dyatlov didn't know what they were talking about.

So the deputy engineer could only retract his gaze and rewind his thoughts back to a few hours ago.

"In the early morning of the 26th, we were conducting a safety experiment." Dyatlov recalled, "You must be very clear about the content of the experiment, because in January this year, Director Bryukhanov will test The procedure was reported to the Hydropower Engineering Research Institute..."

However, as soon as he said this, he was rudely interrupted by Besonova, "Comrade Dyatlov, you just need to tell us everything in detail and accurately. As for what we already know and what we don't know, I won’t bother you to worry about it. In addition, if possible, please describe the principles involved clearly. Dr. Yefrem also hopes to understand the story of this accident."

"All right."

Although Besonova's statement made Dyatlov feel a little strange, and he didn't understand why the expert on acute radiation sickness also wanted to listen to the accident analysis, he still agreed, sorted out his thoughts, and continued, "In short, we There is a safety experiment to be done. The time was originally scheduled for April 25, before the reactor was shut down for maintenance. As you know, the reactor always needs regular maintenance, and we can take this opportunity to do a very simple safety experiment.

"Chernobyl uses a graphite-moderated boiling water reactor. Under the influence of electricity, the water pump of the nuclear power plant can continuously pour cold water into the reactor, generate steam to drive the generator turbine to generate electricity, and at the same time take high-temperature wastewater away from the reactor. Ensure that the core is not melted. I believe you can also see how important the water pump plays in this process. We need to do everything possible to ensure the normal operation of the water pump.

"In the event of an emergency, even if all power in the nuclear power plant is cut off, we still have a backup diesel generator to power the water pumps, but it takes a short time to start the diesel generator, which means we have to be here Leave the pump running for a short time.”

Dyatlov tried to speak in enough detail to ensure that Dr. Yefrem, a layman, could understand.

"This safety experiment is to solve this problem. We considered using the inertia of the steam turbine, because when the power is cut off, steam is still being produced and the steam turbine is still rotating. In this way, electricity can be generated. Borrowing this part of the electricity can allow us to weather the storm. Difficulties.

"At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, we reduced the power of the No. 4 reactor to 1,600 megawatts and shut down one steam turbine according to the original plan. At 2 o'clock, we disconnected the emergency core cooling system and the multiple forced circulation loops to prepare for Fuming. A safety experiment designed by the chief engineer, but at this time we received a call from Kiev, saying that an accident occurred at a small power station over there. Kiev was currently short of power and asked us to postpone the shutdown of the reactor.

"What can I do? I can only suspend the experiment," Dyatlov spread his hands. "I took advantage of this time to go home and sleep for a few hours. When I came back, it was already 11 o'clock in the evening, and in an hour Not long ago, I received permission to continue reducing the power. To this end, I contacted Yuri Tregub, the on-duty foreman of the reactor at the time, and Akimov, who succeeded him. I made it very clear that I wanted them to follow the experiment. It is required to continue reducing the power to 700 to 1000 megawatts.

"After arranging the task, I left the control room, patrolled around to observe the situation before the power outage, and returned to the control room at 12:30. At that time, there were Akimov, Toptunov, Stolyarchuk, Telegub, who was supposed to be off work, were also there, along with a few other interns and others.

"I found that the power of the reactor had dropped to 30 megawatts, which was far lower than the 700 megawatts required for the experiment. I asked Akimov what was going on. He said that it should be OK to turn off the local automatic control system and switch to manual control. After solving this problem, I approved him to continue increasing the power.

"Then I left the control room again to observe the situation on the turbine side. When I came back, the power of the reactor had increased to about 200 megawatts. We finally decided to conduct the experiment at this power. I called all the experimenters at the time They came in for a briefing and then asked them to go back to their posts and get ready.

"The safety experiment started at 1:23:04. Everything went smoothly, and all operations were performed in accordance with regulations. I was busy studying the readings on the instrument, and then I heard Akimov He said to shut down the reactor. After that, he reached out and pressed the emergency power reduction button. As a result, I heard an explosion not long after."

"What happened?" Besonova asked.

"This is also what I want to know," Dyatlov said. "I left the control room immediately after the explosion and inspected the situation outside. I found that for some unknown reason, the emergency water tank of the protection and control system exploded. The water tank is very huge, 110 cubic meters. Such an explosion will knock off the roof, and in serious cases, it will blow up the entire reactor unit. But fortunately, the reactor below is still intact. I immediately ordered water to be injected into the reactor to let The reactor remained stable, and others were later involved in the rescue.

"At around three o'clock, I received a call and went to the Civil Defense Headquarters to report the accident to the director of the factory, Brukhanov. Then I came to the Pripyat Medical Center for treatment because I felt unwell. This is what I know. Everything."

"The reactor is safe and sound, are you sure? Comrade Dyatlov."

"Yes, I'm sure." The deputy chief engineer confirmed, "I inspected around the reactor after the incident."

"What about radiation?"

"Gorbachenko's radiometer showed a background radiation level of 1,000 microroentgens per second."

"It doesn't sound like things are going too well."

"Yes, there is no doubt that a nuclear leak occurred there, but fortunately it is still under control and we will get through it." Dyatlov said.

"Really, but as far as I know, 3.6 roentgen happens to be the upper limit of a small radiation measuring instrument." Besonova asked the question coldly, "Why, doesn't the nuclear power plant have a measuring instrument with a larger range?"

Dyatlov was silent for a moment, "Yes, yes, we have a measuring instrument with a range of 1,000 roentgens, but it was locked in a safe and later buried under the wreckage of the building. But there should be no measured value. It’s too big of a deviation, after all, it just blew up a water tank.”