"Let's talk about what happened in the early hours of this morning."
After a few questions, Besonova gradually got to the point.
Diatlov subconsciously looked at the three players not far away. He could tell that the three players were the leaders of the expert panel. They stood at the other end of the room as if acting as a jury. They whispered to each other from time to time, but their voices were very soft, and there was a distance between the two sides. Diatlov could not understand what they were talking about.
The deputy engineer had no choice but to look away and think back to a few hours ago.
"In the early hours of the 26th, we were conducting a safety experiment." Diatlov recalled, "I'm sure you all know the content of the experiment. In January, Factory Director Brihanov reported the test procedure to the Hydroelectric Engineering Research Institute —"
"Comrade Diatlov, you just need to tell us everything in detail. You don't have to worry about what we already know and what we don't know. Also, if possible, please explain the theory involved. Dr. Evrem also wants to know about the accident." Diatlov's face darkened. Diatlov nodded and said, "Let's not talk about it. Let's not talk about it.
"Okay."
Although Diatlov was a little puzzled by Besonova's statement and did not understand why an expert on acute radiation sickness would want to listen to the accident analysis, he still agreed. After sorting out his thoughts, he continued, "In short, we have a safety experiment to do. It was originally scheduled for April 25th, before the reactor was shut down for maintenance. As you all know, reactors always need 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 action of electricity, the water pump of the nuclear power plant can continuously pour cold water into the reactor to generate steam to drive the turbine to generate electricity. At the same time, high-temperature wastewater is taken away from the reactor to ensure that the nuclear core does not melt. I believe you can also see how important the water pump is in this process. We need to do everything we can to ensure the normal operation of the water pump.
"In an emergency, even if all the power in the nuclear power plant is cut off, we still have a backup diesel generator to supply power to the water pump. However, the diesel generator needs a short period of time to start up, which means we have to keep the water pump running during this short period of time."
Dyatlov tried to be as detailed as possible to ensure that even a layman like Dr. Evrem could understand.
"The purpose of this safety experiment is to solve this problem. We are considering using the inertia of the steam turbine. When the power is cut off, the steam will still be produced, and the steam turbine will still be rotating. This way, it can generate electricity, and we can borrow this electricity to tide us over.
"At 1 o 'clock in the afternoon, we reduced the power of the No. 4 reactor to 1,600 megawatts according to the original plan and shut down a steam turbine. At 2 o' clock, we disconnected the emergency core cooling system and the multiple forced circulation loops and prepared to carry out the safety experiment designed by Chief Engineer Fuming. But at this time, we received a call from Kiev, saying that there was an accident at a small power station there. Kiev is now short of electricity, and they want us to postpone the shutdown of the reactor.
"What can I do? I can only suspend the experiment. "Dyatlov spread his hands." Taking advantage of this time, I also went home to sleep for a few hours. When I came back, it was already 11 o 'clock in the evening. An hour ago, I received permission to continue reducing the power. For this reason, I contacted the foreman on duty at the time, Yuri Tregub, and the next person to replace him, Akimov. I clearly instructed them to continue to reduce the power to 700 to 1,000 megawatts according to the experiment requirements.
"After arranging the tasks, I left the control room and patrolled around to observe the situation before the power was cut off. At 12: 30, I returned to the control room. At that time, Akimov, Toptunov, and Stolyarchuk were in the control room. Tregub, who was supposed to get off work, was also there, and a few other interns and others.
"I found that the power of the reactor had dropped to 30 megawatts, far less than the 700 megawatts needed for the experiment. I asked Akimov what was going on, and he said that turning off the partial automatic control system and changing to manual control should solve the problem, so I approved him to continue to increase the power.
"After that, I left the control room again to observe the situation at the turbine. 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 that time for a briefing, and then asked them to return to their posts to prepare.
"The safety experiment began at 1: 23: 04. Everything went smoothly, and all the operations were carried out according to the rules. I was busy studying the readings on the instrument, and then I heard Akimov say to shut down the reactor. After that, he reached out and pressed the emergency power reduction button. Not long after, I heard an explosion. "
"What happened?" Besonova asked.
"That's what I want to know too," Diatlov said. "After the explosion, I immediately left the control room and patrolled the outside. I found that for some reason, the emergency water tank of the protection and control system had exploded. The water tank was very large, 110 cubic meters. Such an explosion would have torn the roof off, and if it was serious, it could have blown up the entire reactor unit. Fortunately, the reactor below was still intact. I immediately ordered water to be injected into the reactor to keep it stable, and then I participated in the rescue with the others.
"At about three o 'clock, I received a call and went to the Civil Defense Headquarters to report the accident to Factory Manager Brekhanov. Then, because of physical discomfort, I came to the Pripyat Medical Center for treatment. That's all I know."
"The reactor is safe and sound. Are you sure? Comrade Diatlov. "
"Yes, I'm sure," the deputy chief engineer confirmed. "I patrolled around the reactor after the accident."
"What about the radiation?"
"Gorbachenko's radiometer showed that the background radiation value at that time was 1,000 microroentgens per second."
"That doesn't sound too good."
"Yes, there is no doubt that there was a nuclear leak there, but fortunately, it is still under control. We will get through this," Diatlov said.
"Is that so? But as far as I know, 3.6 roentgens is the upper limit of a small radiation measuring instrument." Besonova threw out the question coldly. "Why? Is there no larger range measuring instrument in the nuclear power plant?"
Diatlov was silent for a moment. "Yes, there is. 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 the measured value shouldn't be too far off. After all, only a water tank exploded. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
