Chernobyl dissaster Operator errors The Chernobyl accident resulted from a combination of external circumstances, engineering design flaws

and errors made by badly trained operators. The test was started at extreme operating conditions. The accident would not have happened unless the operators had made several serious errors. First of all the test should have been aborted when things were not going as planned. The test was initiated with a number of safety systems turned off. The power level was lower than planned. The core was suffering from severe xenon poisoning, so the control rods had to be almost fully retracted, leaving too small a margin of safety. The operators seemed completely unaware of the fact that the effect of xenon poisoning would decrease rapidly, should the power level rise.