Safety test

This capability still needed to be confirmed experimentally, and previous tests had ended
unsuccessfully. An initial test carried out in 1982 indicated that the excitation voltage of the turbine-
generator was insufficient; it did not maintain the desired magnetic field after the turbine trip. The
system was modified, and the test was repeated in 1984 but again proved unsuccessful. In 1985, a
test was conducted a third time but also yielded negative results. The test procedure was to be run
again in 1986, and scheduled to take place during a maintenance shutdown of reactor No. 4.[27][4]:51
A test procedure had been written, but the authors were not aware of the unusual RBMK-1000
reactor behavior under the planned operating conditions. [4]:52 It was regarded as purely an electrical
test of the generator, not a complex unit test, even though it involved critical unit systems. According
to the regulations in place at the time, such a test did not require approval by either the chief
designer of the reactor (NIKIET), the scientific manager or the Soviet nuclear oversight regulator. [4]:51–
52
 The test required disabling of some safety systems (in particular, the emergency core cooling
system, a passive/active system of core cooling intended to provide water to the core in a loss-of-
coolant accident), and a special approval from the chief engineer had been obtained according to
regulations.[4]:18
The experimental procedure was intended to run as follows:
Preparation for the test.

1. The test would take place during a scheduled reactor shutdown

2. The reactor power was to be reduced to between 700 MW and 800 MW. (It was not
necessary to perform the test from full-power operation, as only the electrical generator was
being tested.)
3. The steam-turbine generator was to be run at normal operating speed
The electrical test

1. When the correct conditions were achieved, the steam supply to the turbine generator would
be closed off
2. The turbine generator performance would then be monitored to determine whether it could
provide the bridging power for coolant pumps until the emergency diesel generators
automatically started and provided power.
3. When the emergency generators supplied electrical power, the turbine generator would be
allowed to continue free-wheeling down.
4. The normal planned shut down procedure of the reactor was then to be completed