Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology

Dept. of Chemical & Food Engineering

A Presentation on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster

Supervised by Presented by
Group-01
Md. Shihabuzzaman Apon
Name Student ID:
& Md. Sakib Pk. 178004
Akib Atik Khan Dhrubo Md. Shamim Hosen 178022
Nuruzzaman 178023
Lecturer
Department of CFE, DUET.

1
Introduction:
The Chernobyl Disaster is the most serious
accident in the history of the nuclear
industry.
The Chernobyl nuclear plant is located in
Ukraine about 20 km south of the border
with Belarus. It was the part of Soviet Union.
Which are produced about 10% electricity
for Ukraine’s.
The accident occurred in the very early
morning of 26 April 1986 at 1.23 am. when
operators ran a test on an electric control
system of unit 4.

2
Brief Overview on Disaster:
 Accident occurred on Saturday, 26 April in
1986
 Started at Reactor number 4
 Unexpected power surge lead to vessel
rupture & explosions
 Graphite moderator began reacting & ignited
 Resulting fire through out highly radioactive
fallout in atmosphere
 6 lakh people involved in emergency
containment, cleaning and recovery
operation
 At present, more than 5 million people said
to be contaminated

Reff. chernobyl disaster image - Google Search

3
Process Description:
The water in the core is heated
by Nuclear Fission and
produced steam. The steam
then turns into turbine to
produced rotational energy.
Using rotational energy,
electricity is produced by the
generator.
The condensed water from
condenser is then back into the
reactor core and the cycle is
repeated. Fig. Schematic Diagram of Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Reff. chernobyl disaster image - Google Search

4
Accident events:
 26 April – Saturday, 1986
 24:00 – Operation shift change.
 24:28 – Control rods transferred from local to global control
 01:19 – Increased feed water flow to the steam drums & removed more
control rods.
 01:23:10- Automatic rods withdrawn from the core
 01:23:40 – Emergency button pushed
 01:23:48- First thermal explosion
 01:23:55- Second explosion

5
Probable Causes of Chernobyl Disaster:
 The reactor explosion in the 4th Unit of Chernobyl NPS was
caused by design defects and staff operation errors.
 The main drawbacks of RBMK-1000 reactor were reactivity
Increase
 The accident occurred during the scheduled tests of power supply mode in
case of external sources loss
 The Chernobyl staff in absence of the emergency cooling lowered the reactor
capacity down to inadmissible low level.

6
Conclusion:
Accident at the Chernobyl (Ukraine) nuclear
power station in the Soviet Union technicians
attempted a poorly designed experiment, causing
the chain reaction in the core to go out of
control. The reactor’s lid was blown off, and
large amounts of radioactive material were
released into the atmosphere. As many as 49
people may have died in the initial explosions.
The incident set off an international outcry over
the dangers posed by radioactive emissions.

7
Thank You