Computer Button Malfunction Triggers Nuclear Blast; 60,000 People Die Instantly

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – About four decades ago, in 1986, the world was shocked by the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster directly killed around 60,000 people.

The construction of the nuclear facility at Chernobyl formed part of the Soviet Union’s grand ambition to become the world’s leading nuclear power. Since 1977, the government had operated 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors, and development of the project continued until the major tragedy occurred in 1986.

In 1986, Chernobyl housed four large nuclear reactors. Some other reactors were reportedly still in testing.

One of the tests was carried out on 26 April 1986. The operation involved releasing water from the turbine to continuously cool the reactor core, and it would reveal how long the turbine could remain operational.

However, during the test those involved were not competent. The leaders were not transparent and neglected input, including Deputy Chief Technician Anatoly Dyatlov and Chief Technician Nikolai Fomin.

One of the revelations from Chernobyl: 01:23:40 (2014). Fomin was said to be negligent and to have hidden that adequate cooling was available.

What happened was the opposite. Fomin understood the reactor’s power to be only 200 megawatts, far short of the minimum 700 megawatts.

Meanwhile Dyatlov insisted the test needed to be conducted that day. When the technicians had given up, he threatened to have them reassigned.

That greed proved to be the start of the world’s worst disaster. As the technicians blamed the generator, the water turbine failed to come online and power fell sharply in the middle of the test.

This caused the reactor core temperature to rise rapidly. Technicians hurriedly pressed the SCRAM button, the computer command to start the generator, which sadly did not function.

In the end the reactor temperature reached 3,000 degrees Celsius and exploded. At the same time, many residents were still sleeping and could not flee, leaving them exposed to the spreading radiation.

BBC notes that 90,000 people died from long-term radiation exposure. Meanwhile, 600,000 people were exposed to radiation but did not die.

The WHO notes that radioactive contamination reached as far as 200,000 kilometres away, even to Europe. Chernobyl would be uninhabitable for up to 20,000 years due to the radiation effects.