Abstract: In the article, the author gives a brief geological and tectonic characteristic of the area where the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located and describes the Chernobyl ring structure. The main causes of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are analyzed and the geotectonic version of the accident, which was caused by a local earthquake during testing of military secret special weapons, is presented.
The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant became the largest in the history of nuclear energy, which can only be compared with the disaster at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan in March 2011.
Over the 30 years that have passed since the Chernobyl disaster, many versions have been put forward about its causes. But a special place, in my opinion, is occupied by the geotectonic version, which was put forward by EV Barkovsky, an employee of the Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences, back in 1994 [1]. The essence of this version is that the main cause of the accident was a local narrowly targeted earthquake, recorded at about the time of the accident in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Subsequently, supporters of this version argued that the seismic shock was recorded by seismic stations before the accident, and not at the time of the explosion. Also, the strong vibration that preceded the catastrophe could be caused not by the processes taking place inside the reactor, but by an earthquake [2,3].
Having studied and analyzed the materials available on the causes of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, I decided to express my version in its education. From the very beginning, the designers did not quite correctly choose the place for its construction. They did not analyze and did not take into account the geological-tectonic, geophysical and seismological factors of this territory. If we look at the satellite map of Ukraine (Fig. 1), we will see that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located in the zone of ring and oval structures. While working as a geologist in Kazakhstan, I did a bit of research on these ring structures. Their formation can be caused by the intersection of long-lived deep faults, to which zones of increased bedrock fracturing are confined. Later, in the process of changing the Earth's gravitational field, plates move along these faults, and in the zones of their intersections they appear,the so-called local tectonic earthquakes, the epicenters of which are located at depths of 50-200 kilometers and more. This type of earthquake, typical for flat areas and places of their manifestations on the surface, are expressed by ring structures. In places of their occurrence, at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression funnels. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.local tectonic earthquakes, the epicenters of which are located at depths of 50-200 kilometers and more. This type of earthquake, typical for flat areas and places of their manifestations on the surface, are expressed by ring structures. In places of their occurrence, at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression funnels. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.local tectonic earthquakes, the epicenters of which are located at depths of 50-200 kilometers and more. This type of earthquake, typical for flat areas and places of their manifestations on the surface, are expressed by ring structures. In places of their occurrence, at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression funnels. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.whose epicenters are located at depths of 50-200 kilometers and more. This type of earthquake, typical for flat areas and places of their manifestations on the surface, are expressed by ring structures. In places of their occurrence, at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression funnels. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.whose epicenters are located at depths of 50-200 kilometers and more. This type of earthquake, typical for flat areas and places of their manifestations on the surface, are expressed by ring structures. In places of their occurrence, at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression funnels. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface. This type of earthquake, typical for flat areas and places of their manifestations on the surface, are expressed by ring structures. In places of their occurrence, at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression funnels. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface. This type of earthquake, typical for flat areas and places of their manifestations on the surface, are expressed by ring structures. In places of their occurrence, at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression funnels. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression craters. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.at a depth under loose sedimentary deposits in bedrocks, zones of increased cone-shaped fracturing are formed, the so-called depression craters. These types of earthquakes are not one-time and are systematically manifested for hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.depending on the change and activity of the Earth's gravitational field. Even with small tectonic earthquakes, the formed cone-shaped zones are periodically shaken and sagged due to the compaction of fractured rocks, thereby forming a kind of ring structures on the surface.
Figure: 1. Satellite map with the Chernobyl ring structure
In view of the fact that this ring structure still borders on the Dnieper-Pripyat gas and oil province, here in the zones of increased fracturing, insignificant accumulations of various gas could form, which also somehow influenced its formation, causing periodic fluctuations of sedimentary layers, depending on the volume of accumulated gas. In the future, these gas accumulations can, under the influence of small local earthquakes, through the formed cracks, come to the surface, thereby reducing the pressure inside the rock layers, which led to their small fluctuations. The presence of gas formations in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant can be judged by the outbreaks and atmospheric glow observed during the accident at the 4th power unit, which in the process of seismic shocks along newly formed cracks, obviously,came to the surface of the earth and ignited.
In addition to the above-mentioned geological and tectonic factors, an even greater role was played by technogenic factors, in which the processes of subsidence of the surface of the territories near the cities of Chernobyl, Pripyat, the nuclear power plant and the reservoir were observed. They were caused by additional static and dynamic loads from the constructed buildings, structures and the water intake reservoir-cooler to the underlying fracture zones and interstratal cavities of sedimentary rocks, which in some places was expressed in the formation of cracks on the foundations of power units, even before the accident on April 26, 1986. These geological-tectonic and technogenic factors, which I have cited, were not taken into account by the designers when choosing a site for the construction of a nuclear power plant, since during the design and construction of these facilities in such seismically hazardous areas, it was necessary to apply design solutionsallowing to reduce seismic loads on the designed structures.
Since this ring structure is already elderly and has long been formed, in our time this type of earthquake (if it manifests itself) practically did not cause severe destruction and can be practically invisible, but with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, obviously, an exceptional case occurred, caused by a non-natural factor, but human.
Promotional video:
In addition to the mistakes of the designers made when choosing a site for the construction of a nuclear power plant, as well as plant personnel, who grossly violated the operating instructions and control rules at the 4th power unit, an even greater mistake was made by the military.
Figure: 2. Schematic structural and tectonic map of the Chernobyl exclusion zone
If we look at the schematic structural-tectonic map of the exclusion zone (Fig. 2), compiled by me based on the results of deciphering satellite and topographic maps, we will see a large number of military sites located among forests to the west of the cities of Korosten and Ovruch. Around them, in the form of a triangle, there were three high-precision secret military meteorological stations at a distance of 60-70 km from each other - Glushkovichinskaya, Norinskaya and Podlubinskaya. They had an extremely high sensitivity to a variety of underground nuclear explosions, and at the same time to all other natural phenomena and man-made events that could generate seismic waves. Still in the center of this triangle was the Druzhba quarry for the extraction of stone and processing into crushed stone, which belonged to the USSR Ministry of Defense. In all likelihood, before the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there was a secret military training ground for testing beam and tectonic (geophysical) weapons, which in those years were intensively developed by specialists from the United States and the USSR.
The essence of these types of weapons was that, when using them, it is possible to create a mechanism for artificially causing and targeting destructive natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tectonic movements, atmospheric disasters (tornadoes, typhoons, tornadoes), destruction of the ozone layer over certain territories, to certain areas, impact on water resources (floods, tsunamis, storms). As a tectonic weapon, at the initial stage, underground explosions of various strengths or ground vibrators specially installed in certain places were used, which caused vibrations in the earth's crust and initiated local earthquakes of certain strength. Based on the available materials (Fig. 2), at this secret test site, obviously,testing of these developments for the creation of directed artificial earthquakes and their control. For this, ground military sites and the Druzhba stone-mining quarry could be used, where wells were possibly drilled for underground explosions that caused small local earthquakes, and high-precision seismic stations located in the form of a triangle around them recorded and controlled the earthquakes caused during these tests.
In addition to this classified military training ground, in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant there was an over-the-horizon radar station with the Duga-2 complex, which was intended for early detection of launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as for use as non-traditional types of weapons (psychotropic, geomagnetic, seismic, meteorological). It consisted of two military camps - Chernobyl-2, which housed the receiving antenna nodes Dugi-2 and Lyubeche, with transmitting equipment. The construction of this Duga-2 complex in such proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was caused by its high energy intensity. In April 1986, before the accident at the 4th power unit, this complex was undergoing state tests [4].
The meaning of the work of this complex was to send powerful pulses with the help of a transmitter, which reached the territory of the United States through Northern Europe and Greenland, scanned it and returned back to the receiving installation. The sent out pulses of electromagnetic waves had a very strong effect on radio communications in many countries of the world, as a result of which complaints from many radio companies began to arrive. In this regard, the NATO countries, according to available information, installed a powerful transmitter in Norway, the electromagnetic field of which could create nonlinear effects in the ionosphere, interfering with the normal functioning of the receiving nodes of Dugi-2 [4]. As a result, the returned beams of powerful pulses of electromagnetic waves, perhaps, did not reach the receiving nodes, but were sprayed or displaced towards the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, penetrating into the upper layers of the earth's crust,thereby violating the geomagnetic, seismic, meteorological and psychotropic stability of this territory. In 1978, the journal "Specula" published research data that showed that electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency can freely pass through the earth [5]. Entering its surface at an angle of 30 degrees, they, together with electromagnetic waves emitted by the molten core of the Earth and penetrating to the surface through deep faults, can form standing waves in the upper layers of the earth's crust, especially in the zones of intersection of deep faults, which later provoked in these places small local earthquakes and atmospheric storms.that electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency can freely pass through the thickness of the earth [5]. Entering its surface at an angle of 30 degrees, they, together with electromagnetic waves emitted by the molten core of the Earth and penetrating to the surface through deep faults, can form standing waves in the upper layers of the earth's crust, especially in the zones of intersection of deep faults, which later provoked in these places small local earthquakes and atmospheric storms.that electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency can freely pass through the thickness of the earth [5]. Entering its surface at an angle of 30 degrees, they, together with electromagnetic waves emitted by the molten core of the Earth and penetrating to the surface through deep faults, can form standing waves in the upper layers of the earth's crust, especially in the zones of intersection of deep faults, which later provoked in these places small local earthquakes and atmospheric storms.which later provoked small local earthquakes and atmospheric storms in these places.which later provoked small local earthquakes and atmospheric storms in these places.
According to many experts and commissions, based on numerous published materials on the Internet, the main reasons for the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are personnel errors and design flaws in the reactor of the fourth power unit, which, during the tests on April 26, 1986, led to an increase in its operating capacity and overheating. However, according to the facts presented above, the main cause of the accident should be considered a local low-power earthquake (seismic shock), which fatally coincided with the errors of the personnel and the plant designers. This earthquake, obviously, was caused by natural tectonic causes, as well as artificial processes, which should include the military testing of tectonic weapons and the over-the-horizon Duga-2 radar station.
In all likelihood, these periodic military tests conducted by the USSR Ministry of Defense, as well as the intervention of NATO transmitting stations, jointly externally periodically affected the electromagnetic fields of the area, which could subsequently provoke this local earthquake, as well as atmospheric changes and oscillatory-vibration processes in the area the location of the receiving station of the Duga-2 complex and the Chernobyl NPP. As a result, the reactor, on which design tests were carried out at that time, shook, and its depressurization occurred, which led to the destruction of the reactor itself and a large-scale accident. It may resemble a boiling pot of water on an electric stove, when, when the pot overheats, the water boils in it, and if you push it a little, the lid on the pot will jump and water will splash onto the electric stove,causing a strong steam effect. It is likely that the same situation arose at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant with the fourth power unit. The rest of the power units operating in normal mode did not feel this seismic shock. Today it is not possible to confirm or deny these data, due to the lack of complete information.
The involvement of the military in the emergency situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is also evidenced by the fact that after the accident at the 4th power unit on April 26, 1986, all military units located within the placement of high-precision military seismic stations and the seismic stations themselves were urgently dismantled and exported to Kazakhstan, and the over-the-horizon radar station Duga-2 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Documents on these seismic stations with seismograms in 1994 were accidentally discovered in the archives of Alma-Ata, according to which seismologists confirmed that the main cause of the Chernobyl accident was a local earthquake [6]. As a result of this accident, for tens, and perhaps hundreds of years, huge land areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were exposed to radioactive contamination with the isotope of cesium-137,which today are abandoned and not involved in the national economy.
Analyzing the above facts, it can be assumed that during the construction of the Duga-2 radar station, as well as the periodic tests of tectonic weapons at a secret military range located to the west of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, military experts, as well as the builders of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, did not take into account the geological tectonic, geophysical and seismic data of this area. Subsequently, these tests led to the formation of a seismic stress focus in the area of intersection of activated deep faults and the ring structure, in which weak local earthquakes could manifest themselves at any time. One of such earthquakes caused the explosion of the reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and an extreme environmental disaster. Similar emergencies can occur at other nuclear power plants,if a complex of geological-geophysical and seismic studies of territories is not carried out in a timely manner, within the limits of their location.
Bibliography:
1. Barkovsky E. V. The geophysical cause of explosions at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Sasovo and other regions of the East European platform [Electronic resource] // Journal "ZhZFM", 2002, No. 1-12, p. 4-10. - Access mode: www.rusphysics.ru/artikles/305/
2. VN Strakhov, VI Starostenko, OM Kharitonov and others. "Seismic phenomena in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant." Geophysical journal, v. 19, No. 3, 1997.
3. Analysis of the version: “earthquake is the cause of the accident at the 4th unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on 26.04.86 [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: web.arhive.org/web/20081203191114/htto://pripyat.com/publications/version/2006/03/10/620.html
4. The Chernobyl accident - the result of sabotage [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: www.orossuu.com / 260411.htm
5. Chernobyl - 2, aka ZGRLS "Duga" - Masterok.zhzh. RF [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: master.livejournal.com / 918653.html
6. Mass media Chernobyl accident: Chernobyl fault [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: chepnobil.info/?p=895
Author: Stasiv Igor Vasilievich, geologist-ethnographer