On April 26, 1986, there was one of the largest nuclear disasters in the history of mankind and the largest disaster in the energy sector - the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The echoes of those events still haunt us, the scale of the damage caused is incalculable.
At half past one in the night, two successive explosions thundered at a nuclear power plant near the city of Pripyat. According to the official version, the cause of the disaster was the rupture of pipes in the cooling system, and the water, after reacting with zirconium, released a large amount of hydrogen, which exploded.
But, as it often happens, the official version and reality are two different things.
Swedish scientists concluded that the first explosion was nuclear, not thermal. They made such conclusions after analyzing a huge array of data, which included indicators of seismic stations, meteorological reports and eyewitness accounts.
The indicators of the isotopic composition of the atmosphere in the vicinity of Cherepovets, collected by employees of the Khlopin Radium Institute, became key in the study. According to these data, four days after the accident, two radioactive isotopes that do not occur in nature were discovered in this area - xenon-133 and xenon-133m.
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Then scientists analyzed the data of the meteorological services in those days and calculated under what conditions radioactive isotopes could reach Cherepovets. Only with a nuclear explosion with a capacity of 75 tons in TNT equivalent.
Thus, according to the Swedish version, during the planned shutdown of the reactor, a failure occurred in the nuclear reaction control system, which led to local nuclear explosions, powerful emissions of which knocked out protective covers - plates weighing up to 350 kg, pierced the roof of the reactor and rushed into the atmosphere.
Also, this version is confirmed by the words of eyewitnesses. Allegedly, the first explosion was accompanied by a blue glow, which, according to scientists, was caused precisely by the powerful release of plasma into the atmosphere. And to reach Cherepovets, radioactive substances had to rise to a height of about three kilometers, which again corresponds to the description of a nuclear explosion.
The Swedes found another confirmation of their own theory directly at the scene of the accident. The fact is that only the lower parts of the protective roof of the reactor were melted, and neither an explosion of steam, nor something similar could cause such damage.
An article with all the research results was published in the journal Nuclear Technology. Unfortunately, this only confirms the relevance of this topic. Of course, after years, the reasons for the accident are not so important, but the truth is more expensive. And such work can help to more clearly understand the consequences, which will be useful in eliminating them.