48 Hours a Day

“Let’s talk about what happened early this morning.”

After a few questions, Besnova gradually shifted to the main topic.

Katarov subconsciously looked at the three players not far away. He could already tell that the expert group was led by the three people on the other side. They stood on the other side of the room as if playing the role of a jury, whispering to each other to exchange opinions from time to time. They spoke in a low voice, but there was a distance between the two sides, so he did not know what they were talking about.

Thus, the deputy engineer could only look away and rewind his thoughts to a few hours ago.

“In the early morning of the 26th, we were conducting a safety test,” Katarov recalled. “You should be clear about the content of the experiment because in January today, factory director Breuhanov reported the test procedure to the Institute of Hydroelectric Engineering…”

However, he was rudely interrupted by Besnova, “Comrade Katarov, you just need to tell us the details in full accuracy. As for what we already know and what we don’t know, you don’t have to worry. In addition, if possible, please explain clearly the principles involved. Dr. Evelyn also hopes to understand the incident.”

“Alright.”

Although Katarov was a little puzzled by Besnova’s words and did not understand why the experts of acute radiation disease would want to listen to the analysis of the accident, he still agreed. He organized his thoughts and continued, “In short, we were scheduled for a safety test. The original time was scheduled for April 25th, before the reactor was shut down for maintenance. As you know, the reactor needs to be shut for regular maintenance, and we could take the opportunity to do a straightforward safety experiment.

“Chernobyl uses a graphite-moderated boiling water reactor. Using the electricity generated, the water pump of the nuclear power plant can continuously pour cold water into the reactor, producing steam to drive the generator to generate electricity. At the same time, the high-temperature wastewater is carried away from the reactor to ensure that the core doesn’t melt down.

“I believe you can also see how important the water pump is in this process. We need to do everything possible to ensure the normal operations of the water pump.

“In an emergency, even if all the power in the nuclear power plant is cut off, we still have a backup diesel generator to power the pumps, but it takes a little while for the diesel generator to start, which means we have to keep the pumps running for a short period of time.”

Katarov tried to be as detailed as possible to ensure that even a layman like Dr. Yevreem could understand.

“This safety experiment is to solve this problem. We are considering using the inertia of the steam turbine—when the power is cut off, steam is still being produced, and the turbine still runs. This can generate electricity… and borrowing this part of the electricity can help us get through the difficulties.

“At 1:00 p.m., we lowered the power of the No.4 reactor to 1,600 megawatts according to the original plan and shut down a steam turbine. At 2:00 p.m., we cut off the emergency core cooling system and the multiple forced circulation circuits and were ready to carry out the safety experiment designed by Chief Engineer Fomin. However, at this time, we received a call from Kiev, saying that there was an accident at a small power station there, and the power supply in Kiev was tight, so we were asked to postpone the shutdown of the reactor.

“What could I have done? I could only suspend the experiment.” Katarov spread his hands, “I also went home and slept for a few hours during this time. When I came back, it was already 11 p.m. And an hour ago, I received permission to continue reducing the power. For this, I contacted the on-duty foreman of the reactor at that time, Yuri lliekub, and Akimov, who would take over from him. I clearly told them to continue reducing power from 1,000 to 700 megawatts according to the requirements of the experiment.

“After arranging the tasks, I left the control room and looked around to observe the situation before the power went out. Then, at 12:30, I returned to the control room. At that time, Akimov, Toptonov, Stoliarchok were in the control room. Tregov, who was supposed to be off work, was also there, along with a few other interns and someone else.

“I noticed that the power of the reactor had dropped to 30 megawatts, far below the 700 megawatts required for the test. I asked Akimov what was going on. He said that shutting down the local automatic control system and switching to manual control should solve this problem, so I approved him to continue increasing the power.

“After that, I left the control room again to observe the situation at the turbine. When I came back, the power of the reactor had risen to about 200 megawatts. We finally decided to conduct the test under this power. I called all the participants to give a briefing, then asked them to return to their posts to get ready.

“The safety experiment started at 1:23:04. Everything went smoothly, and all the operations were carried out according to the regulations. I was busy studying the readings on the instruments, and I heard Akimov say he would shut down the reactor. With that, he reached out and pressed the emergency power reduction button. Not long after that, I heard the sound of an explosion.”

“What happened?” Besnova asked.

“That’s what I want to know,” Katarov said. “After the explosion, I immediately left the control room to inspect the situation outside. In the end, I found that for some unknown reason, the emergency water tank of the protection and control system had exploded. That water tank was very large, 110 cubic meters. Such an explosion would have blown the roof off. If it were serious, it would blow up the entire reactor unit. Fortunately, the reactor below was still intact. I immediately ordered water to be injected into the reactor to keep the reactor stable. After that, I joined the rescue with the others.

“Around three o’clock, I received a call and went to the civil defense headquarters to report the accident to factory manager Bulihanov. Then, because I was not feeling well, I came to Pripyat Medical Center for treatment. That’s all I know.”

“The reactor was safe and sound. Are you sure, Comrade Katarov?”

“Yes, I am sure,” the deputy chief engineer said with affirmation. “I have been around the reactor since the accident.”

“What about the radiation?”

“Gorbachenko’s radiometer showed that the background radiation was 1,000 micro roentgen per second.”

“It doesn’t sound good.”

“Yes, there’s no doubt that there was a radiation leak, but fortunately, it’s still under control. We’ll get through it,” Katarov said.

“Is that so? But as far as I know, 3.6 roentgen happens to be the upper limit of small-scale radiometers,” Besnova said coldly. “Why doesn’t the nuclear power plant have one of a larger range?”

Katarov was silent for a moment. “Yes, there is one. We have a measuring instrument with a range of 1,000 roentgen, but it was locked in a safe and buried under the debris of the building. “But the values shouldn’t be too far off. After all, it only blew up a water tank.”