Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Did Graphite in the Chernobyl Reactor Burn?

Did Graphite in the Chernobyl Reactor Burn?

In two previous posts, " Does Nuclear Grade Graphite Burn?," and "Did the Graphite in the Windscale Reactor Burn?" I reviewed a number of reports and other information sources on Nuclear Graphite Flamibility. Although I did not come to a firm conclusion, i did find strong evidence that Nuclear Graphite does not burn under many conditions in which one would expect fire. There is also startling evidence that at least one of the the two reactor fires which are attributed to graphite, the Windscale accident, appears to have not involved a graphite fire. I concluded my Windscale review with the statement,

Given these facts, the assertion that there was a core graphite fire at Chernobyl ought also to be revisited.
This post considers several reports that are relivant to an evaluation of the role of graphite in te Chernobyl fire.

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