ct regulator settings the reactor's power crashed to 30 MW from 1,000 MW which is too low for the test. At that point the operators would have abandoned the experiment, but they attempted to rescue it, for the next time they would be able to conduct would be in one year only. The senior authorities who had ordered the test would have been furious and would have found out the regulator problem. So theoperators decided, to pull out the stops to restore the reactor's power.2 Their third fatal mistake, was the pulling out of control rods. The plant's rule was to have thirty in at all times however they left all but six. By 1:00 Am the power risen to 200 MW, which was still to low for the experiment, however the operators continued. In a few minutes they made their fourth fatal error, by turning on two extra pumps to join the six that wee already cooling the core. This procedure under such low power caused a massive steam disorder. Their fifth fatal error was the turning off of the automatic shut off, which would turn off the reactor. At 1:23 a.m. on Saturday April 26, theworkers began the actual experiment. They made their sixth error, byturning off the last safety system. It took the shift manager thirtyseconds to realize what was happening and shouted at another operators to press button AZ-5 which would driven all the control rods back into the core, but because the rods were melted from serious heat they didn't fit properly into the core. As the manager gloomy eyed looked down at the control panel several loud banging noises were heard. Immediately the one thousand tone roof of the reactor blew off sky high, and brought down the giant two hundred tone refueling crane onto the core, destroying more cooling systems and 30 fires spread around the plant. Finally the over-heating and steam build up caused a second explosion which destroyed the reactor and part of the building. The graphite began to burn ferociously once exposed to air, as co...
