sult of inadequacy the shutdown rods are part of the normal plant control system rather than being a separate emergency system. Again a fault in the control system also makes the emergency shutdown unable to function. Another weakness was that Chernobyl had only partial containment. Because of the partial containment the radiation went out the top of the reactor where there were no leak tight boxes. The hot fuel and graphite were exposed to air when they went out the top of the reactor. If there had been a completed containment, then the water and steam from the broken pipes would have dissolved almost all of the cesium and radioactive iodine that escaped. Even if the containment leaked the cesium and the iodine would not get out. Because the hot fuel and graphite were exposed to air this chemical reaction did occur. The operators had removed all of the control rods except for six. This action is against procedures. It is not safe for any reactor to operate with so many control rods removed. Besides the RBMK reactor was not designed to operate at such low power. The power generators of this reactor were run by steam forced through turbines. By the time the reactor exploded none of the turbines were turning and all of the steam was building. This steam broke every one of the pressure tubes and blew the entire top shield of the reactor.The damage was severe at Chernobyl. There were two explosions at the power station. The first one destroyed reactor number 4. The second explosion through burning lumps of graphite and reactor fuel into the air. These lumps caused several fires around the plant. The Chernobyl fire crew responded first, when they arrived they noticed that their help was not enough. The commander of the Chernobyl fire crew sent a signal to Pripyat the next closest town and the entire Kiev region asking for any fire brigade they could send. During this fire reactor 3 was still operating. This made the entire situation even mor...
