RBMK

The RBMK (Roushie: Реактор Большой Мощности Канальный Reaktor Bolshoy Moshchnosti Kanalnyy, “High Power Channel-type Reactor”) is a class o graphite-moderated nuclear reactor designed an built by the Soviet Union.

Diagram of RBMK reactor

The RBMK is an early Generation II reactor an the oldest commercial reactor design still in wide operation. Certain aspects o the RBMK reactor design, such as the active removal o decay heat, the positive void coefficient properties, the graphite-tipped control rods an instability at low pouer levels, contributed tae the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, in which an RBMK experienced a meltdown during a mishandled test, an radioactivity was released over a muckle portion o Europe. The disaster prompted worldwide calls for the reactors tae be completely decommissioned; however, there is still considerable reliance on RBMK facilities for power in Russia. The imperfections in the design o RBMK-1000 reactors were eliminated soon after the Chernobyl accident an a dozen reactors have since been operatin without any serious incidents for over twenty years. While nine RBMK blocks under construction were cancelled after the Chernobyl disaster, an the last o three remaining RBMK blocks at the Chernobyl Nuclear Pouer Plant was finally shut doon in 2000, as of December 2017 there were still 11 RBMK reactors, an four small EGP-6 graphite moderated light water reactors operatin in Russia, though all have been retrofitted with a number o safety updates.