RBMK

Diagram of RBMK reactor

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.

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.