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Publication Laka-library:
Chernobyl. Unique safety valve for a reactor nuclear explosion (1992)

Author	Dg Arnott / RD Green
Date	March 1992
Classification	2.34.8.10/40 (CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT - CONSEQUENCES SURROUNDINGS - GENERAL)
Front

Introduction

In June 1990 an article appeared in 'Nuclear Technology' called "An Analysis of the 
Physical Causes of the Chernobyl Accident". The authors (Jose Martinez-Val et al of
Madrid Polytechnic University Institute of Nuclear Fusion) cite results from extensive 
computer modelling based on the known Soviet data, from which the only conclusion 
consistent with scientific principles is that the primary cause of the destruction of 
Unit 4 on 26 April 1986 was a nuclear explosion. This contradicts the report of the 
British nuclear power establishment, which concluded that it was primarily a steam 
explosion. The Spanish analysis, drawing upon 46 published studies of the 
catastrophe, provides important evidence missing from the UK report. Also for the 
first time it unravels the mystery of why there were two explosions. However, it ends 
by echoing the nuclear industry's unverifiable assertion that "a reactivity accident 
cannot happen in a Western reactor".

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