ABSTRACT

At 01.23 local time on 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl No. 4 reactor accelerated from a fraction of full power to 100 times full power in just 4 seconds, causing an explosive generation of steam. The details of what happened internally as a result of this surge are described in Section 3, but the explosion lifted the enormous 1000 tonne roof off the building, tipping it on to its side, and spewed burning debris over the site.