2. RBMK reactor safety

RBMKs are boiling-water reactors using uranium oxide as fuel, graphite as moderator and ordinary water to discharge the energy produced [BN 3 215] . The fuel assemblies are individually enclosed in pressure tubes placed in the graphite stack.

Derived from an earlier concept initially used for plutonium production, they were all installed in the former USSR. In all, seventeen RBMK reactors were commissioned: eleven in Russia, four in Ukraine (Chernobyl) and two in Lithuania (Ignalina). Without vessels or steam generators, these reactors had the advantage of being able to be built and assembled...