Interesting. I’ll bet virtually everyone thinks it was an atomic explosion.
So, basically it was a giant “dirty bomb” instead.
Haha. Yeah, I guess it was the largest dirty bomb ever made.
And I think you are correct stating virtually everyone thinks it was an atomic explosion. They are usually shocked to hear that only 2 people died in the explosion and around 50 people died from acute radiation exposure while combating the fire. The WHO estimates about 4000 people will die from Chernobyl related cancers.
I live in NYC and for a while there was a movement to close the nearby Indian Point nuclear power plant. Fueled entirely by ignorance. It was always fun when an activist stopped me in street to talk to me about Indian Point being the real WMDs. They always come to a battle of wits unarmed.
For the record, American reactor designs are water moderated and have a negative temperature coefficient, meaning the hotter it gets, the slower the rate of reaction. This is why Three Mile Island did not explode like Chernobyl.
Chernobyl was graphite moderated and due to having a positive void coefficient, it effectively had a positive temperature coefficient when the coolant (water) turned into steam (or a void). This created a runaway reaction which became so hot all the coolant created a steam explosion.
Oh, and it looks like Chernobyl unit 5 is actually a little bit to the south east on the nearly island like peninsula, not to the north like I had initially said. You can see where unit 6 would be too.