Design Flaws and Safety Issues
As an early Generation II reactor based on 1950s Soviet technology and optimized for speed of production over redundancy, the RBMK was designed and constructed with several design characteristics that proved dangerously unstable when operated outside their design specifications. The decision to use a superheated, vacuum-isolated graphite core with natural uranium fuel allowed for massive power generation at only 1/4th the expense of heavy water reactors, which were more maintenance-intensive and required enriched uranium already earmarked for the Soviet nuclear weapons industry. However, it also had unexpected negative consequences that would not reveal themselves fully until the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
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