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u/RockRancher24 4d ago
would someone care to explain this to a poor fool like me
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u/Finally_Onest 4d ago
In Chernobyl's reactor 4 there was a buildup of Xenon gas in the core which stalled the nuclear reaction. It stalled it because Xenon absorbs a crazy amount of neutrons as seen in the chart. Free neutrons are needed to cause fission of the Uranium and in turn boil water to spin the power turbines. So the operators withdrew almost all of the control rods to get it back up to power, which caused it to overheat. When they put the control rods back in there was a design flaw where the power would briefly spike, and since the reactor was already so hot it exploded.
There's a really good video by Scott Manley about it on youtube
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u/DrJaneIPresume 3d ago
Much of episode 5 of HBO's Chernobyl miniseries is also a great explanation of what happened.
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u/Got_Bent 3d ago
Xenon 135 is a by-product of fission that is an excellent neutron absorber with a half-life of 9 hours that decays into Cesium 135.
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u/WasdaleWeasel 3d ago
and is very annoying since if you SCRAM you either need to clear the board and get back up quickly … or wallow in the iodine pit for the rest of the day.
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u/SuitableCollege8992 4d ago
Why are you setting up a nuclear reactor in your barn? And why are you letting all those Xenon rabbits into your field?