quote:
Originally posted by foaly
well Chernobyl was kind off a disaster...
A disaster that spread radioactive dust over Western Europe, but as Volv correctly points out, the explosion was due to extreme coolant pressure. In fact, any nuclear powerplant that goes into 'meltdown' does something similar: an explosion caused by extreme coolant pressure.
Some modern designs of reactor are actually designed so an unmonitored reactor shuts itself down. I forget what the design is called, but I know I'd rather have that than the designs used at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.