The RBMK (Russian: реа́ктор большо́й мо́щности кана́льный, РБМК; reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalnyy, "high-power channel-type reactor") is a class of graphite-moderated nuclear power reactor designed and built by the Soviet Union. It is somewhat like a Boiling water reactor as water boils in the pressure tubes. It is one of two reactor types to be developed in the Soviet Union during the 1970s, the other being the VVER reactor. [3] The name refers to its design[4] where instead of a large steel pressure vessel surrounding the entire core, the core is surrounded by a cylindrical annular steel tank inside a concrete vault and each fuel assembly is enclosed in an individual 8 cm (inner) diameter pipe (called a "technological channel"). The channels also contain the coolant, and are surrounded by graphite.
The RBMK is an early Generation II reactor and the oldest commercial reactor design still in wide operation, although reactor units of the first generation type have all been decomissioned. Certain aspects of the original RBMK reactor design had several shortcomings,[5] such as the large positive void coefficient, the 'positive scram effect' of the control rods[6] and instability at low power levels—which contributed to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, in which an RBMK experienced an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction, leading to a steam and hydrogen explosion, large fire, and subsequent core meltdown. Radioactive material was released over a large portion of northern and southern Europe—including Sweden—where evidence of the nuclear disaster was first registered outside of the Soviet Union, and before the Chernobyl accident was finally communicated by the Soviet Union to the rest of the world.[7][8] The disaster prompted worldwide calls for the reactors to be completely decommissioned; however, there is still considerable reliance on RBMK facilities for power in Russia. Most of the flaws in the design of RBMK-1000 reactors were corrected after the Chernobyl accident and a dozen reactors have since been operating without any serious incidents for over thirty years.[9]
RBMK reactors may be classified as belonging to one of 3 distinct generations, according to when the particular reactor was built and brought online:[10][11]
Generation 1 - during the early-to-mid 1970's, before OPB-82 General Safety Provisions were introduced in the Soviet Union
Generation 2 - during the late 1970's and early 1980's, conforming to the OPB-82 standards issued in 1982
Generation 3 - post Chernobyl accident in 1986, where Soviet safety standards were revised to OPB-88, of which only Smolensk-3 was built to these standards
Nine RBMK blocks under construction were cancelled after the Chernobyl disaster, and the last of three remaining RBMK blocks at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was shut down in 2000.
As of April 2024, there are still seven RBMK reactors (Leningrad units 3 & 4; Smolensk units 1,2,3; Kursk units 3 & 4—all generation 2 unit apart from Smolensk-3), and three small EGP-6 graphite moderated light-water reactors (Bilibino units 2,3,4) operating in Russia.[1][12] All have been retrofitted with a number of safety updates. Only two RBMK blocks were started after 1986: Ignalina-2 (located in Lithuania, now decommissioned) and Smolensk-3.
^ ab"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-06-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"Russia shuts down Soviet-built nuclear reactor". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
^"RBMK Reactors | reactor bolshoy moshchnosty kanalny | Positive void coefficient – World Nuclear Association". www.world-nuclear.org. Archived from the original on 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2019-06-18.
^"Forsmark: how Sweden alerted the world about the danger of the Chernobyl disaster". Topics | European Parliament. 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
^Ascarelli, Brett (2019-05-31). "25 years after Chernobyl, how Sweden found out". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
^Chernov D., Sornette D. Man-made Catastrophes and Risk Information Concealment: Case Studies of Major Disasters and Human Fallibility. Springer. 2015. P. 71
The RBMK (Russian: реа́ктор большо́й мо́щности кана́льный, РБМК; reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalnyy, "high-power channel-type reactor") is a class of...
nuclear power plant in the world. The plant would eventually consist of four RBMK-1000 reactors, each capable of producing 1,000 megawatts (MW) of electric...
plant is almost identical to Chernobyl's structure having 2 first generation RBMK blocks followed by 2 second generation blocks. The 1991 American television...
RBMK reactor fuel was used in Soviet-designed and built RBMK-type reactors. This is a low-enriched uranium oxide fuel. The fuel elements in an RBMK are...
temperature set by the position of the control rods. In contrast, the Soviet RBMK reactor design used at Chernobyl, which uses graphite instead of water as...
(Lithuanian: Ignalinos atominė elektrinė, IAE) is a decommissioned two-unit RBMK-1500 nuclear power station in Visaginas Municipality, Lithuania. It was named...
an RBMK. RBMK emergency core cooling systems only have one division and little redundancy within that division. Though the large core of the RBMK is less...
end of the 1990s. Prototypical and older versions of PWR, CANDU, BWR, AGR, RBMK and VVER are among them. These are contrasted to generation I reactors, which...
Kanalniy (High Power Channel Reactor) (RBMK) [moderator: graphite; coolant: high-pressure water] A Soviet design, RBMKs are in some respects similar to CANDU...
is reflected in the Operating Procedures and design documentation for the RBMK-1000 is extremely contradictory", and furthermore, "ORM was not treated as...
essential to prevent core overheating, or in the worst case, core meltdown. RBMK reactors, like those at Chernobyl, use water as a coolant, circulated by...
The Leningrad NPP was the first power station in Russia to operate the RBMK type of reactor. Despite its age, in 2012 and 2013 the Leningrad NPP took...
of Russia's reactors are of the RBMK 1000 type, similar to the one at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Some of these RBMK reactors were originally to be...
analysis of nuclear safety] with any degree of competence... As for the RBMK reactor, you know, in reactor circles, it was considered a bad reactor. Viktor...
similar to that of Chernobyl NPP units 3-4, as both are later generation RBMKs. Construction began on the Smolensk NPP in the late 1970s. The NPP was originally...
the field of nuclear power, notably in its embrace of the controversial RBMK reactor design, which was developed with a priority on ease of local construction...
verdicts. Despite strong evidence that serious design flaws in the Soviet RBMK nuclear reactor were largely to blame for the accident, all defendants were...
Bryukhanov a new assignment – build an atomic power plant consisting of four RBMK reactors on the banks of the Pripyat River in Ukraine. Initially, Bryukhanov...
Russian third generation nuclear reactor design. It was a development of the RBMK nuclear power reactor. No reactor of such MKER type will continue to be developed...
graphite-moderated RBMK's risk of increased reactivity and large power transients in the event of a loss of coolant accident. The RBMK reactors were also...
the Obninsk pilot plant was later employed on a much larger scale in the RBMK reactors. The single reactor unit at the plant, AM-1 ("Атом Мирный", Atom...
March 2011. "Radiological and thermal characteristics of CASTOR RBMK-1500 and CONSTOR RBMK-1500 casks for spent nuclear fuel storage at ignalina Nuclear...
comparable safety with PWRs. In the light water cooled graphite moderated RBMK, a reactor type originally envisioned to allow both production of weapons...
shut down. Due to flaws in its original control rod design, scramming an RBMK reactor could raise reactivity to dangerous levels before lowering it. This...
or if said mechanism's response time is too slow. This happened in the RBMK reactor that was destroyed in the Chernobyl disaster as the automatic control...
maximum sentence of ten years. From prison he wrote letters trying to explain RBMK reactor flaws he had discovered, as well as to restore his and the other...