Re: chernobyl and geophysics

In article <445769f2$1@xxxxxxxxxx>, Thierry wrote:
There are flows of solidified lava hanging on the walls in a room that is
located under the basement. It looks very much like the consequences of a
volcano's eruption.

I did a bit more research on this. In the OECD's 2002 update on the accident
(http://www.nea.fr/html/rp/reports/2003/nea3508-chernobyl.pdf) they describe part of
the events thus :

The further sequence of events is still speculative, although elucidated
with the observation of residual damage to the reactor (Si94, Si04a, Si94b). It is
suggested that the melted core materials settled to the bottom of the core shaft,
with the fuel forming a metallic layer below the graphite. The graphite layer had
a filtering effect on the release of volatile compounds. But after burning without
the filtering effect of an upper graphite layer, the release of volatile fissions
products from the fuel may have increased, except for non-volatile fission
products and actinides, because of reduced particulate emission. On day 8 after
the accident, the corium melted through the lower biological shield and flowed
onto the floor. This redistribution of corium would have enhanced the
radionuclide releases, and on contact with water corium produced steam,
causing an increase of radionuclieds at the last stage of the active period.

This sounds very like what your Pravda writer is reporting.

Also, your Pravda article claims
No official report on the accident ever mentioned
geophysical anomalies preceding the disaster, according to Valery Vasiliev,
who worked for IAEA from 1984 to 1888.

This claim is demonstrably false (assuming that the article was written in 2005, not
considerably earlier). From the same OECD paper I find :
Some medias had reported a sismic origin of the accident, however the
scientific credibility of the paper at the origin of this rumour (St98) has been
discarded.

[Yes, economists don't have "seismic" in their spelling checkers.]
And the reference:
St98 Strakhov, V.N., V.I. Starostenko, O.F. Kharitonov, F.F. Aptikaev,
E.V. Barkovsky, O.K. Kedrov, A.V. Kendzera, Yu.F. Kopnichev,
V.D. Omelchenko and V.V. Palienko, Seismic Phenomena in the Area of
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plan, Geophys. J., 1998, vol. 17, pp. 389-409

I'll see if I can dig out a copy of the paper from somewhere. But
essentially, the Ukraine and Belarus are low seismic areas. Seismic events aren't a
significant constraint on buildings there.

--
Aidan Karley, FGS
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10'11" N, 02°08'43" W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233

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