re: #128 Teukka

Yep. Dyatlov is on record saying that the RBMK-1000 shouldn’t have been in service, that had he known about its misbehaviours, he hadn’t done the safety test to begin with, or SCRAMmed at the tiniest sign of instability. Them keeping the incidents at Ignalina low-key is one of the reasons the Chernobyl staff didn’t know.

Also, recent research suggests that the cause of one of the explosions in Unit IV was not steam, but a “fizzle”, i.e. an incomplete nuclear detonation. That’s one thing which Western designs have several safety margins against in their designs.

I recall reading that some nuclear scientists have suggested that Chernobyl #4 went prompt critical.