Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

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Mr . Chai rman :
I appreciate the opportunity to testify this morning on
the implication of the tragic Soviet nuclear accident at Chernobyl
on our domestic nuclear industry. Although we may never be
told the exact cause of the sequence of events at Chernobyl, I
believe we are in a position to put to rest some of the misconceptions
and misinformation which have been generated regarding
the accident; we can identify the basic differences in the safety
features of Chernobyl with those of other nuclear systems; and we
can Identify compelling arguments for the development of Inherently
safe advanced nuclear power in the United States.
In the first few days and weeks following the Chernobyl
accident, the media appeared to characterize the presence of a
graphite moderator in the core of the Soviet reactor as a major
contributor to the 1 oss-of-cool ant accident. From what has come
to light about the accident, I believe you will find now that the
technical concensus Is that the presence of graphite did not
Initiate the 1 oss-of-cool ant accident, contribute to the explosion,
or to the initial dispersion of radioactivity which occured
at Chernobyl .
The early identification of graphite as a trigger for
the accident was very surprising, since the use of graphite in
nuclear reactor designs has long been viewed as an additional
safety feature when coupled with appropriate coolant and fuel
design. In fact, the use of graphite as a fuel moderator is a
primary safety feature in both the U.S. and German design of what
Is arguably the most publicly acceptable of the inherently safe
advanced reactor designs, the Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled
Reactor .
Graphite, which has excellent nuclear properties, and Is
stable to very high temperatures, provides a large heat storage