The World : Chernobyl Test Explained
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The experiment that caused the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was a poorly planned attempt to test whether a turbine generator could keep operating after a reactor shutdown, a Soviet official said. The news conference explanation by Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov was the first such account since the April 26 accident at the No. 4 reactor that so far has resulted in 28 deaths. The Soviet Communist Party’s ruling Politburo said last weekend that the accident at the Ukrainian power plant was the result of improperly supervised experiments and gross negligence.
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