Lessons of Chernobyl disaster, 30 years on

Chernobyl New Safe Confinement structure (NSC) under construction in Chernobyl,

Ahead of the April 26 anniversary, AFP looks at the steps taken since 1986 to improve nuclear safety around the world and—as Fukushima showed in 2011—the challenges that remain.
Only in the USSR?
Experts say a big factor behind the disaster was the unusual and poor design of the reactor, known as RMBK, particularly its propensity to sudden power surges—as happened at Chernobyl.
In addition, and unlike elsewhere outside the Soviet Union, there was no containment structure shielding the reactor to stop radioactivity escaping.
But there was also human error. According to the World Nuclear Association, the accident was also due to "the violation of operating procedures and the absence of a safety culture".
The aftermath was also poorly handled, with officials slow to evacuate locals and Moscow sending 600,000 "liquidators" with little or no protective gear to put out a fire that raged for 10 days.
The first alarm was raised on April 28, 1986, not by Russia but by Sweden after it detected an unexplained rise in radiation levels. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev did not admit the disaster had occurred until May 14.

A general view taken from a helicopter in April 1986 shows the destroyed fourth power block of Chernobyl's nuclear power plant few days after the nuclear catastrophe

The response
With enormous public outrage around the world Chernobyl, suddenly a household name, spurred an international push— even overcoming Cold War divisions—to improve atomic safety and reassure the public.
One of the most important steps was the 1989 creation of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), which carries out "peer reviews" of 430 reactors around the world to detect problems.
"The industry has undoubtedly learned the lesson that we are stronger together," WANO chief executive Peter Prozesky told AFP.
The demise of the Soviet Union and the end of its Cold War isolation has also removed barriers to international cooperation.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-04-lessons-chernobyl-disaster-years.html#jCp