I have a question about nuclear weapons. Anyone here know much about them?

[PamW]

95. The final event...

All of what you said happened BEFORE the explosion.

The reactor went sub-critical several times due to Xenon, and they "restored" it ( not to full power ) but to the power level for the test.

They exceeded control rod withdrawal limits, in attempt to keep the reactor critical.

All that was for setting up for this experiment.

However, when they thought they had everything ready for the experiment; they cut the power to the coolant pumps.

It looks like we are citing the same Wikipedia entry. Go to the part after what you quoted to the heading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

Experiment and Explosion

At 1:23:04 a.m. the experiment began. Four (of eight total) Main Circulating Pumps (MCP) were active. The steam to the turbines was shut off, and a run down of the turbine generator began.


Cutting the steam power to the coolant pump turbines was the coupe de grace.

That was the final error in a chain of errors.

PamW