During the Chernobyl disaster, the reactor’s fuel rods were central to how a routine safety test spiraled into catastrophe! When operators improperly shut down the reactor, its power unexpectedly surged. Control rods with graphite tips were inserted to halt the reaction, but a design flaw caused a brief increase in reactivity instead of an immediate decrease. This sudden spike overheated the fuel rods, causing them to rupture and rapidly turn surrounding water into steam. The resulting steam exp