The Reactor, part 1


Reactor number four was scheduled for routine maintenance this cold April morning. Nothing new or different from the countless times before. Maintenance was like rest, a constant need. There is not a plant, office building or factory that doesn’t have a maintenance department, there always seems to be something in need of repair. All have something to maintain.

On April 26, 1986 the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant had scheduled routine maintenance for Reactor 4. The decision was made to take advantage of the maintenance shutdown to run a test. They wanted to find out if enough power could be generated during shut down to operate emergency equipment and core cooling pumps. They were about to find this out and much more.

Unfortunately the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant had a history of poor safety procedure. There are few places one can get away with poor safety procedures, men might say the bathroom, but I am sure no one would think of a nuclear power plant. At 1:23 a.m. technicians at the plant began the process of the shutdown and the test.

The reactor was to be shutdown to 1,000 MW, which means very little to me but to someone running a nuclear power plant capable of producing one gigawatt of electric power, it matters. Instead of shutting down to the prescribed wattage the operator allowed it to fall to 30 MW. Now, math was never a strong subject but even I can figure out the problem here.

The technicians in charge immediately attempted to remedy the problem, but instead of correcting their mistake they only managed to make it worse. Isn’t that so often what happens? The actions we take to correct inevitably inflame. On April 19, the Chernobyl Power Plant’s fourth reactor overheated, causing a meltdown of the reactor core.

The meltdown caused two massive explosions that sent clouds of deadly radioactive materials drifting over farms and fields, cities and lakes. The disaster was 100 times worse then that of Hiroshima. The core broke, cracked, melted down, and with it came disaster.

Another meltdown, another core cracks.

I’d like to jump back even further now. Not ten years or twenty, not even 2,000. I would like to move back to look at another disaster. These two disasters have a great deal in common.

Unlike the Chernobyl Power Plant which had certain design flaws which were exasperated by careless safety procedures, this plant, or better put planet’s, design was perfect, as perfect as its Creator.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:1,2

I wonder at times if I miss the magnificence of the occasion. Could the familiarity of the verses keep me from seeing exactly what is being said? Imagine the crackle, the energy, the pure excitement that must have been present at that moment. There was nothing and then there was something. It wasn’t just something, it was really S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G!

I have a friend who once created the world’s largest burrito. Okay, he had help, lots of help, but still he was part of its creation. He has explained in detail the construction of this giant burrito. The hundreds of people involved with planning. The special grill that was constructed for the effort, the massive amounts of preparation that went into the day. I am amazed at the amount of beef and cheese, the gallons of salsa and sour cream. My stomach always gets a little queasy when he explains how they constructed their creation. With snow shovels to scoop and flip, throw and spread. With oars to stir and chemical sprayers to shoot. The special tortilla that was created and how thick it had to be.

It was a twelve foot burrito. You couldn’t use your mother’s spatula for this cooking. Pampered Chef doesn’t have a catalog big enough or a product specialized enough for this creation. Go to Taco Bell and purchase a burrito, pull it out of the wrapper and try to imagine extrapolating (big word I thought worked) that out to 12 feet. It was an incredible event.

Now I have a weak stomach so I can’t even imagine how I would have ate such a creation. When they finally finished, the cooking, the spreading, the cutting, my friend said it was the worst tasting burrito he had ever eaten. They did find a place in the Guinness Book of Records for them, fortunately a tantalizing taste was not required.

Imagine what it was like creating the world. No shovels, not two inch shells, God simply spoke it into being. This creation we are discussing was simply talked into existence. I have trouble getting our dog to sit, let alone come and fetch, and yet God said “Let there be light,”1 and there was light. My friend went to great lengths to get their names in a book, God created his so we could get our names in His book.

And unlike my friends giant twelve foot burrito that tasted like a snow shovel, God saw that it was good. At each turn and with each breath. God could see that His creation, yes His creation, was good. Then it came.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” Genesis 1:26a

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female he created them... Genesis 1:27,

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.Genesis 1:31a

Let’s take a moment to rest here, God did. Let’s take a moment to remember, God gave an entire day, to think about the perfect creation. God was there, Jesus was there that day, John attests to this truth in the gospel of John and the Holy Spirit was there on the water, a part of God’s perfect creation.

You know where this story is going don’t you. Just like Chernobyl, we can return to the scene of the disaster. Just like Chernobyl, we can go back and understand why. But just as with Chernobyl, we are helpless to stop, or alter the consequences in any way.

God established man and woman as his ultimate maintenance department. He gave them His wonderful pristine creation and said this is what you need to do to maintain it. I admit that sometimes I struggle with directions but these? He tells them to be fruitful and increase in number, I have never seen this as an issue. He gave instruction that man and woman were to have authority over all living creatures. He gave us a grocery list that anyone would envy. Then He explained that there was only one tree that’s fruit was not to be eaten.

Adam and Eve, like the technicians at Chernobyl, were careless. They paid little attention to the safety procedures that had been established. Eve shows this lack of concern when she can’t even remember exactly what God said to them in regards to the tree. She misquotes God’s safety instructions. And just as a lack of concern doomed the number four reactor along with the entire Chernobyl Power Plant, a lack of concern doomed Adam and Eve along with all creation.

The reports after the Chernobyl disaster identified a “lack of a safety culture” in the plant. Genesis chapter three shows a lack of a safety culture in man. The choice was given and man chose sin. I don’t know the exact time but I do know it took place in the cool of the day. I’m uncertain of the season, not sure if I could identify the month, but I can see the results.

Just as the core of reactor four melted down, cracked and broke, creation itself, what God had called good, melted down that day. With one bite of the trees’ fruit, sin entered creation, and it hasn’t been the same since. We can return to Chernobyl to see the damage, with creation there is no need. We need look no further than the mirror.