The seemingly limitless power of the atom has been harnessed by scientists around the world since the Enola Gay flew over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and dropped the second atomic bomb, revealing to the world this new form of energy. The key to harnessing the energy of nuclear fission in a stable reaction came early, ushering in the nuclear age. Russia, emerging as a superpower and an important industrial center, has found particular needs for nuclear fission. From 1980-1990, the gross democratic product of the Russian Federation grew by 2.8% annually, comparable to 2.9% annually in the United States. To fuel this growth, the only cheap, convenient and efficient means of energy production was nuclear energy. The fission of 1 pound of uranium-235 produces the same energy as 1,500 tons of coal. The Cold War only increased this demand, and reactors soon served the dual purpose of providing energy, as well as producing weapons-grade plutonium. In fact, the first reactors were designed to produce plutonium, not to generate electricity. However, everything has its flaws and nuclear energy was no exception, with one of the heaviest repercussions in the event of an accident. April 26, 1986 is an excellent example of this. Chernobyl was not the first nuclear accident the world had ever faced, but it was certainly the worst for many years to come. Previous accidents such as Three Mile Island in the United States, Indian Point near New York and a partial meltdown in Leningrad predate Chernobyl. However, the 100 million curies of radiation emitted from the RMBK-1000 reactor puts Chernobyl on an entirely different scale than previous accidents. The failure to effectively prevent, contain, and respond to radiation emission… middle of paper… PS. Automatic controls should have been extended to almost all areas of maintaining normal operational limitations, especially given the quality of the scientists around Chernobyl. Izmailov, a veteran of Glavatomenergo, said: “It was practically impossible for us to find someone in the central management who knew a lot about reactors and nuclear physics. At the same time, however, the accounting, supply and planning department has grown to an incredible size.” While that may be a bit of an exaggeration, the fact remains that, with such incompetence, it would have been logical for the majority of security and maintenance to be performed through an automated system. Seven years before Chernobyl, the nuclear reactor meltdown on Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Unlike Chernobyl, however, no one was injured during the March meltdown 18, 1979.