this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
1018 points (97.7% liked)
Political Memes
11438 readers
1755 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
1) Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
2) No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
3) Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
4) No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
5) No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
If I recall, Chernobyl wasn't actually a nuclear meltdown or explosion. It was a pressure vessel explosion.
Was not a nuclear explosion, sure, reactors can't really explode in the same way as bombs, but it absolutely was a meltdown. Meltdown really just means that the fuel melted, which did happen shortly after the power peak flashed the coolant to steam and blew open the core.
Yep, just to add, it's entirely possible to have a melt down without any explosion at all. As you said, It just means the fuel melted through the reactor vessel. It can even happen without the fuel going prompt-critical.
It was absolutely a meltdown
Coolant flow stopped and they pushed the rods in rather than out, compounding the heat buildup. It was a pressure cooker explosion, followed by fissile material melting. It didn’t melt down on its own, it was guided.
You are correct, it was a rapid increase in heat that blew the lid and spread radioactive material everywhere, but the was no nuclear detonation.