Chernobyl was caused by bad engineering and lack of communication between workers. Engineers were testing the reactor safety systems while another group of workers were doing another test. Several things happened to the reactor at once which caused a cloud of hydrogen gas, and the cloud exploded. This explosion breached the containment building and showered the area with radioactive material. The Soviet Union said nothing to the outside world at this point.

The material went up into the atmosphere, and eventually triggered radiation alarms in Scandanavia. The governments in the area questioned the Soviet Union, which is when news of the accident was released publicly. My question is and has always been how many accidents occurred in the former Soviet Union which we know nothing about. There are vast tracts of land in the heart of the former USSR which are uninhabitable because of the careless drive of the USSR to compete with the west at any cost. (China should take note. Dust storms are NOT normal in Beijing)

The reactors used in the west are not the same type as the reactors at Chernobyl. There used to be active carbon pile reactors in the US, but they have been shut down since the 1960's. It would be impossible for a western reactor to have the same type of accident due to the completely different design. Western safety systems even in the primitive carbon piles would have prevented a Chernobyl type accident.