Why do nuclear power plants explode?

First of all, nuclear reactor explosions are nothing like nuclear bomb explosions. A nuclear bomb explosion is the release of kilotons of TNT equivalent fission energy in a microsecond. read more

Nuclear power plants do not explode with a nuclear explosion. In extreme cases there can be a steam explosion like in chernobyl and a hydrogen explosion like in fukushima. If your nuclear reactor doesnt use water as a moderator then these two scenarios are not going to happen. read more

In practice, however, a nuclear meltdown is often part of a larger chain of disasters (although there have been so few meltdowns in the history of nuclear power that there is not a large pool of statistical information from which to draw a credible conclusion as to what"often" happens in such circumstances). read more

Nuclear power plants cannot explode like an atomic bomb. For that to happen, the amount of 235U or plutonium would need to be far higher. The explosions caused in nuclear power plants happened due to the residual heat that could not be gotten rid of because the cooling system did not work anymore (Fukushima). read more