Editing Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (section)

=== Turbo generators ===
[[File:Chernobyl_Power_Station_aerial_view.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Computer-generated synthesis drawing of all 4 units prior to the accident viewed from NW]]
Electrical energy was generated by a pair of 2x500&nbsp;MW [[hydrogen-cooled turbo generator]]s per unit. These are located in the {{convert|600|m|ft|0}}-long machine hall, adjacent to the reactor building. The turbines—the venerable five-cylinder [[K-500-65/3000 steam turbine]] were supplied by the [[Kharkiv]] turbine plant; the electrical generators are the TBB-500. The turbine and the generator rotors are mounted on the same shaft; the combined weight of the rotors is almost {{convert|200|t|ST}} and their speed was 3,000 [[revolutions per minute]].<ref name="rosenergo">{{cite web|url=http://snpp.rosenergoatom.ru/eng/about/production/|title=Energoatom Concern OJSC Smolensk NPP About the Plant Generation|language=ru|publisher=Snpp.rosenergoatom.ru|date=April 30, 2008|access-date=March 22, 2010}}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=January 2017}}

The [[turbo generator]] is {{convert|39|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} long and its total weight is {{convert|1200|t|ST|abbr=on}}. The coolant flow for each turbine is 82,880 t/h. The generator produced 20&nbsp;kV 50&nbsp;Hz AC power. The generator's stator was cooled by water while its rotor was cooled by [[hydrogen]]. The hydrogen for the generators was manufactured on-site by [[electrolysis]].<ref name="rosenergo"/> The design and reliability of the turbines earned them the State Prize of Ukraine for 1979.

The Kharkiv turbine plant later developed a new version of the turbine, K-500-65/3000-2, in an attempt to reduce use of valuable metal. The Chernobyl plant was equipped with both types of turbines; block 4 had the newer ones. The newer turbines, however, turned out to be more sensitive to their operating parameters, and their [[bearing (mechanical)|bearings]] had frequent problems with vibrations.<ref name="vibrationspecialists">{{cite web |title=Последняя командировка – Архив – Forum on pripyat.com |url=http://forum.pripyat.com/archive/index.php/t-2030.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131105355/http://forum.pripyat.com/archive/index.php/t-2030.html |archive-date=January 31, 2016 |access-date=March 22, 2010 |publisher=Forum.pripyat.com}}</ref>