Editing Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (section)

=== Computer systems ===
SKALA (Russian: СКАЛА, система контроля аппарата Ленинградской Атомной; ''sistema kontrolya apparata Leningradskoj Atomnoj'', "Control system of the device of the Leningrad Nuclear [Power Plant]", lit. "rock"<ref name="abbrs">{{Cite web |title=Что означают различные аббревиатуры и сокращения? – Сайт г. Припять. Чернобыльская авария. Фото Чернобыль. Чернобыльская катастрофа. |url=http://pripyat.com/faq/chto-oznachayut-razlichnye-abbreviatury-i-sokrashcheniya.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118014028/http://pripyat.com/faq/chto-oznachayut-razlichnye-abbreviatury-i-sokrashcheniya.html |archive-date=January 18, 2019 |website=pripyat.com |language=ru}}</ref>) was the process computer for the RBMK nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant prior to October 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RBMK Reactors &#124; reactor bolshoy moshchnosty kanalny &#124; Positive void coefficient – World Nuclear Association |url=https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/appendices/rbmk-reactors.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406084037/http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/appendices/rbmk-reactors.aspx |archive-date=2020-04-06 |access-date=2019-12-19 |website=www.world-nuclear.org}}</ref> Dating to the 1960s, it used [[magnetic-core memory]], [[magnetic tape data storage]], and [[punched tape]] for loading software.

SKALA monitored and recorded reactor conditions and control board inputs. It was wired to accept 7200 analog signals and 6500 digital signals.<ref>State Committee for Using the Atomic Energy of USSR, THE ACCIDENT AT THE CHERNOBYL AES AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, Vienna, Austria, 25–29 August 1986.</ref> The system continuously monitored the plant and displayed this information to operators. Additionally, a program called PRIZMA (Russian: ПРИЗМА, программа измерения мощности аппарата; ''programma izmereniya moshchnosti apparata'', "Device power measurement program", lit. "prism"<ref name="abbrs" />) processed plant conditions and made recommendations to guide plant operators. This program took 5 to 10 minutes to run, and could not directly control the reactor.<ref>Howieson & Snell, [https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/21/020/21020362.pdf Chernobyl – A Canadian Technical Perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629213405/https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/21/020/21020362.pdf|date=2020-06-29}}, January 1987 (PDF).</ref>