The puzzle of Chernobyl: Taken by surprise, technologists pose scenarios, map the radiation plume, and call for better emergency notification

News of the event itself - the world's worst nuclear reactor accident - emerged in an agonizing trickle. Answers about the cause of the explosion at Chernobyl and what can be done to prevent similar catastrophes in the electric utility industry may be even slower in coming. But already top nuclear experts in the United States and Europe have put forth plausible hypotheses.