Part 1 The Chernobyl Disaster Explained 1986 | A Brief History of Documentary

Fancy another Nuclear video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0xNzLp5b3c

The Soviet bureaucracy is so depressing. Like, "Oh hey, what if something goes wrong?" "Good point, comrade. Let's just not think about that because THE STATE IS INFALLIBLE."

"It happened late Friday night. That morning no one suspected anything. I sent my son to school, my husband went to the barber's. I'm preparing lunch when my husband comes back. "There's some sort of fire at the nuclear plant," he says. "They're saying we are not to turn off the radio." I forgot to say that we lived in Pripyat, near the reactor. I can still see the bright-crimson glow, it was like the reactor was glowing. This wasn't any ordinary fire, it was some sort of shining. It was pretty. I'd never seen anything like it in the movies. That evening everyone spilled out onto their balconies, and those who didn't have them went to friends' houses. We were on the ninth floor, we had a great view. People brought their kids out, picked them up, said, "Look! Remember!" And these were people who worked at the reactor -- engineers, workers, physics instructors. They stood in the black dust, talking, breathing, wondering at it. People came from all around on their cars and their bikes to have a look. We didn't know that death could be so beautiful. " -Nadezhda Petrovna Vygovskaya, evacuee from the town of Pripyat I get chills whenever I think of that quote.

My uncle was one of the liquidators, his daughter. Born after the accident couldn't grow hair until she turned 8. He ended up dying from leukaemia when he was in his 50's. It's always been speculated by doctors that the work at Chernobyl caused it.

alternate title: how cutting costs in reactor design yeeted the lid of a reactor through the roof.

Waiting an extra week for a 40 minute video about chernobyl is definitely worthwhile.

Operator: "Anatoly, what do we do now?" Dyatlov: "Pass..." I'll get my lead lined rubber coat...

I was born just mere months before this tragedy. My father says he was meant to be sent to the plant by authorities to be one of the liquidators. But my birth gave him the opportunity to dismiss the order. He often says I am his savior. I love my dad. I am glad he could avoid being exposed to the radiation.

My grandfather is one of the liquidators and I am proud of him. I say IS because he is still alive to this day!

How does a Soviet RBMK reactor explode? A: It doesn’t B: It was the hydrogen tank C: 3.6 Roentgens; not great, not terrible D: He’s in shock, get him out of here

I appreciate the fact that you didn't simplify the displacement rods as "graphite tips on the control rods." I HATE that simplification because it leads to all sorts of bizarre ideas of why they would be designed that way.

In April 1986 I was at University in London. Two of my social group were taking Degrees in Nuclear Engineering. On day after the accident they explained how the RBMK design had been studied on their course as the ultimate example of 'How not to design a Reactor'. There were so many good Teaching Points, practically every aspect of the design (or every aspect then known in the West) allowed the lecturer to say 'This is bad because ...'

Having spent my entire life living around and working in nuclear power plants, it is so incredibly painful to learn about the failures of Chernobyl. There are so many ways that the disaster could have been avoided, and even a simple containment dome would have either completely negated, or largely mitigated, the effects of the explosion. It breaks my heart that so many people view this disaster as a reason to vilify nuclear power. Thank for taking the time to research and produce this video!

I've probably watched 7 dozen Chernobyl docs over the years, but I am so very down for another if it's a Plainly Difficult doc.

Plainly difficult uploads 40 min vid with a disaster rating of 10 My brain: click it. Click it now.

It's insane that they kept operating Unit 3 until 2000.

My grandfather was a liquidator. He wasn't directly at the unit, but he was a part of a cleanup, as he was a soldier, and then he has, for the rest of his service, been a part of a guard that was controlling the exclusion zone He was my icon of what a man should be, very organized, with strong will, always calm and collected He didn't die from his radiation-connected diseases, but from coronavirus... I couldn't believe that the virus was what took him, and I miss him every day Rest in peace, Viktor, we will always remember you

What's crazy is that divers who went in after the meltdown are still alive and just live normal lives... Correction: 2 are still alive

We all know about Chernobyl, but I love how deep you get into disasters like this. The technical aspects, the buildup and causes, the aftermath and everything in between. Thanks again for another thoroughly interesting video. I look forward to the next one(s).

I've watched a lot of documentaries about this and this is the first time I've ever heard what the test actually was and why they were doing it.