With the release of the highly acclaimed HBO mini-series, Chernobyl has once again caught the attention of the world. While the dramatization of the events portrayed on the show offered audiences a compelling narrative, there is still much more to understand about this disaster and its lasting impact. Kyle takes an in depth look at not only how the Chernobyl meltdown came to happen, but how its aftermath will continue to haunt us for centuries.
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Because Science every Thursday.
Learn More:
DR. ZOLLER’S ELEPHANT’S FOOT PHOTO: digitalcollections.lib.washin...
CORIUM: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corium_...)
THE MOST FAMOUS PHOTO AT CHERNOBYL WAS A SELFIE”: www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
INTRODUCTION TO THE DISASTER: www.idahoquad.com/OOPS.html
THE RBMK REACTOR: energyeducation.ca/encycloped...
VOID COEFFICIENT: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_co...
THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT: www.world-nuclear.org/informat...
CHERNOBYL’S DISASTER TIMELINE: www.chernobylgallery.com/chern...
Thanks for watching super nerds! I know this was a bit different than our normal episodes, but if you like the more real science angle, let me know and reply below with suggestions! And of course, I couldn't get to every single detail in a 14min video that I only have so long to write. I did simplify and leave some things out. Look to the comments below for context from the other nerds! See you on Friday. -- kH
The photographer clearly didn't bring any rad-x or radaway with him
Like all your videos Kyle, this is a great and educational. Thank you for your hardwork.
@@eqs1782 I appreciate that Eddie, thank you. Sometimes it can be a real grind. -- kH
I do like the more serious nature of this video. I like explanation of real life happenings and how they came to pass. I think it should be done often, but more as a different paced treat. The hyper silly antics between you and your markers bring out your fun character and makes science attractive for all audiences. So in short, more of this please.. But just a bit more.
Great video guys always love this Channel first suggestion can you do an explanation of the final episode of Umbrella Academy where they use sound to blow up the Moon and it crashes into the Earth?
I love when Thor schools me on nuclear disaster.
@@queennidus2249 .....
Queen Nidus bootleg Jesus? You mean bootleg Obi-Wan
Thor was scandinavian. This hurt me on so many levels
Too bad he skinny
he really does look like Thor mixed with Steve Rogers
"oh that thing over there looks weird it looks like an elephants foot haha" *cough blood*
*dies*
F [also dies]
You don’t insult the foot
KK Studios you also don't lick it
Starts *puking Blood*
That moment you realize that the nuclear reactor is just a big steam engine without coal. Go science
Pretty much the majority of all our efficient power comes from the turning of turbines. Nuclear, Coal, Nat. Gas etc all are just burnt to spin that wheel.
Could probably work with other forms of energy if possible and life would be boomin if it'll last for another millenia
@@godleftmeraw89 *humans*
*Thomas the Thermonuclear Bomb?*
Yea the dirtier methods including nuclear (I’m not sure why he said that was a clean energy cause it produces several 100 pounds of waste and gallons of heavy water 🤦🏾♀️) make the ppl that built them way more money then actual clean versions like wind turbines or solar panels or clean fuel like corn fuel or regular water turbines would make it’s all about money in the long run unfortunately
The elephants foot is now literally the real life equivalent of the „sealed evil in a can“ trope. “So what did ya do with the evil demon you created?” “It was too powerful to be defeated, so we sealed it away, underground, in a specially designed container, and hope it will never manage to escape, or worse, be freed”
The elephants foot is the only thing I can think of on earth that is basically a real life Eldritch horror
"In fact, I think its rad... " This was when I knew I was in the right place.
I watch Kyles videos for some great comedy
Deggo why do u have mark as your pic
Master Azzan, because I find this picture of Mark absolutely hilarious
I rate that pun at 3.6 roentgens.
@@deggo9925 Hey! Just like my pic of Jack! (This is from one of the videos where he was playing that one Dinosaur game. I forget what the game is called but this specific moment was when he was hiding from a T-Rex and it juuussssttt about found him) damn amazing!
On the plus side...the Russians DID find out how their reactor would perform under a low power condition. 💥
We all learned a lot from it.
Slappy ...Yes, true. One thing about a nuclear reactor disaster, Chernobyl, Fukushima, people don't forget about them like they do other disasters. It's because this shit does not go away. It is beyond the world's capability to deal with the aftermath. Nuke plants are the best way to make electricity but when they go bad..they are the worst.
LOL!!!! Yes indeed! LMAO!!!!
Seinfeld theme intensifies.
Oh Holy Sh*t,,, this made me laugh out loud. >.< ...but with that ``it`s so true.. Funny but not funny` I don`t know quite how to feel``~ laugh. I guess the only real way to feel after something like this occurs. . . .seriously tho, i still have tears... Lol Thank you.
10:00 "Writes 10,000 R/hr" Me: No no, my dosimeter reads 3.6
not great, not terrible
It’s dosimeter
@@impostor6348 fixed
*melts internals*
“There’s graphite outside!” “Take this man to the infirmary, he’s delusional.”
6:39 “It created a steam explosion that dislodged the top shield of the reactor. It weighed 2 million pounds.” Damn bro
Still lighter than Dyatlovs mom
For my metric inclined comrades, that's 900 tonnes.
@@raptorcell6633 that’s like... a least a small car
@@baconwizard nah, at least a couple of them
Hearing that gave me a horrid mental image of the guy that was in the room above the reactor just being completely obliterated by that lid exploding... Poor guy.. :(
When one your nuclear reactors in Chernobyl fulfills the 5 year plan for heat energy production in 4 microseconds
Profit?
Stonks
spid
Death?
*stonks*
I love how something as sophisticated as a Nuclear Reactor is basically a really fancy water wheel.
Well, you're not wrong. Most power plants are essentially water wheels.
20th century science nerds: we have the literal power of the universe. Lets use it to spin giant fans!
Try steam engine. Idiots.
That's why we at one point we were looking into Aneutronic Helium-3 fusion reactors. You could use the specific ions created in the reaction's plasma to generate electricity directly. Theoretically at least. Apparently, you need to control the release of fusion material precisely enough to avoid creating unwanted ions or excess protons. One of the many reasons why more "traditional types" of fusion are the current focus instead of Aneutronic reactors.
Yeah, the reaction produces heat, and the turbines produces electricity. This is pretty basic. (getting solar power to work is more high-tech) If you bunch up the radioactive fuel it will start to produce heat by itself, as explained in the video. Controlling the reaction and not fucking up is the hard part.
"You didn't see graphite BECAUSE IT'S NOT THERE!" -Comrade Dyatlov
I like you, because THERE is no graphite
In Soviet Russia, invisible graphite burns YOU.
I'd love to see an update to this about the fungus that is growing on the inside of the sarcophagus that eats radiation.
Damn, is that true?
@@Sarah-oj7bh Dès 1986, la présence d’un étrange champignon noirâtre avait été observée dans le réacteur nucléaire défaillant de Tchernobyl. Grâce à des robots envoyés pour effectuer des mesures et prélèvements dans cette zone hautement contaminée, les chercheurs avaient pu l’identifier comme étant un Cladosporium sphaerospermum, un mycète "radiotrophe" capable d'utiliser les rayons gamma pour produire de l'énergie métabolique à l'aide d'un pigment biologique, la mélanine. En somme, un champignon capable de convertir les radiations en énergie pour vivre, un peu comme le font les plantes avec la lumière lors du processus de photosynthèse.
@@Sarah-oj7bhyes
"I saw graphite on the ground.." "No you didn't. YOU DIDNT!!!"
LIES!
Lies are dangerous then fu***ing uranium
Funny thing is HE saw it too.
@@tomtrinchera8405 Lmao yeah dyatlov was a fucking pleb anyway. He deserved the 5 years hard labour he served
@@connorhogen968 nope , there was no graphite on the ground or the roof so no pencils were dropped
7:35 "Sand, Clay and other materials". For those curious, the other materials included lead and boron. The sand was used to smother the reaction and try to prevent further smoke, while the boron was supposed to reduce the reaction itself. That was the theory, unfortunately due to the circumstances and difficulty in accurately dropping materials in, it didn't work as planned and pretty much no boron managed to reach the core to slow the reaction. I appreciate you too Kyle :)
Caitlyn Baker if your not mentioned in footnotes ima riot. lol
The initial concrete sarcophagus that was hurriedly put in place started to decay after just 10 years, also, the video footage taken at the time looks grainy, not because of poor quality, but because the radiation levels where so high, that even the helicopter pilots and crew had to be treated, as the flight paths they where taking meant they where exposed longer than expected due to the air currents blowing more dust into the cabins.
thanks Caitlyn, very informative 👍👍
Those men were heroes. I'm not sure if they knew how bad the situation was (it was URSS), but they have my respect, anyway.
I believe a trebuchet flinging boron into the reactor might have worked better
When your reactor produces your 30 year energy projections in .4 seconds.
E M E R J Y
not great, not terrible
very efficent, good power
I just got into the HBO series and I finished it today so I watched a couple of KZhead videos on it and I just realized that today marks 34 years after the actual event. That's crazy.
"Alone in a dark basement for centuries." The Elephant's Foot is so emo LOL.
XD
Or neckbeardy
I am the Elephant's Foot... wait so that's why all my friends died trough cancer when i came close to them xD
you CAN go there and play with Elephant's Foot, then it will NOT be so emo
As a nuclear engineer in the US, I really appreciate the research behind this episode that was informative and not fear-mongering. One of the easiest to understand explanations of the Chernobyl disaster I've seen. Thanks!
I hope you picked up some good puns to use at work.
@@TheRealAb216 There are no shortage of puns at work, not with the people I work with daily. Lol
if you are a nuclear engineer I would think you would know the mistake, Graphite speeds up the reaction, not slow it down
@@ascendingremake8061 I am very aware of the issues of the reactor design of Chernobyl and its flaws. But I can still appreciate the video for being excellent at explaining it to a level that someone without a nuclear background can understand.
@@kalum312 was there a pun in that statement? I can't help but feel some residual heat
Years of me looking into this disaster and you go: “steam was created where cooling water should be”, and MIND BLOWN! Thanks.
it took you years of looking into this? A shitty documentary explained it to me almost a decade ago
@@theq4602 cool. want a cookie?
Me: goes to the elephants foot Me to my tour guide: I rate this a 3.6 any way does any one taste metal
3.6 Not great not terrible
You're slow
@@sturggaming6759 No u lol
@ 5:01 I just love that look on Kyle's face just after he says they went from 30 control rods to 6. It just screams "really?! Who thought this was smart?"
A man called Diatlov did.
@@tarekrahou6529 sir, you are clearly delusional. Report to the infirmary immediately
This is what happens when you dont communicate to everyone on a shift when important shit is happening. I feel sorry for the men in the shielded reactor room when the top shielding faild during the explosion. The poor technician probably died almost immediately during the beginning of the meltdown.
i saw that part and my first thought was "wait-wait- wait.... your saying that they had a recommended safety... and they didnt even use a THIRD of it!?! and they didnt FULLY expect it to blow up in their faces?!?"
Due to the nature of circumstances that night, they had nearly chocked out the nuclear reaction and thus had to take out so many control rods to get it heating back up again. Unfortunately for them they had underestimated the compounded effect of many variables that lead to the reactor to heat up too much. Due to the nature of a lot of these variables being slow and taking time to build up and time to reduce again, by the time they realized the core was heating up too much it was already too late. They tried inserting the rods back in, but it took too long and due to the design of the rods having moderators below them and a gap in between the insertion cause the core to heat up faster which lead to the high pressure steam explosion. For more detailed information watch this: kzhead.info/sun/pJedY9ayfYaof58/bejne.html&ab_channel=ScottManley
I live in Austria and it's my first childhood memory when my mother screamed that i should leave the sandbox and come home immediately. The people of Chernobyl weren't evacuated at this point.
I remember some 20 years ago or so, I used to walk into the woods with my grandpa in Southern Germany to collect mushrooms. I remember him saying that it wasn't too bad but we shouldn't eat so many because they were still slightly contaminated
The rest of the world found out about it when a nuclear power plant here in Sweden registered heightened radiation levels; first reaction (naturally) was to suspect something had gone wrong with their reactors, but then they realised it came from an outside source. There are still guidelines regarding mushrooms from the areas most affected by the fallout, based on scientific research regarding how much radioactive material the mushrooms have taken up. Apparently you can significantly decrease the amount by boiling them and then discarding the water.
I have a similar sandbox memory. My grandpa dismantled my beloved sandbox, my mum planted flowers on that spot and I had to wait another summer to get a new sandbox. I was not a happy camper 😂
Well it is better to get a little bit irradiated than to die. Panic does not make anything better. And soviets managed to reduce panic as mush as possible
Everytime I hear someone talking about the Elephant's Foot, it ends up personified in my mind. It ends up like some Lovecraftian Horror, just lurking, waiting for some foolish mortal to come gaze upon it and slowly and painfully lose their entire being to its effects
Too bad its just a lump of uranium oxide sitting in a basement hurting literally no one.
Well the thing is it was still not safe where it was, they had to send people to prevent it from sinking deep enough to poison the water of millions of people
5:06 - actually in the chernobyl-4 reactor there were 211 control rods - and only 6 remained when the power plant workers were trying to get the power up
Correct. He knows that there is 211. He is saying that they should have let 30 remain, rather than six.
It will just sit there, alone in a dark basement, a dangerous symbol and reminder of terrifying and amazing potential. I have never felt more personally attacked on this show.
no poking it with a stick please...best not to upset it
That is what death look like
Not me... ...i don't have a basement😁
@@scottmantooth8785 Dude... 😹😹😹
@@vpvaiphei9491 maybe 30 years ago...
2019: Storming Area 51 2020: Storming Chernobyl
2021 storming the cancer ward
It's more or less open
Chernobyl is already stormed by STALKERS :)
Alenn G'Kar Ahh! A fallout reference. You my good sir are a man of culture!
@@richierich387 2022 Storming Bermuda Triangle
"I just think its rad" *me audibly booing in the background at this video
Kid rock and thors love child just taught me about nuclear fission
I think he looks more like Ryan Reynolds and Wil Wheaton had a baby before stealing Thor’s hairdo. 😋
"reactor 4, designed to operated at 3200 megawatts, went beyond 33000" DYATLOV FACE IS PRICELESS
This is the point of why if you honestly want to stop using fossil fuels, nuke has to be an option. The best we can do with solar at this point is 10% solar to power... While a nuke plant the main worry is avoiding the 1000% mark.
@@leechowning2712 We should be a lot more worried about our long term plans for our nuclear waste than we are. They have no actual long term storage plan and most of it is just sitting around slowly eroding its enclosures and seeping out into the world. Its going to cause an ever increasing amount of cancers, which will eventually be seen as the epidemic it is, but far too late because it will take the governments another two decades to decide where to store their waste.
@@shawnpitman876 , store huh? You know the disposed fuels have tremendius amount of power in them that on different way could be used on lesser powerplants? Sadly as far I know the reactores still based on the methods that were originated to creating nuke bombs. But the radioactive materials could be used way down to lead.
@@danielbedrossian5986 Yes, store. Because no they can't be used as fuel for their whole life, they become too inefficient to boil water in any meaningful way, but they still produce plenty of radiation at that point to screw up stuffs DNA, or an ecosystem. The radiation takes thousands if not millions of years to full decay.
@@shawnpitman876 , cant they just take the exhausted fule pastils and recast them? The pastils has only less then 10th amount of uranium in them for controlled handeling issues. It should be recasted in to a reacher aloy fule pastil. Or the issue is that the remaining radioactive materials in the fule pastile are not uranium, and somehow we can only use only uranium?
Me: *messed up on my job on purpose so I can go home early* Everyone else at the Chernobyl reactor: *Genesis 8-bit*
M.S.Piranha Plant Advanced dont you have to stay longer if you mess up at work
This is the day Homer Simpson was on exchange with the Russians
At least from what I know you don't haaaaaaaave to. But if you make a mess and leave it you may be in trouble. It's like when you mom says you don't haaaaaaave to do something.
@@Amokra D'oh!
When the steam cap blew at 6:42, my heart literally dropped.
Just stumbled on this. Inflection of your voice, made it fun, informative (even for someone who’s watched everything on Chernobyl and why what happened, happened. Def subscribing
"Crazy hot and scary." Corium sounds like my ex wife
Instead of scary mines just a dumbass x0 lol
Was her name Cori
These are the ninja turtles She, dont wear no girdle He, aint got a big muscle but, im the one thats doing the hustle for ten thousand dollars, it sure makes you holler (Southern Noises)
It sounded like a marvel deus ex metal to me.
Rumpel Felt A bit lonely so you liked your own comment right?
1:10 - "Thanks, now I understand how a Nuclear Reactor works." *[threatening silence]*
Well, a shitty one anyway.
The reactor itself isn't that shitty, the handling of it was.
... *NOU*
tbh, who the fuck doesnt know how nuclear reactors work this is like 6th grade levels of basic knowledge
ever heard of the boy scout that was building a nuclear reactor in his parents shed? kzhead.info/sun/aJl9Z9WbhHeVoac/bejne.html
Thank you for precise and up to point explanation, Also I liked the part where it wasn’t a click bait and the description and video thumbnails exactly described what it actually is. Good content Good channel 👍🏼
Possibly the best of your videos that I've seen. Keep it up.
I'm going to go way out on a limb and call this test, a failure.
Or, a roaring success. After all, they did the test to find out if everything worked the way they intended... It didn't.
@@The_Keeper Yeah, one of the shinniest successes ever witnessed
Nah, definitely safe
No no no we successfully learned that this doesn't work! lol
when your Geiger counter implodes the moment you enter the room...you have a very serious problem
3.6 isn't so bad.
Needle is on zero. It's wrapped all the way around somehow... but it's on zero.
When that happens... kzhead.info/sun/adiperiHgomMnqs/bejne.html
It was deadly at the start when high radiation elements where present, not so much now as they have decayed while radding out, the remaining radioactive material is of lower concern, it has a longer half life, I mean come on investigators walk into that room, take pics, take measurements and walk out, and they are still alive.
Pretty sure that would be the least of your concerns. I.E. you’re instantly sick with extreme radiation sickness, if not instant lethal dose.
Just discovered your channel after watchin Chernobyl on HBO again. Amazing video !
Finally had access to HBO's miniseries. That final episode's presentation by Legasov, really was something! Edit: the whole Chernobyl miniseries is worth a watch
No its not, its full of bullshit like perpetuating the inccorect theory about the steam explosion and making it sound like it would be as powerful as a nuclear bomb. When in fact it would not have had such power just more contamination, on top of the fact that it was dead fucking wrong and the corium had cooled well before it reached the flooded levels and the men who released the steam pressure risked thier lives for nothing.
The first two episodes and the last were brilliant.
Add another pants browningly terrifying fact to this. There is a previously unknown to science form of black mold growing in the Chernobyl reactor room that appears to EAT radiation. Humans: Yeah...we have no idea how to deal with this incredible dangerous thing we created Some absolute mad lad in nature: Finally! Some decent food!
really? thats beautiful, nature really does find a way
Ian Malcom : Life, uh, finds a way.
Amazing Charizard 😂😂
now lets grow it to eat te elephant's foot
@@MIGBMWLOVER Instructions unclear have now created a mold that eats elephants.
damn, the guy's hair is shinier than my future
your comment is darker than black concrete in minecraft
Calm down guys ol this is getting darker then space it’s self
Jealous?
Glorious, innit? 🥰
@@vyrva5690 darker than vantablack
Great video. Thanks for making it. I love the animation in your video. Does this style have a name? I'd like to learn doing that.
Thank you for making a video about this. I always wondered what happened and why it's still radioactive there
This video comes 2 months after Chernobyl-series hype: *Timing is not great but not terrible*
well in italy we are almost at the last episode so yeah
Ah yes, information is worthless if it isn't trending!
Only that the chernobyl series is full of lies and bullshit....
@@iunary russian much?
timing makes sense. 2 months ago there was already 20 vids like this. now its fresh again.
Chris Hemsworth teaching chemistry in school (2019 colorized)
*Nuclear physics
>implying Chris Hemsworth has been in anything other than color. You're using the meme wrong.
After he has had AIDS for 10 yrs and gotten even more gay
Don’t you dare compare a god to a mortal
I thought he was like if billy mitchell took up surfing
When your reactor makes more energy in .4 seconds than the 3 of your neighbor in 10 years: *Business is booming*
*STONKS*
6:44 love how he casually converts 2,000,000lbs to 8,000kg... he’s only off by a little over two orders of magnitude... 🤔
*Reactor explodes* Dylatov: “Not great, not terrible”
RecklesFlam1ngo it's Dyatlov you dumbass
@@arsenymun2028 for a typo someone's a dumbass? Go fuck yourself
@@KawaiianArgument I don't mean this as an insult, but your currently in this generation so what does that say about you?
"3.6 we have to evacuate the whole area". Dyatlov: "there is no area, perfectly normal".
Kly Does your ass get jealous of the shit that comes out of your mouth?
Finally, a breakdown! I mean, not the reactor, the science behind it...
nice xD
A breakdown of the breakdown
Brian Torok lol, yes
BREAKDOWN! BREAKDOWN!
@@IR-Fan Listen, BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN
Thanks Thor for this. So informative.
This is exactly the video I have been searching for. Thank you for your insight
"I just think its, RAD" *exhales from nose*
Hey Kyle, you forgot to mention reactor poisonning with Xenon-135. That was another big part of why it ultimately exploded. It's a detail, but still !
It's a huge detail but he didn't really explain with any detail. He didn't even explain the point of the graphite being lowered into the bottom of the reactor causing a power surge.
Xenon poisoning? Eh, not great, not terrible
@@yougosquishnow Because the graphite was on the tip of the control rods for some reason ! That played maybe the most important part of all !
100% right that's the main reason the reactor could not re start.
And obviously the tips were graphite, which at normal operating times is covered by water not a steam void. Graphite without a water jacket will boost reactivity which is exactly what happened when the plant workers reintroduced the control rods, causing a positive ring of super fast events.
6:53 Fireeee 🔥 (Like Beavis) , I like watching these videos ,You have a smooth and calm voice, I wanted to know about the chernobyl in detail, other vloggers are annoying or just over the top, You have a perfect way to explain things ,Keep up the good work👍
One of the clearest presentations on Chernobyl's melt down I have seen! Thanks for making it easy to understand!
"Human Error" is an understatement
An rbmk reactor could only explode if one specific combination of inputs were made. And they literally had multiple chances to stop and they didn't.
@@lolgamez9171 before blaming people, just think about that - reactor was blown by it's own emergency shutdown system... EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN SYSTEM, KARL!!! and btw it's not just one specific combination of inputs, but rather a whole array of inputs from which this specific combination utterly lead to this outcome and they just happened to hit them all don't get me wrong, i agree that human factor is almost always the case - just the simple fact that designers and engineers of rbmk-1000 haven't said a word about it's main little "feature" because no one would agree to operate this thing you see, maybe you just blaming wrong people?
@@nivalius In the actual truth, it was indeed known of the flaws and it was an Human Error that ultimately caused the reactor meltdown, and I can recall, I think from History Channel documentary that brings forward proof that the error came from Anatoly Dyatlov forcing the workers to violate safety protocols all over the place. I mean, even a car as some major design flaws that, in a specific case scenario can cause some pretty neat system breakdown, that doesn't mean it is even close likely to happen without human error.
Well i mean they thought communism was a good idea so it was to be expected
@@benrichardson1515 , you just had to bleap this up right? I doupt the ukranes were want communism (they were basically occupied by Stalin as half Europe those days), and I realy sick of how people would blame a system for such terrible event! Not to menthion americans had they own reactor melt down that could easly turn worse than it did! And here is a thig your brain will not brobably drink in: the two gigants, USA and USSR werent even far from each other in ideologic blindbes regardles how they pointed on eacheder calling a big shit eachother!
6:20 Kyle, I think the term you're looking for is Super Critical. Criticality being the sustained reaction, Super Critical would be when the boss fight music starts.
*Those Who Fight Further begins playing and the screen drains to black*
Well said, Varen. You just addressed one of my pet peeves with the way the media covers nuclear disasters. Whenever something like Three Mile Island happens, the news reporters say "the reactor went critical." Um... not quite. A reactor going critical is a *good* thing. It means it's *working,* and they have achieved a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. As you pointed out, the correct term is "supercritical", which means the excrement has collided with the rotating air circulation device. (The shit has hit the fan.)
It's a bit more complicated than that. After the Uranium atom splits the remaining atoms are still very radioactive. That's the problem with the nuclear waste, but that's also what makes nuclear power possible. The problem is that the chain reactions is extremely fast, it would be impossible to control it the way they teach it in school. The trick is that the radioactive decay of some of the fission products also emits neutrons, but much slower, only after a few seconds. So reactors normally are always kept sub-critical considering only the neutrons from the fission itself, and achieving criticality only with the so called "delayed neutrons". When the criticality is reached with fission neutrons alone, the reactor is "prompt critical". Of course with the delayed neutrons that's actually supercritical and the reactor self-destructs in seconds. That's where the misunderstanding comes from. The proper term is "going prompt critical", and that got shortened to just "going critical". If the reactor is supercritical with the delayed neutrons only, that means that more neutrons are generated than absorbed and the chain reaction speeds up, but the number of delayed neutrons is proportional the reactor power from a few seconds ago, so the generated power increases slow enough for the control rods and other safety systems to react in time. But if the reactor is prompt critical, the number of neutrons is proportional to the reactor power from a tiny fraction of a second ago, so any deviation from absolutely exactly critical gets amplified exponentially extremely fast. And you still have the delayed neutrons, so you are already doomed.
Calm down, comrade, you're just being _super critical._
@@bradlemmond ba-dum tss
Excellent Video - learning new every day - thanks for your straight fotward explanation.
Wow. This was a great explanation. I’ve seen a few videos but, to think the water steamed so fast it created voids... wow.
Kyle: tries to be serious Also Kyle: making puns as usual First, if thanos was there, he would have kept everything balance as all things should be. Second, how about comparing Fukushima with Chernobyl in footnotes?
That's a good point, while that plant didnt have a meltdown as bad as Chernobyl plant, it would still be a fun comparison.
Cherbobyl was largely due to human error. Fukushima was a freak accident resulting from a crazy natural disaster.
@@SoranoGuardias Not really. While the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was triggered by natural disaster, the reason it was so bad is because it was exacerbated by several previously-existing conditions that can be considered human error, including but not limited to poor planning, unsafe placement of the plant site, and a range of none-to-poor existence, understanding, communication, and enforcement of safety laws and policies, as well as a general lack of communication. This hindered everything, starting with containment and either maintaining or regaining control of the situation at the facility, and continuing throughout disaster response efforts.
Fukushima wasn't even a fraction as bad as Chernobyl. Comparing Chernobyl to Fukushima is like comparing a firecracker to a grenade.
@@aprinceofearthsea4875 There is not, thankfully, a lot of nuclear disasters to compare to. Hence why those two are often mention and compared to.
Imagine the party they're gonna throw in 600 years when the place will be safe to live in again
Stephen Kyburz lol 600 years? Try 10k might be safe after 600 years but water farms etc ground will still be deadly toxic for well over ten thousand years
If only we managed to keep our shit together from fucking each other up
@@hopegarden7636 If only, is a good statement. within a century we fucked up the planet more than the thousands of years of human existence. 2600 seems impossible to achieve. Or funny enough this could end up the only safe place to live in 2600 since everyone once feared it, so nobody went there.
@@sturggaming6759 people still work today outside of the reactor that had the melt down. There are people out there everyday . Some metals 20 minutes away from the reactor is contaminated more than standing 200 feet from the reactor.
@@kap1526 so your saying that there are spots 20 miles away more toxic than standing I side the u underground water reserve did you go to school or are you just a complete dumb ass
The first video of Because Science I have ever seen. Well done!
Amazing video mate i enjoyed it!
My son's comment as he walked past me while I was watching this - "Oh cool, Thor's doing science stuff now!"
Kids these days smh... Don't they know Thor is a little wider lately😆
r/thathappened
Mike Bircher **literally anything happens** Reddit: R/tHaThaPpEnEd No but in all seriousness what is so outlandish about the story? What makes this an unbelievable story that could've in no way happened? Please stop over using Reddit links.
@@SnazzyZubloids people have been calling Kyle Thor for ages now. It's so frequent he even jokes about it himself. So this story is plausable.
I forget, has he done an episode on thorium yet? It's used in various probes and such, so it would be worth the joke.
Since nobody said it yet.... PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW AN RBMK REACTOR EXPLODES COMRADE
IT DOESN'T! AN RBMK REACTOR DOESN'T EXPLODE!
@@slappy8941 I AM CLEARLY DELUSIONAL,PLEASE TAKE ME TO THE INFIRMARY!
It's due to the huge pressure build up from the steam in the system
SkyHawk yes your are delusional. And don’t start saying there is graphite on the ground. There isn’t any!
LIES!
Quite a good video, well done.
You are tremendous. What a great, interesting and understandable explanation. So well delivered, too. Many thanks to you.
Kent Brockman: "Mr. Burns, people are calling this a meltdown?" Mr. Burns: "Ohh, 'meltdown'? That's just one of those annoying buzz words. I prefer to call it a 'un-requested fission surplus'."
For footnotes you should go over modern reactors and how they have solved or atemped to solve the positive void coefficient.
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Modern reactors use a closed loop system wherein reactor coolant is kept at extreme pressure so that it cannot boil off into steam, the heat it carries is then passed via heat exchanger to a separate loop that becomes steam and is used to drive turbines. By contrast, RBMK reactors boil water in the fuel fuel channels and separate steam from water above them in a single circuit.
Not even just modern reactors. This wasn't a problem in Western reactors at the time of Chernobyl. It was unique to rbmk reactors by then.
@@demonreach727 that's old tech since 30 years already
@@yougosquishnow its cheaper
Informative as hell
This is the most basic and comprehensive way of explaining nuclear power and fission!! After watching the HBO series I’ve been fascinated by the reactor and how it works.. I really do understand now what is going on and what the core is about. Thanks mate 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Discount Thor: "I just think it's 'rad'!" Me: *laugh chokes on cookie*
*you have contracted minor cookie poisoning*
That one‘s old, it reminds me of this joke from Fallout: „Why do they call them Radscorpions? Whats so rad about them, anyway?“
"Let's get technical", well technically, it's not in Russia, but rather in Ukraine and formerly, Soviet Union.
👍
Leo Heinsuo One of the first things said (except not distinguishing between the USSR and the old Russian empire).
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He's a product of The Rockefeller Education System, Edward Bernays with some Frank Luntz thrown in. He cant think for himself. Most Amerikans think Russia today is USSR and Communist. Poor world run by Amerikans.
@@pentuprager6225 Russia may be "Democratic" now, but it is, in effect, mostly the same as it ever was. The Russian Federation still heads the Commonwealth of "Independent" States - most of whom were old USSR satellite nations. It's the USSR by another name, basically.
Well, technically the Union was lead and held by the Russians in Moscow. So it's not really wrong.
Dude. I don’t know what other videos you have. But this made me subscribe.
Brilliant presentation 👍🏻
Seems that Nuclear Power is like Airline Travel. Massively effective, super efficient, vary rarely goes wrong in comparison to the alternatives. When it goes wrong though...............
And when it's United and goes bad, it's because of the employees. That makes your point that much more valid lol
@@surtaandume_psykermystyk4010 Kind of up there with automated cars, (Barring Fukishima) almost all of the disasters in recent years are from Human Error.
@@trapjohnson Fukushima was due to negligence as well. They did not build a large enough tsunami wall to save money. Another reactor took a similar hit but was fine as they were prepared.
Or just put the diesel generators on the roof so they wouldn't be hit by the tsunami. You don't have to build a $10 million retaining wall when you could build a much cheaper platform to just move the backup generator above the estimated worst case tsunami levels. The tsunami didn't mess up the reactors, it knocked out the electrical and flooded the backup generators. They couldn't control the reactor after that.
@@surtaandume_psykermystyk4010 in this case . . . no, when you let the appointed government officials dictate how the staff should fly the plane things go wrong
Morgan Stark: “I love you 3000.” Kyle Hill: “I love U-235.”
i had have to watch this for school great video!!!
I love this video. im passionate about chernobyl accident, the explanation is so good. you can crealry se that he is explaning with so mush energy. We need more people like this. Thanks for the video.
*How to piss off a scientist.* Scientist: "...positive feedback loop..." Me: "Yes, let's focus on the positive."
Scientist: God damn it.
@@pRahvi0 Ditto with climate change. In that context, it means that the hotter it gets, the faster it gets even hotter. But that seems to go over people's heads.
Well in electrical engineering positive feedback is also a thing
@@bashaaksema94 The hotter a wire gets, the more resistance it has and thus gets even hotter?
@@FF-yd4ni The logic is sound, which would also explain why my computer has such a big problem running unless I let it cool down for a few hours after it over heats.
Chernobyl: Don't run badly designed tests on a poorly designed reactor with an inexperienced crew. Fukushima: We knew the seawall was many metres too small years before the incident. Don't put emergency generators in the basement. We know how to build and run reactors safely. The French have been doing it for decades. Have a good design, follow procedures, don't make ridiculous mistakes.
Yeah pretty much all nuclear power failures were caused by human stupidity. Though in the case of Fukushima I've heard one of the things neglected was the degree which the elevation would change after a megathrust earthquake which I think was around 9 meters caused effectively by the overlaying crust rebounding like a snapping rubber band due to the cumulative pull of the subducting crust reaching a breaking point. In short an active subduction zone is probably not the best place to build a water based nuclear reactor.... So yeah each disaster was a cumulative set of many compounding failures
There are many reports of corruption, mismanagement and hiding dangerous flaws regarding French and German reactors too.
Not just the french ffs, everyone excep japan and ussr
@@nonsicuro2990 I do not want to ruin your day but if you have ever heard of Three Miles Island? They had a partial meltdown. Although I think reactors are still relatively safe I still think humanity should stop using nuclear power. And there is a list of nuclear reactor accidents, you can read it up if interested: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_nuclear_accidents
@@mirkohille8188 relatively safe? It is the safest form of energy out there. Its also the only form of energy that can actually replace fossil fuels.
Amazing episode! Thank you.
Thanks for the video
Nuclear engineering grad here, with years of actual reactor core operation under my belt and an ex-Navy nuke submariner and former DoE employee. A nuclear reactor is basically a fancy water heater. Most nuclear reactors do not boil the coolant (most use high pressure to keep the coolant from becoming steam and transfer the heat to a separate loop that drives turbines). But some do boil the coolant (BWRs) and the reactors at Fukushima were of this type. They are more efficient, but inherently more dangerous as they can cause voids. Fission reactors are clean, very clean. But Uranium mining, until recently, was very dirty and uranium enrichment was extremely power hungry. Centrifuge technology has made it far more efficient in recent years, so nuclear really is clean now. "Close enough together and in the right way" is called "nuclear geometry". It is literally any shape and mass of enough fissile material placed in the right geometry that thermal neutrons can cause nuclear fission chain reactions. If the geometry is too low, most neutrons escape. If it is too high, so reactivity is too high, you get a runaway reaction or Supercriticality. This happened a lot underground well before humans appeared, which led to an overall lack of U235 isotope in the Earth. That is why we must enrich it. The graphite thing is KEY to understanding Chernobyl. You had a moderator/reflector that would thermalize neutrons but there was no way to really control it. Most modern reactors use the coolant itself (water) to control the reaction, because as water gets hotter, the molecules spread out and less neutrons get thermalized for further reactions. Chernobyl simply did not have this capability and the whole design allowed for what eventually happened. Modern reactors simply cannot melt down like this. Not even Fukushima daiichi, which did have a melt down, could ever reach a core temp like Chernobyl. Fukushima was also a BWR, displaying the inherent danger of those types of reactors. BWRs are no longer built and were designed in the 70s. Nuclear waste "we really haven't figured out how to deal with yet". This is not correct. There are multiple companies now that reprocess nuclear waste and turn it into fuel for reactors as well as very useful isotopes for medical use. It looked like a huge problem until some very enterprising people figured out how to turn it all into money. Ok so Graphite is not really a moderator. It is a reflector. A moderator can moderate based on temperature changes. Water is fantastic at this. A reflector, like graphite, has a pretty set in stone capability of thermalizing neutrons. No matter how hot the core gets, graphite will still thermalize neutrons. That was what the problem was at Chernobyl. Also water does not simply "absorb neutrons" as you said. Water is not a core poison. It is a true moderator. Jesus, no, it was not steam voids that caused the problem man. It was first that they conducted a test that the smartest people in the room said not to, then the design of the reactor was optimal for a high reactivity event, even when it SCRAMed, because it forced graphite through the core increasing the reactivity. Also please stop saying water absorbs neutrons. That sounds ridiculous. WATER IS LITERALLY THE MODERATOR IN MODERN PWR REACTORS. It replaced graphite. Boron is the main core poison to temper core lifetimes and Hafnium is the primary rod material now. Water is literally what we use to moderate fission now. The rest of this video is insanely accurate and I really appreciate that. What I wish you had tacked on at the end is that something like Chernobyl is far, far worse than a nuclear bomb. It takes the right conditions to make a fuck up this bad. You don't get that with a bomb. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are rebuilt and people live there. Nobody will be living at Chernobyl for centuries.
Actually, nobody knows exactly what physically occurred the moment before the explosion. One idea which is spread around a lot and which Kyle is referring to is that the ridiculously fast increase in reactivity caused not only overheating by itself but also steam voids which may have contributed to the ultimate size of the first and second main explosions. But yeah, like you said, everything before that was human error combined with the design flaw of the "graphite-tipped" control rods, with a seasoning of xenon poisoning. As far as him saying that the coolant water absorbed neutrons, I think he means that the coolant water sapped some of the energy from the neutrons and heated up. Hence, the water was also acting as a moderator. You both are talking about the same thing, it's just that Kyle worded it slightly inaccurately.
Hi
You forgot to mention the best possible way to deal witht the nuclear waste. My home country's 10 000 year plan. If you really have experience in this stuff you do know what I'm talking about. For everyone else: bury the nuclear waste inside deep holes drilled in granite bedrock and fill the holes with a metric crap tonn of concrete for 10 000 years. We actually have enough land to bury up all the nuclear waste in the world and there would still be nothing to worry about unless you are the one paying the rent for your hole in granite.
TLDR nerd
U r a SUPA NERDO!!
Kyle, at 4 minutes your drawing is not showing the graphite as the RBMK reactors had the graphite in rods in line with the boron rods (below). The "criticality" happened because when they removed the boron rods, the graphite stayed inside, but there was space under and above the graphite where the neutrons were flowing at full speed. So when they pressed the AZ5 button, every single rod started moving down at once, and when all the graphite rods aligned with the bottom plane of the core, the reactor had a whole section the size of the graphite rods that now neutrons were having maximum moderation, which created a huge pressure differential that blocked the control rods from moving further down and having the boron slow down the reaction. That's when radioactive shit hit the giant fan.
Pressure from the steam?
Someone also watched HBO Chernobyl
@@brunolourenco2776 Likely not, since the miniseries explained this bit wrong.
Excellent explanation!!!
Excellent explanation!
Kyle : We haven't really figured out what to do with nuclear waste. Thorium reactors : am I a joke to you?
From what I've heard Thorium reactors do not exist yet.
Listen closely, you might hear differently.
So much this. And a molten salt reactor is literally meltdown-proof.
or, you know, France
Space 1999: am I a joke to you!?
the reactor is not in Chernobyl but Pripyat a common confusion since Chernobyl is the closest town to Pripyat. love the show keep up the good work
@Abdur Rahman Kaka Check your facts. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is right next to Pripyat meanwhile the town Chernobyl is further south.
By standing in it
@@mounttriglav6669 this is true, but the nuclear power plant was built close to Chernobyl and then they built Pripyat to house the facility's operators
@@obiwankenobi4252 Didn't say it wasn't...
Great video, very informative and entertaining at the same time. Hasn't Fukushima taken over the top spot for this type of disaster though?
It has, but no one died from Fukushima radiation. Chernobyl"s radiation release was 10 times that of Fukushima.
I lived in Germany when the reactor exploded. I remember the news telling people to limit their outdoor activities due to the radio active particles in the sky that where drifting throughout Europe due to the wind direction. Scary as shit.
Because Science: The majority of the core was made out of graphite Dyatlov: TRIGGERED
Lol
Im sure it was just burned concrete
Fucking dumbasses why didn't they just use bedrock.
He's delusional, Take him to the Infirmary
You didn’t see any graphite on the roof BECAUSE THERE WASN’T ANY THERE
So you can't really get any corium through Amazon. Trinitite however is for sale from many vendors. Trinitite is the melted sand glass produced from atomic and nuclear explosions. It is radioactive. But tiny amounts, less than the Americium in your smoke detector.
You can all so get Uranium and Plutonium from Amazon.
@@voidbeevee7758 Expect FBI visits...
@@francoiscoupal7057 They were Libyans. More topical at the time of the movie.
Well Americium is almost completely alpha radiation so as long as you don't ingest it you'll be fine
Definitely one of the best explanations of this tragedy for those of us who are 'nuclear challenged'.
I can appreciate informational information.
"Lava is still hot" (c) Thor, 2019.
Ha ha nice. Profound
6:43 ‘This is how an RBMK reactor explodes’
I expected more if a reaction after "it weighed _two million pounds"_
I must have seen this episode more than a dozen times but I still keep coming back Love it