Chernobyl HBO

[Enchubben 5509]

I’m always curious when film and other media come out that depict another country in a bad light how it’s viewed by those other countries. 

In this case it’s HBO which I don’t believe is available in Russia outside of maybe online viewing with a VPN or something.

Does this actually open any eyes there, or is it viewed as false propaganda? Does Putin murder those that try to broadcast it?

[TwiceHorn 31349]

9 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

what the FUCK?

 

is this sarcasm and i'm missing it?

Other than about 5 years from 1996-2001, Russia has been the bad guy since 1946.  And lets not forget this isnt some bullshit story about how the Soviets "were bad"  These guys literally tried to hide a nuclear meltdown accident from the rest of the world for more than 3 days

They only finally came "slightly" clean when almost every fucking country in Western Europe detected significantly higher radiation in the atmosphere from the westerly wind coming from the Ukraine region of Russia, and they couldnt deny it anymore.

 

and even then they never acknowledged the seriousness of the accident, and they refused international help because the Soviet Union didnt need help from the Imperialist West

You are kinda leaving out 1918 to 1946.  1940-1945 they were still the enemy, just also the enemy of my enemy.  That whole communist world domination was a thing until Stalin took over, and remained so until the war, and he was a bit problematic himself.

Edited May 8, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[PilotsError 2286]

Great episode.  Wish I could binge the fucking thing.

[Horn80 6109]

13 hours ago, Eskimohorn said:

 

Dude MTV has Lindsay Lohan’s beach club. What are you wasting time on this show?

 

Yuri’s dead.  No, he’s not dead.  He is just sleeping.   That pretty much sums it up.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Horn80 doesn’t think it is action packed and is hell bent on letting us know! Fuck yeah. All we need now is derka to tell us how darkly lit the whole thing is and that in the real world there lightbulbs.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21784]

The strategies used in trying to contain the meltdown clearly were unrealistic.

[CoTex 1160]

18 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

What boggles me a bit, particularly with respect to the committee, who presumably came from outside the reactor complex, is how they didn't notice everything was blown to shit, and the control room people wait until the end of the episode to have anyone check it from the outside.

I’ve read some accounts of the event and I think it was a combination of ignorance and hubris.

they didnt believe this type of reactor could/would blow like that, at least without warning. The graphite on the ground with the round - cylinder shaped orifice was a damper for the rods/reaction.  The fact that it was on the ground was the nuclear equivalent to finding your intel processor laying on the ground 10 feet from your computer.  It should alarm you and clearly it’s bad broken, but it’s so far from the norm that it doesn’t register - the whole fucking thing blew up.

as I understand it there were 4 reactors in line there and we’re lucky only 1 went.

 I read that the first public knowledge of an event was at a Swedish reactor where all the alarms went off.  The engineers all freaked out thinking they had a problem - they didn’t - it was radiation from blown dust all the way from fucking Ukraine. 

im glad this story is being told.

[South Austin 52186]

9 minutes ago, CoTex said:

I read that the first public knowledge of an event was at a Swedish reactor where all the alarms went off.  The engineers all freaked out thinking they had a problem - they didn’t - it was radiation from blown dust all the way from fucking Ukraine. 

Quote

In the morning of 28 April, radiation levels set off alarms at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden, over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from the Chernobyl Plant. Workers at Forsmark reported the case to the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, which determined that the radiation had originated elsewhere. That day, the Swedish government contacted the Soviet government to inquire about whether there had been a nuclear accident in the Soviet Union. The Soviet government initially denied it, and it was only after the Swedish government suggested they were about to file an official alert with the IAEA, that the Soviet government admitted an accident took place at Chernobyl.

Wiki link

Fuck that whole country.  (Russia, not Sweden.)

[Red Five 40701]

By the end of the episode I was chuckling at that one Ruskie who was in complete denial. “Sir, the core is gone! It exploded!”
“Ok, but how is the core? Were you able to operate the controls?”
“Um sir it fucking exploded. It’s a giant hole in the ground. Also I touched a piece of debris and my hand fell off.”
“Gotcha. Reading you loud and clear. The core is fine.”

[Paco 1932]

sad how the entertainment industry in this country has turned on the Soviets/Russia.   

I've read some incredibly stupid ignorant shit on here, but this is just impressive.

[Zepol87 9173]

20 hours ago, Red Five said:

By the end of the episode I was chuckling at that one Ruskie who was in complete denial. “Sir, the core is gone! It exploded!”
“Ok, but how is the core? Were you able to operate the controls?”
“Um sir it fucking exploded. It’s a giant hole in the ground. Also I touched a piece of debris and my hand fell off.”
“Gotcha. Reading you loud and clear. The core is fine.”

Yep just staring at him. You are mistaken, that can't happen. Go verify and die

[South Austin 52186]

13 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

Yep just staring at him. You are mistaken, that can't happen. Go verify and die

And then after observing the damage from the roof he stares back at the soldier who escorted him with his face showing signs of acute radiation syndrome and the look of "I told you fuckfaces this was bad."

[Schulz2.0 28855]

In terms of the committee, it’s important to remember that a lot of these people are being chosen off of party loyalty and corruption. It’s not exactly implausible that there were incompetent dickheads that tow the party line on it. 

In terms of the core, the reactor design had significant flaws that most hadn’t thought of or were aware of. There were multiple, multiple mistakes that lead to the steam explosion inside the core. They didn’t follow the test plan the site engineer designed, they had turned off multiple safety systems, they were manually operating the control rods, etc. The study of what went wrong at Chernobyl lead to most of the modern nuclear safety protocols and guidelines.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Schulz2.0

[Augustus 3061]

"When the people ask questions that aren't in their best interests, they should be told to focus on their labor and leave matters of state to the state."

That, in a nutshell, underscores why I'm terrified of the notion of government owning the "means of production," as well as why such governments historically fail.

It literally sent a shiver through me.

[Augustus 3061]

1 hour ago, Schulz2.0 said:

In terms of the committee, it’s important to remember that a lot of these people are being chosen off of party loyalty and corruption. It’s not exactly implausible that there were incompetent dickheads that tow the party line on it. 

In terms of the core, the reactor design had significant flaws that most hadn’t thought of or were aware of. There were multiple, multiple mistakes that lead to the steam explosion inside the core. They didn’t follow the test plan the site engineer designed, they had turned off multiple safety systems, they were manually operating the control rods, etc. The study of what went wrong at Chernobyl lead to most of the modern nuclear safety protocols and guidelines.

 

I read a really long summary of the subsequent investigations and even the limited amount I was able to understand really left one amazed at the cascade of WTF problems in so many contexts.

It can happen anywhere/anytime.  It never occurred to anyone to ask "what if there's a spark" in the Apollo 1 capsule with a pure oxygen atmosphere.

[Bama Chick 28596]

The guy who wrote/show runs the series is doing a weekly official podcast and it’s a pretty good listen.

It’s called “The Chernobyl Podcast”.

[TwiceHorn 31349]

Welp, Russia still operates RBMK reactors all over the place with only minor improvements, while Three Mile Island is being shut down.  https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721514875/three-mile-island-nuclear-plant-to-close-latest-symbol-of-struggling-industry

[SpiralOut 1812]

What's nuts is that as bad as this was, it could have been so much worse if the meltdown had hit all that water below it and caused another, even bigger, explosion.  We're talking the whole of Europe being highly irradiated.  And to solve that problem they just marched a bunch of dudes to their death. 

[Horn80 6109]

On 5/8/2019 at 9:48 AM, Patricio Swayze said:

Horn80 doesn’t think it is action packed and is hell bent on letting us know! Fuck yeah. All we need now is derka to tell us how darkly lit the whole thing is and that in the real world there lightbulbs.

Yes, such drama.  Yawn.

[Zepol87 9173]

In terms of the committee, it’s important to remember that a lot of these people are being chosen off of party loyalty and corruption. It’s not exactly implausible that there were incompetent dickheads that tow the party line on it. 
In terms of the core, the reactor design had significant flaws that most hadn’t thought of or were aware of. There were multiple, multiple mistakes that lead to the steam explosion inside the core. They didn’t follow the test plan the site engineer designed, they had turned off multiple safety systems, they were manually operating the control rods, etc. The study of what went wrong at Chernobyl lead to most of the modern nuclear safety protocols and guidelines.

Yep. My bad for forgetting that.

Horn80 stfu

[RPM 26267]

I'm waiting for Surly critics to tell us how implausible this story is. Needs more explosions and gunfights. Maybe some ice dragons, too.

[Dennis Taylor 18734]

The committee meeting is what I imagine working at TexAgs is like

[Paco 1932]

I'm waiting for Surly critics to tell us how implausible this story is. Needs more explosions and gunfights. Maybe some ice dragons, too.

Horn80 is already saying that.

[mulletpelini 5210]

On 5/7/2019 at 4:42 AM, SpiralOut said:

That one radiation engineer that they forced to go up to the roof?  Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck that.  I'd be telling them to feed me a bullet because that's a hell of a lot better than spending the next several days melting into goo in agonizing pain.

I figured for sure he was just gonna turn around right there at the edge, flip off the guard and step off.  That's when I knew the whole thing was all a Russian lie.

[kevwun 15680]

It's like watching a real life version of Animal Farm.

[Js1 85161]

Finally caught up on episode 1 last night. 

Awesome. 

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4968]

My favorite part was that they were just drinking vodka out of coffee mugs with their kids at 2:30 in the morning while watching stuff burn down.

[Schulz2.0 28855]

Every worker at Chernobyl:

[Schulz2.0 28855]

18 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Welp, Russia still operates RBMK reactors all over the place with only minor improvements, while Three Mile Island is being shut down.  https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721514875/three-mile-island-nuclear-plant-to-close-latest-symbol-of-struggling-industry

I wouldn’t say the RBMK improvements were minor. They removed the graphite tips from the bottom of the control rods. They increased the speed of the control rods. Chernobyl’s reactor #4 was scrammed seconds into the power transient that caused the issue. The control rods were so slow (a full scram would have taken 7-8 seconds due to the height they had withdrawn the control rods) that it didn’t stop it. Safety systems (like the emergency core cooling system testing they were doing) were corrected or implemented. Another big issue was general training and understanding of the plant systems and how they effect the plant/reactor. A big overhaul in training programs was implemented after this.

[kevwun 15680]

Hopefully there was an extensive training about accepting that "Yes, the fucking core can in fact explode."

[TwiceHorn 31349]

5 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

I wouldn’t say the RBMK improvements were minor. They removed the graphite tips from the bottom of the control rods. They increased the speed of the control rods. Chernobyl’s reactor #4 was scrammed seconds into the power transient that caused the issue. The control rods were so slow (a full scram would have taken 7-8 seconds due to the height they had withdrawn the control rods) that it didn’t stop it. Safety systems (like the emergency core cooling system testing they were doing) were corrected or implemented. Another big issue was general training and understanding of the plant systems and how they effect the plant/reactor. A big overhaul in training programs was implemented after this.

All true, but the design lacks containment, and remains a high-void design, which is why it's so susceptible to overheating in the first place.  By western standards, the improved RBMK is still a stationary nuclear weapon.

[RPM 26267]

2 hours ago, kevwun said:

Hopefully there was an extensive training about accepting that "Yes, the fucking core can in fact explode."

and radiation gives zero fucks about the party.

[Nolacycling 893]

x-posted. Check out "Death of Stalin" 

[bschoolprof 6243]

I’m not sure I can make it through this 1st episode. It’s more upsetting than any horror movie. 

I have a horrible fear of radiation poisoning. I blame the Cold War and that Spock  scene from Star Trek. 

[RPM 26267]

32 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

I’m not sure I can make it through this 1st episode. It’s more upsetting than any horror movie. 

I have a horrible fear of radiation poisoning. I blame the Cold War and that Spock  scene from Star Trek. 

Just duck and cover.

[bschoolprof 6243]

I made it through, but that was rough. Never knew the Russians all had Brit accents. 

[kevwun 15680]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

Just duck and cover.

Just need some SPF 50 and pepto.

[RPM 26267]

1 minute ago, kevwun said:

Just need some SPF 5,000,000 and pepto.

fify

[Eskimohorn 5623]

I made it through, but that was rough. Never knew the Russians all had Brit accents. 

 

Would you have them speaking Russian with English subtitles or are you just used to Russians speaking with Russian accents in English for some reason?

 

This is an English-language production. Why wouldn’t they being speaking their language perfectly amongst each other?

[PilotsError 2286]

Calm down. Jesus.

[RPM 26267]

I think it's pretty standard for foreigners to have British-ish accents when speaking English instead of subtitled native language. It's the Sean Connery rule.

Plus this was made by Sky UK, so it's gonna be British.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13419]

Always thought it was interesting that the other Reactors stayed online for years.  Workers continued to go to the nuclear plant every day.  I’m imagine they worked in shifts that hopefully kept their exposure as low as possible.

[PokerFace 65]

Loved the first episode. Thought it did a great job of showing the general disbelief that the reactor could have blown, as well as the environment that discouraged any truthful reporting of the incident. Only critique is I wish they would have spent a little time setting up the ill-fated safety test and explained what they were trying to do versus what happened. I realize the writer's intention was just to throw the audience in the middle of it all and try to escalate the sense of confusion, but a little more background would have been nice.

I highly recommend "Midnight in Chernobyl." I finished it a couple of weeks before the miniseries came out, and it made me appreciate the show more. Episode one, at least. Does a great job of explaining both the political atmosphere and the nuclear reactor design in layman's terms, and it's a pretty quick read.

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by PokerFace

[kevwun 15680]

They may still go in to more details about why they were doing the test.

[bschoolprof 6243]

I read the wikipedia entry on what happened and there was too much science and shit. 

Basically, they ran a test that involved cutting the power, shit went wrong, and the core blew up.  That's the extent of my understanding.  

[TwiceHorn 31349]

Sort of a layman' explanation of the test.  Nuclear reactors boil water with their heat, which makes steam.  The steam is piped to turbines or turbogenerators to make electricity.

The electricity from the generators was also used to power cooling pumps to circulate cooling water to keep what happened from happening.

As a backup, they had diesel generators to make electricity to power the cooling punps.  But, it took so long to get the diesel generators going that there was danger of the reactor overheating.  Oddly, because of the reactor design, the overheating danger was highest at lower power output.

So they had this idea that maybe the turbines spinning down (they don't just stop) would provide adequate electrical power to run the coolling pumps until the diesel backups could be brought on line.  They were going to test this theory by cutting steam to the turbines, letting them spin down, and see if the residual power was sufficient to power the cooling pumps for that period before the diesel backups could be brought online.

So, among a comedy of errors, they started the test with the reactor at low power and when the cooling ability dropped off, it began to overheat quickly, as the RBMK design is wont to do.  And this type of overheating happens so fast that it generates a lot of superheated (T>>212F) steam, which is dangerous, "explosive" stuff.  It was the expanding superheated steam that blew up the reactor core, and, because there was no containment, big fucking mess.

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

On 5/11/2019 at 8:53 PM, bschoolprof said:

I have a horrible fear of radiation poisoning. I blame the Cold War and that Spock  scene from Star Trek. 

There was also one episode of Johnny Quest that really did the trick.

[Red Five 40701]

There was also The Day After, which I was made to watch in the 8th grade. 

[Nolacycling 893]

and quicksand, scary stuff. 

[Eskimohorn 5623]

Watch out for the killer bees!