Chernobyl on HBO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As horrible as this incident is, I hope rehashing it in this miniseries is not bad PR for nuclear power. A lot went wrong in this situation, and a lot has changed since then.

Really? This is your concern? There are, perhaps, millions of individuals dealing with radiation-induced cancers and birth defects related to the Chernobyl disaster. And that's just one incident.

I really hope that nuclear power does not spread. We have other options. I'll take tar sand oil before more nuclear power.

Then you really know nothing.

Educate me.

PS - do you work at one of these "public affairs" groups that are trying to shape the narrative online about this mini-series?

My spouse is a former nuclear engineer. I certainly don't understand nuclear power to the depths that he does, but he's been blathering on endlessly about the Chernobyl miniseries, so I pick up a thing here and there.

The type of reactor built for Chernobyl has never been built outside of the USSR. A Chernobyl type incident couldn't be replicated in the US because we simply don't have reactors like that. The physics are different.

There's never been a death in 50 years of the US using nuclear power. There's been three historic incidents in all that time. The horrible one, Chernobyl. The one where there was some containment leakage and the lasting impact is unknown, Fukushima. And three mile island, where it was completely contained and no one was injured.

The space it takes to run a nuclear power plant is incredibly small compared to the power generated.

Most of the waste is recyclable. The small amount that isn't recyclable is exactly that....small.

It's cheap, low impact to the environment, safe, and doesn't use land which could best be used for other purposes. I'll never convince people of all that, of course. Some people are still afraid of air travel, and the incidents of accidents are historically low...but that's not on the news.

Interesting. I have two friends who began working at the NRC in the Clinton era. They have degrees in nuclear engineering and nuclear health physics. Both started out very pro-nuclear energy, but became less and less so over the years. By the late 2000s, one was very against it, and said that many people in the industry felt similarly after several years. This change in outlook made me more weary about what's going on with nuclear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Say what you will about Russians but they are a culture like that. They consistently put the needs of others before their own and display self sacrifice. They fought in battles even when the odds were bad (Stalingrad). Italians on the other hand surrender.

This is not ww2
Russians oppress minorities, always have. Russia is for Russians mentally.
The army conscripts from minority nation's like Latvia, Estonia were sent to help. They were not told where they were going, what was going on.
Within 3 years they were dead

[Anonymous]

It’s just not in their nature to admit mistakes. The culture is like that. They’ll let 1,000’s burn before they admit a preventable mistake.

[Anonymous]

Former NRC Chair Gregory Jaczko is now calling for nuclear power plants to be shut down. He notes that after the Fukushima accident that at first carbon emissions went up but that later they went down even though the Japanese shut down their nukes. The reason? Alternative energy sources took up the slack. And the two new nuclear plants being built in Georgia? Still years behind schedule and costs have mushroomed from $14 billion to $28 billion.

Also he notes that only a few of the safety improvements recommended by NRC staff after the Fukushima accident have been implemented.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-oversaw-the-us-nuclear-power-industry-now-i-think-it-should-be-banned/2019/05/16/a3b8be52-71db-11e9-9eb4-0828f5389013_story.html?utm_term=.395b7ce9c3df

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert!!!!






That helicopter scene was insane. Did it just fall apart? It looks like the blades broke into pieces.

I thought it looked like it just melted, practically vaporizing. It was like flicking a wad of ice cream onto a hot car.

More spoilers ———-






Even worse was making the order that they had to continue with the drops!!

And, I was so proud of the three guys who volunteered. People like that offset the bad in the world.

Actual footage: (grainy, not graphic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICOu7KksgUA

Looks like the blades hit a chain or vertical wires, then fell

Read that it wasn't the first attempt that crashed. That copter had made several drops. Looks like it hit the cable from the crane but then the back of it broke at the same time the propellers hit. So sad.

Yes. It crashed into the crane wire. The crash actually happened much later than was shown in the show, and wasn’t radiation related. They moved it earlier for dramatic effect. I think everything else is pretty truthful to events though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert!!!!






That helicopter scene was insane. Did it just fall apart? It looks like the blades broke into pieces.

I thought it looked like it just melted, practically vaporizing. It was like flicking a wad of ice cream onto a hot car.

More spoilers ———-






Even worse was making the order that they had to continue with the drops!!

And, I was so proud of the three guys who volunteered. People like that offset the bad in the world.

Actual footage: (grainy, not graphic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICOu7KksgUA

Looks like the blades hit a chain or vertical wires, then fell

Read that it wasn't the first attempt that crashed. That copter had made several drops. Looks like it hit the cable from the crane but then the back of it broke at the same time the propellers hit. So sad.

Yes. It crashed into the crane wire. The crash actually happened much later than was shown in the show, and wasn’t radiation related. They moved it earlier for dramatic effect. I think everything else is pretty truthful to events though.

Thank you for the explanation. I don’t know why that bothered me so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler alert!!!!






That helicopter scene was insane. Did it just fall apart? It looks like the blades broke into pieces.

I thought it looked like it just melted, practically vaporizing. It was like flicking a wad of ice cream onto a hot car.

More spoilers ———-






Even worse was making the order that they had to continue with the drops!!

And, I was so proud of the three guys who volunteered. People like that offset the bad in the world.

Actual footage: (grainy, not graphic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICOu7KksgUA

Ok, first, they are heroes. I’m not disputing that.

But that video shows the helicopter hitting the cranes wires, which causes the crash. Not a helicopter disintegrating because of fire.

[Anonymous]

If not previously mentioned, there’s a great podcast that’s running parallel to the episodes hosted by Peter Segal (who annoys me to no end on wait wait don’t tell me, but is doing a great job with the podcast).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: If not previously mentioned, there’s a great podcast that’s running parallel to the episodes hosted by Peter Segal (who annoys me to no end on wait wait don’t tell me, but is doing a great job with the podcast).

The podcasts are great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m watching this now, and starting to have a panic attack about the amount of nuclear weapons in the world.

Back in 1990, 1991 as the Soviet Union was collapsing, we were running every scenario possible on their nuke stockpile. We guessed 98% of them would be secured in the event of a complete collapse. That would leave over 1,000 nuclear weapons unaccounted for. It used to give me nightmares. (Meanwhile, Dick Cheney was all but cheerleading that the Soviet Union disintegrate into civil war and not giving two effs about the consequences. He made our lives very difficult.)

Through an amazing amount of work by both sides, and no doubt some sheer luck, every weapon the Soviets (and the eventual former republics) were willing to admit existed ended up accounted for. Still, there were some......incidents.......where nuclear materials were unexpectedly stumbled upon.

Cooperative Threat Reduction in the 1990s is a triumph, and a really unknown story.

This makes me feel better. Thank you.

So, what about indian and Pakistan?

I'm a Soviet/Former Soviet/Russian specialist, which is how I ended up working in CTR. I don't have any insight into India and Pakistan, unfortunately. (expect that the thought of those two countries having nukes is freaking terrifying)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m watching this now, and starting to have a panic attack about the amount of nuclear weapons in the world.

Back in 1990, 1991 as the Soviet Union was collapsing, we were running every scenario possible on their nuke stockpile. We guessed 98% of them would be secured in the event of a complete collapse. That would leave over 1,000 nuclear weapons unaccounted for. It used to give me nightmares. (Meanwhile, Dick Cheney was all but cheerleading that the Soviet Union disintegrate into civil war and not giving two effs about the consequences. He made our lives very difficult.)

Through an amazing amount of work by both sides, and no doubt some sheer luck, every weapon the Soviets (and the eventual former republics) were willing to admit existed ended up accounted for. Still, there were some......incidents.......where nuclear materials were unexpectedly stumbled upon.

Cooperative Threat Reduction in the 1990s is a triumph, and a really unknown story.

This makes me feel better. Thank you.

So, what about indian and Pakistan?

I'm a Soviet/Former Soviet/Russian specialist, which is how I ended up working in CTR. I don't have any insight into India and Pakistan, unfortunately. (expect that the thought of those two countries having nukes is freaking terrifying)

That’s insight enough. My father was an imagery analyst during the 80’s. He was telling me about the satellite imagery of the plant. Unreal that the Russians even went a few hours without understanding the magnitude of the disaster.

[Anonymous]

Highly recommend the book Plutopia by Kate Brown. She covers the earlier disaster(s) in the Soviet Union as well as the still-worrisome contaminated Hanford site in Washington State.

[Anonymous]

So... how long before we get fusion energy?

[Anonymous]

This program is getting more terrifying every week. It stays with me.

Spoiler——


So in the last episode I am assuming they conducted a “draft”to get workers?

[Anonymous]

I just watched the latest episode and I can’t sleep. It’s an amazing mini series but I can get the imagery out of my head.

I think Skargard is fabulous in the show.