Chernobyl is really testing our emotions...such a sad story All 5 Episode Reactions are available 4 weeks EARLY and UNCUT over on Patreon! www.patreon.com/spartanandpudgey
just so you know 800 rubles is corrently worth around 13 australian dollars (but idk how the course was in the 80s) but 13 bucks in exchange for your life has to be the biggest scam in the world
The "Ill do it Myself" guy was General Pikalov. He was a veteran of WWII and had a stance of never asking his men to do anything he himself wouldnt do. So when he was told that driving the truck up may be a suicide mission he did as he had always done and didnt ask any of his men to do somthing he himself wouldnt.
29:30 I don't think Gorbachev is acting smug here. He's afraid and trying to keep his composure in front of his men. "All victories inevitably come at a cost" is his politician way of giving his O.K. The cost of saving the world is the lives of those 3 men.
I have no idea if Gorbatjov actually worded it that way, but it is a very clever politician way of saying something without saying it. If somehow it were leaked that he said that, he would have full deniability. "I didn't mean it that way at all, my subordinates made that decision on their own, they misinterpreted me..." etc. :)
@@phj223 Gorbachov wasnt that kind of guy. He was a scientist himself, biology, before becoming head of the Soviet Union. Much like General Pikalov he was one of the few in the Soviet Union to take responsibility for failures as opposed to try and cover them up. He more than likely would of taken full responsibility for the 3 if directly asked.
@@memnarch129Agreed, and this is demonstrated by the fact that countries were more open to Russia under Gorbachev's rule because of his openness and honesty.
In fact this was a very Churchill during WW2 thing to say. Recognition of the cost of success. In the words of another great orator... "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."
Radiation just doesn’t destroy flesh, it disrupts circuits, batteries, plastics, effectively everything’s structure is hit by the speeding particles and wrecked on a sub-molecular level.
your info r incomplete,these amount of radiation can litterally disrupt DNA inside core of any organic cells,repeatin the wrong info with new cells w/o dna information thats the best scenario,the worst, cells can easily be destroyed,
There's a miscommunication where you should have said "doesn't just", but instead you said " just doesn't", maybe you're going to have a lot of people insulting you soon. Funny how such a small thing can change the entire meaning of your statement
@@jamessuhr4074 Exactly, I think that's what he was trying to say, but reversing those two words makes it into the opposite. English is a funny language.
"Just" is grammatically equivalent to "only"... The sentence is still properly formed and makes complete sense. Apparently people's reading skills aren't up to par lol It isn't the language
I noticed Pudgey mention that they should be wearing gloves or radiation suits, but you guys' should be aware that radiation can pass through almost any material we know and is notoriously hard to contain. Radiation suits are generally designed to be used in environments with low to mid level radiation as a precaution, and often people will use robots or machinery to interact with high radiation areas as the suit will not be enough. Thats why they built a giant, thick metal dome over the site of Chernobyl in modern times. Even with that metal dome, it's not safe to approach the site. With this level of radiation, there isn't much protection that would make any difference. Remember how the fireman still got massive radiation burns on his hand, even though he was wearing a thick fireproof glove. Radiation particles are so small that they can pass through your whole body with little resistance, which explains on a basic level how Xrays work; they pass a light amount of Xray radiation through your body, and the rays are only slightly slowed by your skeleton, which leads to an imprint of your skeleton in any image made by collating the rays that have passed through.
Even in high radiation environments radiation suits are a great bonus for survival. They will prevent beta radiation burns and more importantly, prevent radioactive material from entering your body through inhalation or through the skin. Radioactive material inside your body is many times more dangerous than the radiation you get from outside. But yes, the suits will not make you safe. There is still neutron and gamma radiation, against which they will not help at all.
@@windsaw151 You're completely right and I do agree, just in this situation if the firefighters clothes are that irradiated, you can tell that wearing a suit will not be enough protection.
Your father is one of the most heroic men to walk this planet in earth's history. Because of the bravery and sacrifice of him and his fellow liquidators, tens if not hundreds of millions of people were spared a miserable death. All of mankind owes him and his comrades an immense thank-you. I'm glad he's doing well.
Just so you know, graphite as such isn't dangerous at all. I mean, we all had pencils in schools, right? But when you have graphite in the nuclear reactor's core, it becomes radioactive. Because of other radioactive materials you have in the core, such as uranium-235.
No, the Graphite does not become Radioactive,graphite is composed of carbon-12, and carbon-14(a small fraction) if carbon absorbs a nuetron, you get Carbon 13(which stable and does not emit anything) and carbon 15 which has an extremely short halflife of 2.5 seconds which does mean that each Carbon 15 Atom(which was a tiny fraction of the graphite) outputs an electron) becoming Boron-15 which has an even shorter half life of 9 miliseconds outputs another electron, creating Beyllium and continues to shed electrons and nuetrons until all you have left is a lot of Free electrons and neutrons, but this happens so fast it would have completed before the firefighters arrived, but it does mean the Graphite was increddibly hot. This episode is rife with scientific inaccuracies, No, there was never any danger of a nuclear detonation, at worst a full bubbler tank would have resulted in a radioactive geyser for about two or three minutes, the real danger was radionuclides getting into the pripyat River and from there into the danube. that is why they had to open the bubbler tank valves, not worry about an flatly impossible explosion.
@@Tungar111-mv2hwno, the graphite does indeed become radioactive. The stable carbon will absorb neurons in the reactor core and become radioactive through a process called neuron activation.
@@benefitsbrian9199 in general, yes. But some isotopes are a bigger hazard than others. In this case, aside from the fuel itself, nearly all the rest of the material in the core was graphite. Though I personally doubt that is was activated carbon that made the graphite dangerous. I'd guess that it was impurities in the graphite, like cobalt, that were responsible for most of the radiation dose.
The amount of immensely powerful lines in this show is unreal. In this episode alone... "It's not 3 roentgen, its 15,000", "We're asking for your permission to kill three men", "Go into that water because it must be done". Also the individual heroics, the General driving the dosimeter up to the plant himself to protect his men, the volunteers who went into the plant, Legasov and Khomyuk going there already knowing what it will do to them.
Put aside politics and ideologies, when crap hits the fan something in the human spirit steps up to fight for the whole tribe. Sometimes the tribe is your family. Sometimes it’s your town or country. In this case the tribe was the whole human race. Bless these folks who stepped up.
The three divers were indeed very brave and faced great risk but the good news is they did not die from it. Two of them are probably still alive as of 2024 and one died from heart disease in 2005.
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you dont understand it yourself." Albert Einstein said that. I think this show explains very complicated things in a way that your average person can get. Just top notch writing.
My older brother is a former Navy nuc and currently a reactor operator in a nuclear power plant. He has many quibbles with the details in this series, but he assured me that the description of reactor dynamics in episode 5 is the best non-technical one he has ever heard. This is a drama, not a documentary, but the liberties it takes are not insane.
Evacuation was not the "simple" answer... not if the reactor was left to continue burning. They HAD to put it out, or try evacuate the entire continent of Europe. And yes, those 3 men did go into the water, and did lose their torches to radiation.... no spoilers, so I won't tell you what happens next.
It blows my mind that the Chernobyl disaster doesn't get more attention in schools. It was a BIG DEAL when it happened, almost wiped out a large chunk of Europe. The USSR was such a mess in terms of arse covering BS by its leadership but there were many good people involved that literally saved millions through their actions and bravery. The show is pretty bloody accurate in broad strokes, so enjoy the history lesson! :) While that exact reactor design was not in play in other western countries, the disaster and the fear of nuclear power it generated effectively killed nuclear power as an option in many countries and it's partly why the topic of nuclear power is still being kicked around in such a messy way here in Australia to this day.
It is mindblowing to me too. However, the most ignorance I see on this topic usually comes from Americans and Australians. Aka the ones who weren't affected. In Europe everyone knows
@@fotografo4295It was in our school books in Brazil but I don't remember learning the politics and that they covered it up, just that it was dangerous.
Nuclear fission power is the only answer until fusion power is harnessed. It is much safer than alternatives and the overhype about the amount of waste it creates is all fear mongering. The showrunners themselves admit they heightened the effect to increase the drama. If you want to really find out about Nuclear Power talk to real physicists who really understand the risks and benefits over other forms of energy generation. Like everything some people gravitate to hallucinative scenarios when the very object that provides life on earth, the sun, is effectively a huge nuclear reactor (fusion). There are dangers in all forms of energy generation and if you approach it objectively, understand that a Nuclear Fission Reactor is not that complicated, it is basically a huge steam engine, and therefore can be properly controlled (as long as you respect its scale and therefore do not cut corners which Chernobyl clearly warned everyone about the consequences of trying to do it cheaply) it is by far the cleanest and best form of energy generation we have.
Not sure if anybody said so in the comments already. But if you were to visit Chernobyl today and go to that hospital, one of the most radiated areas in the whole hospital is the pile of the firefighters clothes which are still down in the basement.
I have been to the zone actually (not the hospital for obvious reasons) and it is scary as hell...it is the most silent and scary place I have ever seen..
Not *currently* strictly speaking... it's just beyond the frontline... just let us for a second think bout this, in addition to all the risk this confrontation already contains... Best regards Raoul G. Kunz
Was there in 2011, while the containment structure was still under construction. No open-toed shoes, don't touch the vegetation, no lying on the ground. Clothes still there; wouldn't have visited even had it been allowed.
@@davidpoole5595 The uniforms are still in the basement, but because of tourists, they've removed access to the basement by filling the entrance with concrete.
People forgot that Chornobyl was times more impactful for Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union than the 9/11 attacks were for the USA. The deaths in 10 years span surpassed the 4000 but the cost was so huge that was one of two main reasons (the other one was the war costs) that brought the collapse of the Soviet Union a few years later.
@@tilltronje1623don’t generalise, not every american country is like the US, but most people forget about most things and don’t learn from it, that’s why most people still aren’t vegan and people still support the terrorists aka western military, and zoos&aquariums(&circuses), etc
@@tilltronje1623 The russian soldiers that in 2022 decided to throw trenches and camp in the forest surrounding Chernobyl clearly didn't know that. Spoiler: it's one of the worst hot-spot zones in the area, and from what we heard it didn't turn out well for them.
I think it’s wrong to compare two world changing events. Both changed the way the world worked. As someone who grew up in America and lives not to far from a nuclear power plant in high school we learned about Chornobyl and the effect it had on Europe it was crazy/ interesting to learn we might not have gone super in-depth with it but we actually as a class had to figure out if the nuclear plant by us exploded how long it would take to reach us with knowing wind speed and direction. This was in the early 2000 so I don’t remember how long it would take but I do remembering thinking damn were screwed
It was a bit dramatized, but those divers are really dived in. There is even a monument in Chernobyl called "to Those Who Saved the World," and it's not just for those divers, but also for the firefighters and all other liquidators!
i'm form Italy. I was 10 years old when the disaster of Chernobyl Happened. I clearly remember the fear that we had for The rain transporting radiation over northern Italy. "Acid rain " was called. Beautiful reaction keep it up guys!
As a resident of Ukraine, a former supporter of Russia. I can say that this series conveys the political side of even MODERN Russia quite well. All this slavery, fear, this whole atmosphere. Somewhere in this show there is an exaggeration and somewhere, on the contrary, an understatement of this Soviet trash in the government and people's heads.
and people still haven’t learn from it… so covid isn’t gone yet… because most of your people still refuse to accept that their/your heartless mindless actions have negative consequences…
I understand what you mean but I dont think it's on the same level. We (back then commie countries) didn't get a single word about any of this. All went through word of mouth.
17:39 Boris became my favorite character. He is gruff and abrasive but his heart is in the right place. 18:08, next to this Colonel who would rather go himself than risk the life of one of his men. Got to love this guy!
In 1988, 2 years after these events, Boris Scherbina was in charge of managing the recovery efforts after the earthquake in Armenia. His effort was generally considered very positive, and he was extremely open about the aftermath and the consequences, he was organising it on the place not from Moscow, and he invited an international aid to the country including American aid (which was, as we see here, absolutely unthinkable back then).
You guys didn't disappoint with the reveal of the 15,000 reading. There's so much buildup to it at that point in the show, it hits like a bulldozer and you didn't disappoint.
The creator of the show actually created a podcast about the show. He mentioned that when they actually bought out the high range decimeter Chernobyl yes they got a reading of 15,000. But that decimeter maxed out at 15,000. So even that wasn’t accurate. I believe he mentioned that they didn’t really have the time to put that in the show.
Note: When Khomyuk was listing the countries that would be impacted she only listed Soviet states, because that's all the regime considered relevant. The reality is that it would have destroyed most of Europe. Also, interesting fact: When the West discovered what was happening Radio Free Europe (which broadcast from free countries into Soviet states to try to counter Soviet propaganda and educate the people) started informing the Soviet citizens on the dangers. Most citizens inside the Soviet Union were being told it was a minor problem and not to worry, so RFE started broadcasting instructions to keep windows and doors closed, to seal air vents, not eat homegrown vegetables, stock up on water, take iodine pills if they could etc. Despite the Soviet authorities banning access to Western media and only allowing people to have radios and TVs that were mechanically limited to only access Soviet channels a lot of people had illegal radios and they listened to RFE to enjoy Western music. Instead of hearing Michael Jackson they started hearing instructions on how to avoid exposure. No one knows how many lives were saved by that but it's probably many hundreds of thousands. Another interesting anecdote: Schools in the Soviet Union started getting mysterious calls telling them to keep children inside. This has been reported by numerous people who spoke to this mysterious caller but some say it was more than one caller. To this day no one knows who it was, but several of the people who reported it said it sounded like someone who had learned Russian in the West, the accent didn't sound native. Some of them thought it was "western spies" and they reported this to the Soviet authorities. Others who were slightly smarter worked out that it was someone (or an agency) in the West trying to warn them about how bad it really was. Again, we don't know how many lives that saved, but it's probably quite a few.
Wow this is amazing information. This show prompted me to read up more about Chernobyl and the Soviet government and this blows my mind as I come across more information like this…wow!!!
Evacuate where? He said the whole continent would die. Meaning europe and large parts of Asia. In the bar when the woman asked if there is nothing to be worried about, he had to say no. Soviet spies were everywhere and he would have been killed for saying anything else. Oh yeah forgot to mention under the last episode you did: in Finland we are recommended to keep iodine tablets just in case at home. And I do. To be taken if something like this happens again.
He wouldn't be killed for saying that. It just didn't make sense to say the truth at that very moment. It would be a bad idea to spread panic plus I suppose he didn't enjoy the idea of answering anymore questions. Cool fact about Finland btw. Didn't know that.
@@maximgodov7010 Mmm yeah, maybe should have phrased it "could have gotten killed", since soviets did do that if you went against the government. Or could have gotten prisoned. Obviously no point in spreading the panic either, it's too big and it might be pointless anyway since everyone has already been massively exposed. Yeah in Finland we prep :P
No, he would not have been killed. Probably not even punished for it. He is lying to avoid a panic. That scene symbolises the conundrum of him fighting the lies of the system while himself also being a liar and part of the system
8 milliroentgen, .008 roentgen, in Minsk, not eight roentgen. Details are important in technical matters. Thanks for getting your Ep. 2 reaction up so quickly. Gen. Vladimir Pikalov, the one who drove the truck, was a GOAT, worth looking up.
Also a little trivia: When a team was sent to see what became of the core itself. The team was expecting to find a molten ball of sand and boron, but found that virtually non of the sand and boron they threw in ever reached the core. The core eventaully put it self out, seeping through concrete, piping, and whatever else it came into contact with, eventually making corium (which is material only made in a core meltdown). A huge blob of this corium is famouisly known as the "elephant's foot". To answer Pudey's question of where the residents went. They were told only to bring vital papers, since they'd only be gone for a few days. They were taken to surrounding towns and cities never to return to Chernobyl. I think they wre given vouchers by the government to re settle to other areas later on.
Yes the three divers going into the water is 100% true. I think Dyatlov's character represents a person who understands the strange reality of life in the Soviet Union in the 80s. Historian Alexei Yurchak coined the term 'Hypernormalisation' to describe this feeling. He describes that in the 80s everyone from the top to the bottom of Soviet society knew that it wasn’t working, knew that it was corrupt, knew that the bosses were looting the system, knew that the politicians had no alternative vision. And they knew that the bosses knew that they knew that. Everyone knew it was fake, but because no one had any alternative for a different kind of society, they just accepted this sense of total fakeness as normal. Dyaltlov knows this and understands this, that truth only exists as what the state wants the truth to be - even though everyone knows this isn't true and the state knows everyone knows. Dyatlov understands this and uses it for his own advancement, like the party bosses looting the system. 'They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.'
This. My first thought to Pudgy's disbelief was "oh sweet summer child" :) definitely not in any patronizing way, mind you. That is the propaganda system of Soviet Russia then and other autocrats these days - the state (and the Party and the people in power) must always appear infallible and strong. Any mistakes are supressed, lied about, the truth is only what the state says is true. No independent journalism, police, justice. Remember the words Legasov was recording at the very beginning, about lies and truth? Perhaps read 1984 from Orwel. And it works for most things. Not for Chernobyl, because that was such a HUGE problem that it was impossible to ignore, sweep under the rug, or hide from the world. But keep watching, you will experience more of that sick system and how will they try to spin the truth still.
@@SPQRatae project this on world wide scale. Everyone above is telling us that our system works. Where we have enough food to feed 12 billion ppl , everyday 24.000 People dying cause of starvation. Cause of profits and false distribution. The cut between the rich and poor is growing everyday, in every nation. Wars are fought just to make money for the few that benefit of it. U see its not only russia. We´re all delusional in believing the ones above telling us the system is fine and you cant change it. 10% benefit of the 90% giving their blood , sweat and tears for the system while they live in decadence where as the 90% are just working drones to keep the system running. just my 2 cents analyzing our political and economical system for more then 14 years.
@@SPQRatae And many other countries, to more or lesser extent. But what I find scary is how /easily/ people, collectively, can fall into this mode of thinking. I have consulted with dozens of large corporations, and often you find departments, or even the whole company, has this kind of internal attitude. Its absolutely poisonous to morale, and yet these companies can continue like this for decades. Like many countries do also.
Important difference at the beginning, the Scientists in Minsk said 8 MILLIroentgen, not 8 roentgen. Also, I would say, be careful with your language, calling the Pilots retarded is a bit harsh. "We are dealing with something that has never occured on this Planet before", I hardly think the common soldier would understand why he can't fly over, to his eyes, a building fire.
@@inquisitive6786: BAAHAAHAAHAA LOL'S DATS TRUE! JUS LIKE THE REST OF ALL THE CONVINIENCE STORE PRESERVED PRISSES THAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND ALL OVER THE WESTERN WORLD'S !😆😂😂😂😄😂 JUST ANOTHER BUNCH OF UA-cam ACTORS THOUGH CARRYING ON WITH ANOTHER ACTING JOB ON UA-cam AS IT CLAIMS WHAT IT GIVES ON IT'S PLATFORM IS ' ALL REAL ' !!😆😄😄😂😂😂😂
“You know the clothes are contaminated! Gloves, simple!” Oh pudgey. This ain’t your suburban neighbourhood where you can rock on down to the corner store and get radiation proof gloves.
The issue would be radioactive dust/dirt on the clothes, so while gloves would not block the radiation emitted while handling the clothes, they would prevent the transfer of radioactive material to the hands and could drastically lower exposure (presuming one removed their gloves immediately after handling the clothes).
What people need to realize is how close we came to a situation where we all would not be able to write anything here regarding this series..half of us would either be dead or never have been born...yes it was THAT close..and that is scary as fck
@@timtuttle3757 IF Gorbachov had not let Legasov actually present his case, if he had just trusted the reports. If the Soviet Union had just continued to deny the severity and cover it up the incident would of killed half the continent to the whole continent of Europe. Millions dead or severally sickened.
Well... the series would probably not there because we would live in a world that's disturbingly closer to Fallout's (as in 200+ years after the end) than I'd like to imagine... I was a child in Frankfurt then and my fiancée had just been born and until the day she has slight (invisible, but causing occasional problems) tendency for her joints to go wobbly or dislodge completely... and that's a radiation birth defect... Frankfurt... *a somewhat far distance* away from Chernobyl... oh and we still have radioactive mushrooms all over central Europe and radiated wild boars... Best regards Raoul G. Kunz
Ah, no. That was the biggest lie of the series. The suggested 2-4 megaton steam explosion that'd destroy Europe was BS. It was an impossible scale by many orders
Miraculously, The Three who went into the valve room *survived!* _Alexei Ananenko_ and _Valeri Bespalov_ are believed to be both *still alive* as of 2024, while _Boris Baranov_ died in 2005 from an unrelated illness (heart disease). This is believed to be due to the circumstances of their involvement. The entire basement was flooded and they were submerged in water for the entire duration of the mission. Water is one of the best _radiation shields_ due to it's density and the ionizing radiation's interaction with water. This is believed to be the reason they received far less radiation compared to most people working at the site.
@@demopem Well I'm mentioning it, because Spartan noticed other actors from other shows, but didn't seem to recognize the snake hehe :) The snake is a bad guy in this show, but a good guy in GOT
@demopem the General who drove the leaded truck was Welsh actor, can't remember the name, but he played one of Tyrion's mountain clan guys...Shagga maybe?
one of the central themes to this series is how corrosive lies can be, and how the very repressive Soviet government created the atmosphere where lying and covering up was standard practice. Disagreeing with the official government propaganda could get you a long prison sentence or even death.
Yes men ..usa and soviet were same. During nvasion of vietnam usa forced people to join army or else be prisoned. The constant lies they told the mass while killing innocent people in vietnam was so sick. The govt were literally a tyrannical force
@@HAbarneyWK Okay, here is just a few examples: Legasov never hid the tapes from evil KGB spies. At that moment in the series when they are only arguing that city needs to be evacuated, the real Chernobyl was already a completely evacuated a day ago. Firefighters were buried in the memorial cemetery with all honors, and not in a hole in the ground filled with concrete. Dyatlov didn’t yell at anyone, didn’t threaten anyone, and never denied the reactor explosion. He was calm and reasonoble professional. At the moment where Legasov accuses evil KGB that they never began to fix reactors as they promised, in reality more than half of the reactors had already been fixed, the rest were under repair. Minister of the Coal Industry was a very famous and respected person who himself began his career as a simple miner, there were no soldiers or threats, miners volunteer right as he asked. And so on and so on. There are small and big lies in every episode. Can give you a hundred more examples if you wish. Sure you can call it "creative liberties", others call it "overdramatization", some even call it "propaganda" - but the point is the same, it's a fictional story filled with lies and stereotypes for the gullible public who is not interested in the truth.
One of my first childhood memories: I was two and a half years old, when I was desperately looking for a doll that I loved to play with. She was part of a pair of two girl dolls, the one I was missing had a blue dress (the other had a red dress). So I asked my mom "Where is the blue Anna [my name for the doll]?" and I remember she said, she had to throw it away, because I played with it outside the other day. I thought it was because it was dirty, as I had played in the sand box (I really loved that doll and took her everywhere.) Some time later, don't recall how old I was then, I was tidying my room and found the doll with the red dress (which I only ever played with inside) and I quite angrily asked my mom, why she threw away my blue Anna, just because it was dirty? My mom answered: "Not because it was dirty. But because it was outside when Chernobyl happened. We also threw away all your sand toys, remember?" I was too young to fully grasp the meaning of this, only later when I was older and learned more about Chernobyl. By the way: We used to live just a few km south of Frankfurt, Germany. And May 1st (5 days after the explosion) is a national holiday in Germany. Many people had some days off and spent time outside (unknowing of what happened, as the Sovjets kept it secret first). Luckily, the area we lived was too far away for any dangerous radiation, however, the fall out was a real thing (radioactive particles in the air raining down). Again, to our luck, the contaminated rain fell down further to the south of Germany, where they had to throw away all the crops and for many decades it was recommended not to eat wild animals (wild boar, venison) from certain areas in Bavaria. EDIT, 'cuz some troll answering nonsense below and it might be generally relevant for others: Radiation is often mixed up with radioactive contamination. There was very little (not fatal) radiation from Chernobyl coming to Germany. However, with the explosion a lot of radioactive material was blown up into the air, carried by wind, etc. How severely this affects your health his highly dependent on the dose you take in for how much time. Wind also spreads the particles far apart, the concentration is lower, the farther you are away and so on. Anyway: Radiation can get through walls and fabric and so on. Things growing, living, lying outside on the other hand can get radioactively contaminated from the fall out. This posed a greater threat to south Germany than radiation, which was measured to be only 0,01 mSv (Millisievert) per year. The show, btw, also dramatizes quite a bit reg. touching people suffering from radiation disease. They are contaminated, yes, but they themselves don't radiate. The issue is with the radioactive material on their clothes, skin, hair. When you get in touch with that = really bad. You touch a person with radiation disease = not so much of an issue (if the person has been washed and treated medically).
boar, deer* aber selbst wenn Sie draußen mit ihr gespielt hätten, wäre die Strahlung auch hineingelangt, also glaube ich nicht, dass es einen Unterschied gemacht hätte…
Yes, Radiation sickness can't be spread as such, But close proximity to someone as heavily contaminated as say the firemen from chernobyl can pose a danger..
@@tilltronje1623 Cause KGB was the Soviet secret service, testing if he was loyal to the country or if he was leaking secrets. If he revealed the truth aka leaked something he was suppose to keep a secret, they could've killed him.
The translation is ""there has been an unpleasant level of radiation detected. Take documents, medicines and foods needed for a week"" So the people were told they would be back, but as you know never did. Be aware the next episode is even worse. At Episode 5 BE SURE YOU PLAY ALL TH ENDING CREDITS
During the Chernobyl disasters I was 5 years old and I went to kindergarten (Warsaw, Poland), I remember that we had to drink the so-called Lugola liquid, a concentrated dose of iodine which protected the thyroid gland from the absorption of this radioactive.
If I remember correctly, a lot of the things we know about the effects of radiation today, we learned because of Chernobyl. So things that seem logic to us ("why don't they wear protective gear, why do they willingly do this or that" ) they DIDN'T know. And they didnt have the gear. Some of the reason for that was that they were "under-geared" and didn't have the gear that they ought to have, but some of it was because a thing like this had never happened before, and NO ONE at this point had the right equipment for a situation like this! Or a protocol for what to do ...
Ananenko. Bezpalov. Baranov. I'll never forget how much I bawled after that scene the first time I watched it. Immediately searched about their fate online too.
They were getting 8 mili (0,008) Röntgens in the begining of the episode. In the first episode they were talking about 3,6 Röntgens. Also, I'm not sure if you noticed but the actor playing Boris, Stellan Skarsgård, was also in the Dune movies as the Baron.
To be honest, I really doubt they know the difference. I mean, they were surprised that 1g of U235 contains so many atoms (billions of trillions). This shouldn't be a surprise with anyone who had basic chemistry education at school. I mean, ever heard of Avogadro's number?
Stellan was 33 and living in Sweden at the time of the events so he is well aware of both what happened and what the Soviet Union was like. I was 14 living in Stockholm and clearly remember a lot including hearing the morning news of a Swedish nuclear reactor detecting radiation from Russia.
@@jonasfermefors And I was 2 years old, living in Germany. I have no recollection of it whatsoever 😉 But of course I learned about it from my parents and through school.
Yes, you can indeed google the names ;) I guess you shouldnt yet to avoid spoilers. But you can at the end!!! 200% Those 3 guys are very real! By the way, the firefighters are very real too, as is the wife who is a main character. She is very real too. The only fake main character is the lady scientist. She represents what were in reality a couple different people. Because there were more real life experts who did contribute and tried to help once they were called in. And of course experts would have a very drastic and real view on what the consequences would be so they were ready to face the regime if need be. Some more vs others. But there were many true heroes. You can google most of the names and you will get results. This show is remarkably on point with what happened. Scary as it is.......and its maybe even scarier to realize most of this did really happen.
@@elric5371 Well, I am pretty sure we are not going to learn how a nuclear reactor works by watching this show lol But I dont think people expect that. As for it lies blatantly? I dont know if I can agree with that. Its dumbed down, yes! But the core concept that there were flaws and higher risks was very much true. Just you wont exactly understand those higher risks by watching a TV show. I think the show also gives you an accurate view that the teams did not have 100% best training ever. Which it was an issue. Now, once agains, you are not going to fully understand all that watching a TV show. There might be a bit of extra drama between Legassov and Scherbina. Again, its TV. But they did work together and all containment measures you will watch on the show did happen in real life. Of course their relationship was different and there were other people there who were also important. But, again, this is TV. And yes, the lady scientist is there instead of other important real life characters because this is America and they have to fill female lead quotas. We have to live with that...I do not agree with it but I am not american. If you ask me, yes, I find it despicable that you have to invent a lady and replace other important historical figures. But this is very far away from Braveheart and its remarkably on point with a ton of stuff being depicted as it happened. Regarding this particular episode. . there was an helicopter crash. We do not know if radiation had anything to do with it. The crew might have experienced radiation sickness. They did a big mistake at the end and did crash. . they did have an issue and it was dangerous and they needed to sacrifice 3 guys to go fix it. That was all true. And tough I know it was not that dangerous in the end, I seriously doubt they were sure back then. I seriously doubt they were not almost as scared as depicted. Because they were really dealing with something extraordinary. So, once again, why call it a blatant lie? Its more like...its pretty on point for a TV show. Most of the stuff shown you can google it and check it did happen. Ohhh they give it a bit of extra drama? Sure! Its TV. Ohh they do not tell you exactly how a reactor works....well....what did you expect? Seriously lol
FYI, the creator and writer of this show, Craig Mazin, also wrote for The Last of Us series. Brilliant guy. He also wrote the Hangover movie sequels by the way 😅
I can remember the time in Germany. I was 14 Years old when Chernobyl happend. We could go outside but it was not advised. People refused to drink milk or eat Mushrooms
soviets, at the time, lived in a society where there was only one truth, which was the state was infallible and to question it meant a visit from kgb, a trip to the gulag, or death. so, to suggest that a nuclear power plant built and governed by the state had failed catastrophically was an extreme challenge to their power and that is why the more indoctrinated sycophants like dyatlov would never dare admit the core couldve blown up, even though he looked at the graphite on the roof. to admit that was to admit the states fallability, which was not allowed.
@@Antoine-du5qo while gulag has a specific meaning, it was also a blanket term in most of the west for any soviet penal colony where forced labor, harsh living conditions and death were often expected...especially for political and reeducational prisoners. so in the context of my meaning, and as an understood blanket definition, in 1986, yes there were.
I was 14 My dad was an officer in army intelligence We lives in eastern United states My parents didn't let us go outside The day radiation was discovered in Scandinavia and stayed indoors almost 2 weeks
They didn't have flashlights, they followed pipes by feel. And they didn't volunteer like that, they found the guys who knew it best and told them to go do it and they did
you need to understand how communism works. questioning the position of the (perfect utopian) state can be monumentally bad. you say "no way I'd do that" but if you don't comply you will get jail or execution, your family members could lose their jobs or get arrested as well or get relocated. your kids won't be allowed in school, they'll lose privileges, you think it they'll do it. you need to understand just how oppressive that society was. think of cancel culture on steroids. I was in Italy visiting family when this happened. you weren't allowed outside, you couldn't eat fruit off trees or drink the water. no local produce was allowed for consumption, no dairy, no meat, vegetables nothing. everything had to be imported. it affected all of Europe
Kinda wish they'd do a tiny bit of research after the first episode so they can somewhat understand how the Soviets did things back then and what would happen if you defy them.
Maybe not research on their own, but definitely ask the mods or someone if there is anything they need to know beforehand. It's good going in blind, but not with 0% of understanding of the way the world worked back then.
This is such a well done show, I love it! As for why everyone seemed to be dragging their feet or in denial, this had NEVER happened before and was thought impossible, and they were instructed that it WAS impossible. And yet, it happened
I was 7 when this happened and I can still remember how we were told not to pick berries and mushrooms in forests, reindeer meat was not recommended to be eaten and sand in sandboxes had to be mixed from time to time.
This is what radiation really does. Not turn you into a superhero like in the comics. The people that risked their lives are the real heroes. You guys are most likely done watching this series already but you guys are looking at the soviet union from a modern perspective which is understandable. Its both funny and annoying at the same time . Like the man said , this is something that has never happened on the planet before. Im sure it was hard for them to even wrap their heads around it. Telling someone 13 or 15,000 is jyst numbers to people who don't understand. Calling them clowns and stupid is a bit, idk, immature? Short sighted? Or perhaps "clownish"
I'm surprised you guys didn't recognize Larys "Clubfoot" Strong from House of the Dragon - he was the assistant that opened the window at the start of the episode. So many recognizable actors in this show!
Latex gloves wouldn't have helped the nurses. The level of radiation on the clothes was far too high and they didn't have anything specifically for radiation. They were stuffed either way.
Is that entirely true though? Yes, radiation passes right through it, but physical particles carrying radiation can be prevented from settling on the skin with a barrier like a glove
Not true, as 1. Though the clothes were radioactive, not high enough to give someone a lethal dose. 2. No one knows how the clothes ended up in the basement. People say the nurses but there is no solid evidence.
Fun fact the 2 people in the bar who asked legasov if they should be worried were KGB agents. They were testing legasov, if he had told them the truth he would've been arrested.
23:04 - i recon THIS is the moment when Boris realised how bad of a situation it was and how much worse it could get 24:40 - (simplified and to the point translation): "due to an accident at Chernobyl and un-satisfactory conditions, this is a temporary, but mandatory evacuation, please take all you need for THREE days, you have two hours."
You missed spotting Maester Luwin. He was the government official that wanted to keep everything quiet, but was first on the bus to evacuate. Also, while maybe some people are having a power trip, I think many are hamstrung due to bureaucracy. Their bosses do not want to hear bad news, so they don't tell them. And the ones who have played the game long enough, not only do they not tell their bosses bad news, but they refuse to hear it themselves. It's a terrible way to survive at your job, when you don't know how to do your job (because you were appointed as a bribe due to the pay), but such a setup of governing officials leads to the government exacerbating the issue rather than helping.
I'm from the Netherlands, my mom's grandparents lived in the countryside and had a vegetable garden. They had to throw everything away, couldn't eat it, all contaminated. That's 2000km's away from Chernobyl
This series is so good, not just because of the attention to detail, acting, music etc.. it's the way that by the end of it, you will understand exactly what happened. It's so terrifying to think this really occured, so much scarier than any fictional horror. Bear with it guys, questions will be answered if you don't quite understand everything now. Top tier show
23:26 I was one of those kids in Germany who was not allowed outside. I recall relatively well how our kindergarden teacher explained to us why we could not go out into the playground like we ususally did after lunch.
400 kilometres is the equivalent of approximately 250 miles. It's not mentioned in the series, but 1,200 buses and coaches were used to evacuate Pripyat and surrounding towns andvillages. Xx
Just a cool fact that the decimeter they used that read 15,000 actually maxed out at that number so it was still probably much higher There's also real footage of them trying to drop boron and sand on the reactor and the helicopter clipping the crane and going down
No the helicopter didnt go down when they where dropping boron and sand to the reactor. It actually happened when they where building the sarcophagus and the helicopter blade hit the crane and went down. It had nothing to do with radiation. They used that on the show for dramatic purpose. There also many other mistakes in the show.
Moving the helicopter accident across time and combining it with dropping of the sand and boron, I find acceptable creative license. Even in the scene in the series, you can clearly see the crane cable being clipped, and the hook assembly dropping down, together with the helicopter. But I have not seen a single Chernobyl series reaction that notices this. The head-canon that can be made of this scene is perhaps that the pilot become so disoriented by the smoke and the effects of the radiation Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), that he lost situational awareness.
What an awesome thing is to go on this ride with you guys!! Yo, people, PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ANYTHING!!! All of the answers will be given at the end! Just anjoy!!
Ironic part is, the three men sent into the basement survived with no side effects from what I know. The three people almost guaranteed to die didn't. Go figure.
You have to understand that this was during the Sovjet Union when the state ruled and orders were obeyed under hierarchy. Most people knew the danger but stuck to order and could not act openly under the rule that prevailed in the Sovjet Union att the time.
Supposedly a spoiler, though I'm not sure how it effects anything for the viewer knowing this trivial piece of information: Been a while since I did a deep dive into this, but I’m pretty sure the female scientist that comes to their aid is a personification of a whole board of scientists made specifically for the HBO show to simplify stuff for the viewer
Yeah, that's correct. All of the contributions she makes in the show are real but they were made by several different people. I can understand why they just used one character to portray this in the show. It would have been very confusing to introduce a whole group of other characters for the audience to keep track of.
I'm pretty sure that explaining things that are revealed by the show later is called "spoilers." Thanks for the amazing knowledge drop, you learned commenter you. So brave, so knowledgable to explain somethng that is literally explained by the show.
As was alluded to in my original comment, I was unsure whether or not it was revealed later, my recollection was this being shared by the creators of the show after the fact, but I concede I was mistaken. That being said, I personally disagree with the concept of this being a spoiler. Knowing that a character is a personification of an array of people makes zero difference in how the story progresses, in my opinion. That being said I'll edit my message to hide the question unless you click "read more".
Fun fact: 2024 in Germany (1500km away) Wild boar are persistently radioactively contaminated with caesium-137. The half-life of caesium-137 is 30 years, and the substance remains biologically available in the forest ecosystem for a long time. In the data available to us alone, values of up to 27,000 Bq/kg can be found.
The 3 men that were sent down to locate the valves is 100% true. They actually all survived and lived pretty long lives, which is insane considering what they were exposed to.
Something's the dramatized but the people volunteering is true and if they hadn't a sacrifice their lives like you saw millions would have died. tens of millions. Imagine with the landscape of Europe would look like today if those people have let that lava hit the water tanks. They could have all saved themselves and just ran from the site and let whatever happened happen.
The explosion caused by the reactor melting into the water would have been in the tons not the mega-tons. So enough to damage/destroy the other reactors but not enough to wipe out the whole continent. Also, they were able to pump out most of the water before sending in the three men (Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bespalov and Boris Baranov) in. Fortunately, all of them survived and two are still alive today. Non the less, the bravery they showed is truly admirable. And their humble response to the whole affair "We're not heroes, we were just doing a job that had to be done" is also respectable.
not idiots, communist people superficially profiting off others and having no incentives to be good humans&animals&earthlings, like most people without the communism… raised to be that way…
This show is amazing. It’s scarier than any horror movie or slasher flick. After the show is done definitely do the research on Chernobyl. Most of the show is true except for some dramatic license. E.G. the miners & 3 volunteers to swim by the reactor to drain the tanks. Also there are interviews with Dyatlov who lived for some time afterwards. The two bureaucrats who totally underestimated the disaster got something like 10 year hard labor which wasn’t enough. The dangerous & corrupt thinking communism fosters permeated all of the Soviet Union which contributed to the disaster in a multitude of ways. Fascinating & horrifying at the same time. This shows you how brilliant & how vile man can be. You two are watching some of the best shows ever made: Shogun & Chernobyl.🤘🙂👍
07:56 While the general level of radiation has fallen to te point where there are tourists visiting Chernobyl, that pile of clothes still can't be touched.
I'm not so sure about that. Remember in Breaking Bad when they were more upset with the lady who yelled at the guy who confessed to killing a dog than they were with the actual guy because that guy was sad.
Spartan mentioned that the captain that volunteered to drive the truck was from outlander. The lady that was given the iodine pills is also from outlander, she's the fortune teller.
Good, you started this very sad journey. Everybody should know about Chernobyl. I live in Germany and we did not allow children to play outside when this occured bc the radiation was contaminating whole of eastern and middle Europe.
My family told me that east germany was not warned about the danger. They are worried that they might have been sold the vegetables from the affected regions because the russians didn't want to sell them among their own.
@@Lilithly East Germany, at that point in time known as German Democratic Republic (a joke in itself that is), was a satellite state of the former Soviet Union. Simply said, all those states were dominated by the Soviets and had barely anything to say. And yes, if they delivered contaminated food, your state would buy it and you'd eat it. There wasn't any alternative.Even the gras was poisoned. Very dark times. Typical 80s. I wonder why so many people look so nostalgically on that decade. So many bad things happened back then too.
was not born yet when it happened but heard about it thro my childhood from my parents. they said that when europe belatedly found out there was quite a lot of panic about the fall outs. My oldest cousin from my mother's side wasn't even a year old and my aunt stopped breastfeedin out of fear, crops in a lot of places had to be thrown out, and people felt like it was lava to buy stuff like vegetables and fruit at the supermarket. Wind blew a lot of that bull thro nearby countries, particles and stuff like that. took quite a bit to recover from the shock of it all, if you also consider how long so many people were kept in the dark of such a massive matter.
My parents are both Dutch, and they remember when this happend. There was definitely a scare throughout all of Europe. And they also remember that a huge portion of Europe was unable to sell and consume food from farm lands all the way from Russia to Italy and Germany which in return made it so that there was a lot less food in Europe at that time. It was a crazy thing that happend, which I hope never happens again !
The possible steam explosion from the water tanks that were full, was estimated to be 30-40 megatons. For reference, it is equal to some of the most powerful nuclear bombs we've ever created. The largest nuclear bomb ever detonated during tests was a 50-megaton Tzar Bomba, and the shock wave from that test travelled around the world 3 times. It was detonated on an island of Novaya Zemlya in October of 1961. Windows shattered in a settlement of Dikson, over 700 km away. The fireball was 8 km in diameter, and could be seen from over 1000 km away, including from Norway and Finland. The flare (light from the explosion) could be seen in Alaska and Greenland. The mushroom could reached 67 km at its peak - that's way more than half way the distance from sea level to space.
28:00 - Someone else commented on another reaction video: "I've had stressful work meetings, but never "We're gonna lose all of Eastern Europe" stressful", lol
1) The three volunteers had no lights. the water in that area was luminescent due to the Cherenkov effect. 2) the helicopter crash occurred more than a month later
1. Actually, yes, they did have regular flashlights. They didn't have those backup dynamo flashlights, though. 2. Correct. The helicopter crash was actually caused by the helicopter getting too close to a construction crane and snapping its rotors. Radiation had nothing to do with it.
i was born in Germany a few years after Chernobyl happened and i remember that there was a huge food fear going on for years of my childhood. Like we weren't allowed to eat mushrooms or certain c´vegetables were labelled "radiation free"... stuff like that
This was absolutely terrifying when it happened, I was only 10 at the time over here in the UK. I remember one of the national newspapers headlining (paraphrasing) that a poison cloud of radiation was going to engulf and destroy Europe. I had a phobia about going out in the rain for years
I am Ukrainian, and my father was one of the liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster, he voluntarily sacrificed his health to save the world. For me personally this series is an insult. So sad that too many people perceive this as some kind of a documentary. - Legasov never hid the tapes from evil KGB spies. He openly passed them on to his friends a year before he end his life due to his poor health. - At that moment in the series when they are only arguing that city needs to be evacuated - the real Chernobyl was already a completely evacuated a day ago. - The firefighters who gave their lives fighting the fire - were not buried in a hole in the ground and filled with concrete - they were buried in the memorial cemetery with all honors. - Dyatlov didn’t yell at anyone, didn’t threaten anyone, and never denied the reactor explosion - but hey, let’s make a scum and a bastard out of a real person, the series needs an antagonist. - Medics underwent training, including radiation accidents, once every six months and were fully prepared and equipped for such an event - but hey, let's show that medics are stupid and worthless, never miss the opportunity to show how bad communism was. - At the moment in the series where Legasov accuses evil KGB that they never began to fix reactors as they promised - in the real world more than half of the reactors had already been fixed, the rest were under repair - The Minister of the Coal Industry was a very famous and respected person who himself began his career as a simple miner - the miners knew him well and volunteered to go to Chernobyl, there were no soldiers or threats - another real person who was turned into a bastard in the series And so on, in almost every episode they lied about something. Some call it "overdramatization", others call it "propaganda", but the point is the same - it's a fictional story for an impressionable public who is not interested in the truth. Turning real people into idiots and bastards and calling it history is the key to a successful series about evil commies. What a sick joke that the main theme of the series is “the consequences of lies” - while the series itself is a one big lie.
when i first watched, i thought that the helicopter crash (21:54) was a result of the radiation literally obliterating the rotors. it took me a while to realise that it was actually the rotors clipping the crane cable which destroyed them, and that this crash actually occurred in October 1986, 6 months after the reactor explosion. to be honest it's kinda fortunate that the crew didn't survive the crash after such extreme radiation exposure
I like watching your reactions but in this series you come off so ignorant and rude. This was the first time in human history that nuclear reactor exploded. And USSR was a really different country, a police state. You couldn't say anything or do anything that would make the government look bad. (Sorry for my bad English)
Chernobyl is really testing our emotions...such a sad story
All 5 Episode Reactions are available 4 weeks EARLY and UNCUT over on Patreon! www.patreon.com/spartanandpudgey
They were lucky it was gorbatjov that were general secretary at the time. Any other the 50 years before and it would have ended much worse
Two of my favourite people on the internet watching one of my favourite and most disheartening shows that i know of😢❤
You have to do “the terror” at some point it has a few of the same actors and it’s awesome. Jared Harris and the guy who pays vasilli star in it
just so you know 800 rubles is corrently worth around 13 australian dollars (but idk how the course was in the 80s) but 13 bucks in exchange for your life has to be the biggest scam in the world
My mother was 4 months pregnant with me in Scotland when this happened
The "Ill do it Myself" guy was General Pikalov. He was a veteran of WWII and had a stance of never asking his men to do anything he himself wouldnt do. So when he was told that driving the truck up may be a suicide mission he did as he had always done and didnt ask any of his men to do somthing he himself wouldnt.
Such a brave and badass man.
Also he knew because of his status, that the information he found wouldn't just be dismissed as delusion.
@@mmbs3191 it’s pretty scary to think What the world might have looked like if it weren’t for men like him, the divers ect.
@@SuperThisen how right you are.
My understanding is that he inspired considerable loyalty in his soldiers.
29:30 I don't think Gorbachev is acting smug here. He's afraid and trying to keep his composure in front of his men. "All victories inevitably come at a cost" is his politician way of giving his O.K.
The cost of saving the world is the lives of those 3 men.
I agree. It is his way of not saying out loud, "I allow you to send 3 people to their death".
I have no idea if Gorbatjov actually worded it that way, but it is a very clever politician way of saying something without saying it. If somehow it were leaked that he said that, he would have full deniability. "I didn't mean it that way at all, my subordinates made that decision on their own, they misinterpreted me..." etc. :)
@@phj223 Gorbachov wasnt that kind of guy. He was a scientist himself, biology, before becoming head of the Soviet Union. Much like General Pikalov he was one of the few in the Soviet Union to take responsibility for failures as opposed to try and cover them up. He more than likely would of taken full responsibility for the 3 if directly asked.
@@memnarch129Agreed, and this is demonstrated by the fact that countries were more open to Russia under Gorbachev's rule because of his openness and honesty.
In fact this was a very Churchill during WW2 thing to say. Recognition of the cost of success. In the words of another great orator...
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."
Radiation just doesn’t destroy flesh, it disrupts circuits, batteries, plastics, effectively everything’s structure is hit by the speeding particles and wrecked on a sub-molecular level.
your info r incomplete,these amount of radiation can litterally disrupt DNA inside core of any organic cells,repeatin the wrong info with new cells w/o dna information thats the best scenario,the worst, cells can easily be destroyed,
There's a miscommunication where you should have said "doesn't just", but instead you said " just doesn't", maybe you're going to have a lot of people insulting you soon.
Funny how such a small thing can change the entire meaning of your statement
@@jamessuhr4074 Exactly, I think that's what he was trying to say, but reversing those two words makes it into the opposite. English is a funny language.
"Just" is grammatically equivalent to "only"... The sentence is still properly formed and makes complete sense.
Apparently people's reading skills aren't up to par lol
It isn't the language
@@johnnyparsnips7641 "Just" is NOT grammatically equivalent to "only". What are you talking about?
I noticed Pudgey mention that they should be wearing gloves or radiation suits, but you guys' should be aware that radiation can pass through almost any material we know and is notoriously hard to contain. Radiation suits are generally designed to be used in environments with low to mid level radiation as a precaution, and often people will use robots or machinery to interact with high radiation areas as the suit will not be enough. Thats why they built a giant, thick metal dome over the site of Chernobyl in modern times. Even with that metal dome, it's not safe to approach the site.
With this level of radiation, there isn't much protection that would make any difference. Remember how the fireman still got massive radiation burns on his hand, even though he was wearing a thick fireproof glove. Radiation particles are so small that they can pass through your whole body with little resistance, which explains on a basic level how Xrays work; they pass a light amount of Xray radiation through your body, and the rays are only slightly slowed by your skeleton, which leads to an imprint of your skeleton in any image made by collating the rays that have passed through.
yup, the firefighter held graphite in his fire resistant glove and it affected him like nothing was even there
Even in high radiation environments radiation suits are a great bonus for survival. They will prevent beta radiation burns and more importantly, prevent radioactive material from entering your body through inhalation or through the skin. Radioactive material inside your body is many times more dangerous than the radiation you get from outside.
But yes, the suits will not make you safe. There is still neutron and gamma radiation, against which they will not help at all.
Radiation goes through concrete. Latex gloves will not help at all.
@@windsaw151 You're completely right and I do agree, just in this situation if the firefighters clothes are that irradiated, you can tell that wearing a suit will not be enough protection.
I laughed when she said they need gloves. The firefighters had gloves
My father was one of the liquidators who helped clean up Chernobyl, he’s still kicking thank goodness.
Your father is a hero! I hope people in his life have recognized that to him.
I am grateful for his bravery. I was alive when this happened he may have saved me from an early death
RESULT! What they went through feels unreal, but is actually hyper-real.
Your father is one of the most heroic men to walk this planet in earth's history. Because of the bravery and sacrifice of him and his fellow liquidators, tens if not hundreds of millions of people were spared a miserable death. All of mankind owes him and his comrades an immense thank-you. I'm glad he's doing well.
@@TheCommunistColin "comrades" Lol
It didn't surprise me at all that Stellan Skarsgård won a Golden Globe for this performance, he and Harris are outstanding.
Absolutely
Best actor from Sweden if you ask me, he's such a sweet and nice guy too! Everyone here adores the skarsgård family, they're so humble.
He has such a great arc in the series
Agreed. One of the world's greatest. Harris is brilliant, but my favorite performance of his continues to be as King George in The Crown.
two of the best actors in the world -a treat to watch them together
Just so you know, graphite as such isn't dangerous at all. I mean, we all had pencils in schools, right? But when you have graphite in the nuclear reactor's core, it becomes radioactive. Because of other radioactive materials you have in the core, such as uranium-235.
To be completely exact: The graphite itself doesn't become radioactive, it gets covered in uranium and plutonium which is radioactive.
No, the Graphite does not become Radioactive,graphite is composed of carbon-12, and carbon-14(a small fraction) if carbon absorbs a nuetron, you get Carbon 13(which stable and does not emit anything) and carbon 15 which has an extremely short halflife of 2.5 seconds which does mean that each Carbon 15 Atom(which was a tiny fraction of the graphite) outputs an electron) becoming Boron-15 which has an even shorter half life of 9 miliseconds outputs another electron, creating Beyllium and continues to shed electrons and nuetrons until all you have left is a lot of Free electrons and neutrons, but this happens so fast it would have completed before the firefighters arrived, but it does mean the Graphite was increddibly hot.
This episode is rife with scientific inaccuracies, No, there was never any danger of a nuclear detonation, at worst a full bubbler tank would have resulted in a radioactive geyser for about two or three minutes, the real danger was radionuclides getting into the pripyat River and from there into the danube. that is why they had to open the bubbler tank valves, not worry about an flatly impossible explosion.
@@Tungar111-mv2hwno, the graphite does indeed become radioactive. The stable carbon will absorb neurons in the reactor core and become radioactive through a process called neuron activation.
@@snrrubThat'd be true of most things, no?
@@benefitsbrian9199 in general, yes. But some isotopes are a bigger hazard than others. In this case, aside from the fuel itself, nearly all the rest of the material in the core was graphite.
Though I personally doubt that is was activated carbon that made the graphite dangerous. I'd guess that it was impurities in the graphite, like cobalt, that were responsible for most of the radiation dose.
The amount of immensely powerful lines in this show is unreal. In this episode alone... "It's not 3 roentgen, its 15,000", "We're asking for your permission to kill three men", "Go into that water because it must be done". Also the individual heroics, the General driving the dosimeter up to the plant himself to protect his men, the volunteers who went into the plant, Legasov and Khomyuk going there already knowing what it will do to them.
Put aside politics and ideologies, when crap hits the fan something in the human spirit steps up to fight for the whole tribe.
Sometimes the tribe is your family. Sometimes it’s your town or country. In this case the tribe was the whole human race.
Bless these folks who stepped up.
The three divers were indeed very brave and faced great risk but the good news is they did not die from it. Two of them are probably still alive as of 2024 and one died from heart disease in 2005.
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you dont understand it yourself." Albert Einstein said that. I think this show explains very complicated things in a way that your average person can get. Just top notch writing.
especially in episode 5
especially in the last episode with the cards on the panel in the court room. I really enjoyed that demonstration.
Except Einstein didn't say that. Remember what Abraham Lincoln said about believing things on the internet.
My older brother is a former Navy nuc and currently a reactor operator in a nuclear power plant. He has many quibbles with the details in this series, but he assured me that the description of reactor dynamics in episode 5 is the best non-technical one he has ever heard. This is a drama, not a documentary, but the liberties it takes are not insane.
Evacuation was not the "simple" answer... not if the reactor was left to continue burning. They HAD to put it out, or try evacuate the entire continent of Europe. And yes, those 3 men did go into the water, and did lose their torches to radiation.... no spoilers, so I won't tell you what happens next.
however the dosimeter clicking was added for dramatic effect
They're 4 weeks ahead on Patreon so they'll already know. Feel free to comment what you would've said.
Actually in reality the 3 men didn't have flashlights (i.e. touches) and had to perform the valve opening sin the dark.
It blows my mind that the Chernobyl disaster doesn't get more attention in schools. It was a BIG DEAL when it happened, almost wiped out a large chunk of Europe. The USSR was such a mess in terms of arse covering BS by its leadership but there were many good people involved that literally saved millions through their actions and bravery. The show is pretty bloody accurate in broad strokes, so enjoy the history lesson! :)
While that exact reactor design was not in play in other western countries, the disaster and the fear of nuclear power it generated effectively killed nuclear power as an option in many countries and it's partly why the topic of nuclear power is still being kicked around in such a messy way here in Australia to this day.
It is mindblowing to me too. However, the most ignorance I see on this topic usually comes from Americans and Australians. Aka the ones who weren't affected.
In Europe everyone knows
Im Colombian (South America fyi) and I did studied this back in school as a kid.
@@fotografo4295It was in our school books in Brazil but I don't remember learning the politics and that they covered it up, just that it was dangerous.
Nuclear fission power is the only answer until fusion power is harnessed. It is much safer than alternatives and the overhype about the amount of waste it creates is all fear mongering. The showrunners themselves admit they heightened the effect to increase the drama. If you want to really find out about Nuclear Power talk to real physicists who really understand the risks and benefits over other forms of energy generation. Like everything some people gravitate to hallucinative scenarios when the very object that provides life on earth, the sun, is effectively a huge nuclear reactor (fusion). There are dangers in all forms of energy generation and if you approach it objectively, understand that a Nuclear Fission Reactor is not that complicated, it is basically a huge steam engine, and therefore can be properly controlled (as long as you respect its scale and therefore do not cut corners which Chernobyl clearly warned everyone about the consequences of trying to do it cheaply) it is by far the cleanest and best form of energy generation we have.
@@RetroHondo67 are you payed by the industry or why do you spew this nonsense under a post that had nothing to do with it?
The unit is called Röntgen and is named after the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered X-rays.
Not sure if anybody said so in the comments already. But if you were to visit Chernobyl today and go to that hospital, one of the most radiated areas in the whole hospital is the pile of the firefighters clothes which are still down in the basement.
I have been to the zone actually (not the hospital for obvious reasons) and it is scary as hell...it is the most silent and scary place I have ever seen..
Not *currently* strictly speaking... it's just beyond the frontline... just let us for a second think bout this, in addition to all the risk this confrontation already contains...
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
Have been removed now
Because of tourists visiting the radioactive clothes
Was there in 2011, while the containment structure was still under construction. No open-toed shoes, don't touch the vegetation, no lying on the ground. Clothes still there; wouldn't have visited even had it been allowed.
@@davidpoole5595 The uniforms are still in the basement, but because of tourists, they've removed access to the basement by filling the entrance with concrete.
People forgot that Chornobyl was times more impactful for Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union than the 9/11 attacks were for the USA. The deaths in 10 years span surpassed the 4000 but the cost was so huge that was one of two main reasons (the other one was the war costs) that brought the collapse of the Soviet Union a few years later.
Dude what? 😅
Literally no one forgets that. Americans maybe, but no one else
@@tilltronje1623don’t generalise, not every american country is like the US, but most people forget about most things and don’t learn from it, that’s why most people still aren’t vegan and people still support the terrorists aka western military, and zoos&aquariums(&circuses), etc
@@tilltronje1623 The russian soldiers that in 2022 decided to throw trenches and camp in the forest surrounding Chernobyl clearly didn't know that. Spoiler: it's one of the worst hot-spot zones in the area, and from what we heard it didn't turn out well for them.
I think it’s wrong to compare two world changing events. Both changed the way the world worked. As someone who grew up in America and lives not to far from a nuclear power plant in high school we learned about Chornobyl and the effect it had on Europe it was crazy/ interesting to learn we might not have gone super in-depth with it but we actually as a class had to figure out if the nuclear plant by us exploded how long it would take to reach us with knowing wind speed and direction. This was in the early 2000 so I don’t remember how long it would take but I do remembering thinking damn were screwed
@@dahak2358 They dug trenches near the Chernobyl reactor? Really!?
It was a bit dramatized, but those divers are really dived in. There is even a monument in Chernobyl called "to Those Who Saved the World," and it's not just for those divers, but also for the firefighters and all other liquidators!
In some parts, reality was even worse, the divers had to work in complete darkness; they changed that so us the viewer could be able to see.
i'm form Italy. I was 10 years old when the disaster of Chernobyl Happened. I clearly remember the fear that we had for The rain transporting radiation over northern Italy. "Acid rain " was called. Beautiful reaction keep it up guys!
6:21 It's our favorite Master of Whispers, Larys "Clubfoot" Strong 😅
Omg!
It was reverse for me. Soon as I saw him in HOTD I yelled out “DUDE FROM CHERNOBYL”
@@Brandawn69i doubt that
@@716olli716 Why doubt that?? I had the same reaction too.
never noticed ^^
As a resident of Ukraine, a former supporter of Russia. I can say that this series conveys the political side of even MODERN Russia quite well. All this slavery, fear, this whole atmosphere. Somewhere in this show there is an exaggeration and somewhere, on the contrary, an understatement of this Soviet trash in the government and people's heads.
Less and less people care about ukr every day. We're bored. The hype is gone. I'd rather watch love island than ukr getting annihilated.
@@Not-Impressed..1821
Huh?
Are you ready for random street involuntary conscription yet?
@@supereero9, this moron thinks the war in Ukraine is a movie.
@@subject_7
Nice lies, I'd show you mine but I have none
It still gives me chills that this came out a year before the pandemic hit and how accurate the parallels with the slow response and gaslighting were.
and people still haven’t learn from it… so covid isn’t gone yet… because most of your people still refuse to accept that their/your heartless mindless actions have negative consequences…
Absolutely. When the truth becomes political, then lies become policy.
I understand what you mean but I dont think it's on the same level.
We (back then commie countries) didn't get a single word about any of this. All went through word of mouth.
7:51 Pudgey when she first met Spartan
Straight to the top
🤣🤣🤣
17:39 Boris became my favorite character. He is gruff and abrasive but his heart is in the right place.
18:08, next to this Colonel who would rather go himself than risk the life of one of his men. Got to love this guy!
Great choices but it's hard for me to leave out the woman scientist (even if she's not based on an actual person!).
@@senecakw She's a composite character to stand in for all the other scientists involved.
@@Neneset Yes, I know. Did you read the part in parentheses?
In 1988, 2 years after these events, Boris Scherbina was in charge of managing the recovery efforts after the earthquake in Armenia. His effort was generally considered very positive, and he was extremely open about the aftermath and the consequences, he was organising it on the place not from Moscow, and he invited an international aid to the country including American aid (which was, as we see here, absolutely unthinkable back then).
"Chernobyl" is one of its kind. It's one of the best according to me
You guys didn't disappoint with the reveal of the 15,000 reading. There's so much buildup to it at that point in the show, it hits like a bulldozer and you didn't disappoint.
The creator of the show actually created a podcast about the show. He mentioned that when they actually bought out the high range decimeter Chernobyl yes they got a reading of 15,000. But that decimeter maxed out at 15,000. So even that wasn’t accurate. I believe he mentioned that they didn’t really have the time to put that in the show.
Note: When Khomyuk was listing the countries that would be impacted she only listed Soviet states, because that's all the regime considered relevant. The reality is that it would have destroyed most of Europe.
Also, interesting fact:
When the West discovered what was happening Radio Free Europe (which broadcast from free countries into Soviet states to try to counter Soviet propaganda and educate the people) started informing the Soviet citizens on the dangers. Most citizens inside the Soviet Union were being told it was a minor problem and not to worry, so RFE started broadcasting instructions to keep windows and doors closed, to seal air vents, not eat homegrown vegetables, stock up on water, take iodine pills if they could etc. Despite the Soviet authorities banning access to Western media and only allowing people to have radios and TVs that were mechanically limited to only access Soviet channels a lot of people had illegal radios and they listened to RFE to enjoy Western music. Instead of hearing Michael Jackson they started hearing instructions on how to avoid exposure. No one knows how many lives were saved by that but it's probably many hundreds of thousands.
Another interesting anecdote:
Schools in the Soviet Union started getting mysterious calls telling them to keep children inside. This has been reported by numerous people who spoke to this mysterious caller but some say it was more than one caller. To this day no one knows who it was, but several of the people who reported it said it sounded like someone who had learned Russian in the West, the accent didn't sound native. Some of them thought it was "western spies" and they reported this to the Soviet authorities. Others who were slightly smarter worked out that it was someone (or an agency) in the West trying to warn them about how bad it really was. Again, we don't know how many lives that saved, but it's probably quite a few.
Wow this is amazing information. This show prompted me to read up more about Chernobyl and the Soviet government and this blows my mind as I come across more information like this…wow!!!
Evacuate where? He said the whole continent would die. Meaning europe and large parts of Asia.
In the bar when the woman asked if there is nothing to be worried about, he had to say no. Soviet spies were everywhere and he would have been killed for saying anything else.
Oh yeah forgot to mention under the last episode you did: in Finland we are recommended to keep iodine tablets just in case at home. And I do. To be taken if something like this happens again.
After the Fukushima incident we have those iodine tablets too in Switzerland. 👍
He wouldn't be killed for saying that. It just didn't make sense to say the truth at that very moment. It would be a bad idea to spread panic plus I suppose he didn't enjoy the idea of answering anymore questions.
Cool fact about Finland btw. Didn't know that.
@@maximgodov7010 Mmm yeah, maybe should have phrased it "could have gotten killed", since soviets did do that if you went against the government. Or could have gotten prisoned. Obviously no point in spreading the panic either, it's too big and it might be pointless anyway since everyone has already been massively exposed.
Yeah in Finland we prep :P
No, he would not have been killed. Probably not even punished for it. He is lying to avoid a panic.
That scene symbolises the conundrum of him fighting the lies of the system while himself also being a liar and part of the system
I think it's safe to assume the woman herself is a KGB agent, fishing for wrong answers
8 milliroentgen, .008 roentgen, in Minsk, not eight roentgen. Details are important in technical matters.
Thanks for getting your Ep. 2 reaction up so quickly.
Gen. Vladimir Pikalov, the one who drove the truck, was a GOAT, worth looking up.
Also a little trivia: When a team was sent to see what became of the core itself. The team was expecting to find a molten ball of sand and boron, but found that virtually non of the sand and boron they threw in ever reached the core. The core eventaully put it self out, seeping through concrete, piping, and whatever else it came into contact with, eventually making corium (which is material only made in a core meltdown). A huge blob of this corium is famouisly known as the "elephant's foot". To answer Pudey's question of where the residents went. They were told only to bring vital papers, since they'd only be gone for a few days. They were taken to surrounding towns and cities never to return to Chernobyl. I think they wre given vouchers by the government to re settle to other areas later on.
Yes the three divers going into the water is 100% true.
I think Dyatlov's character represents a person who understands the strange reality of life in the Soviet Union in the 80s. Historian Alexei Yurchak coined the term 'Hypernormalisation' to describe this feeling. He describes that in the 80s everyone from the top to the bottom of Soviet society knew that it wasn’t working, knew that it was corrupt, knew that the bosses were looting the system, knew that the politicians had no alternative vision. And they knew that the bosses knew that they knew that. Everyone knew it was fake, but because no one had any alternative for a different kind of society, they just accepted this sense of total fakeness as normal. Dyaltlov knows this and understands this, that truth only exists as what the state wants the truth to be - even though everyone knows this isn't true and the state knows everyone knows. Dyatlov understands this and uses it for his own advancement, like the party bosses looting the system. 'They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.'
This. My first thought to Pudgy's disbelief was "oh sweet summer child" :) definitely not in any patronizing way, mind you. That is the propaganda system of Soviet Russia then and other autocrats these days - the state (and the Party and the people in power) must always appear infallible and strong. Any mistakes are supressed, lied about, the truth is only what the state says is true. No independent journalism, police, justice. Remember the words Legasov was recording at the very beginning, about lies and truth?
Perhaps read 1984 from Orwel. And it works for most things. Not for Chernobyl, because that was such a HUGE problem that it was impossible to ignore, sweep under the rug, or hide from the world. But keep watching, you will experience more of that sick system and how will they try to spin the truth still.
So like Russia today, then.
@@SPQRatae project this on world wide scale. Everyone above is telling us that our system works. Where we have enough food to feed 12 billion ppl , everyday 24.000 People dying cause of starvation. Cause of profits and false distribution.
The cut between the rich and poor is growing everyday, in every nation. Wars are fought just to make money for the few that benefit of it.
U see its not only russia. We´re all delusional in believing the ones above telling us the system is fine and you cant change it.
10% benefit of the 90% giving their blood , sweat and tears for the system while they live in decadence where as the 90% are just working drones to keep the system running.
just my 2 cents analyzing our political and economical system for more then 14 years.
Good description, but I don't think it was just a staple of the Soviet Union. Your also describing the mindset of modern day Russia under Putin.
@@SPQRatae And many other countries, to more or lesser extent.
But what I find scary is how /easily/ people, collectively, can fall into this mode of thinking. I have consulted with dozens of large corporations, and often you find departments, or even the whole company, has this kind of internal attitude. Its absolutely poisonous to morale, and yet these companies can continue like this for decades. Like many countries do also.
Important difference at the beginning, the Scientists in Minsk said 8 MILLIroentgen, not 8 roentgen.
Also, I would say, be careful with your language, calling the Pilots retarded is a bit harsh. "We are dealing with something that has never occured on this Planet before", I hardly think the common soldier would understand why he can't fly over, to his eyes, a building fire.
a bit harsh is being too nice, it’s a terrible, insulting, and just inaccurate word, but indeed
Well said. The level of ignorance is hard for us to understand, especially with the benefit of hindsight.
These two arent the smartest reactors honestly
@@inquisitive6786: BAAHAAHAAHAA LOL'S DATS TRUE! JUS LIKE THE REST OF ALL THE CONVINIENCE STORE PRESERVED PRISSES THAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND ALL OVER THE WESTERN WORLD'S !😆😂😂😂😄😂 JUST ANOTHER BUNCH OF UA-cam ACTORS THOUGH CARRYING ON WITH ANOTHER ACTING JOB ON UA-cam AS IT CLAIMS WHAT IT GIVES ON IT'S PLATFORM IS ' ALL REAL ' !!😆😄😄😂😂😂😂
“You know the clothes are contaminated! Gloves, simple!”
Oh pudgey. This ain’t your suburban neighbourhood where you can rock on down to the corner store and get radiation proof gloves.
The issue would be radioactive dust/dirt on the clothes, so while gloves would not block the radiation emitted while handling the clothes, they would prevent the transfer of radioactive material to the hands and could drastically lower exposure (presuming one removed their gloves immediately after handling the clothes).
What people need to realize is how close we came to a situation where we all would not be able to write anything here regarding this series..half of us would either be dead or never have been born...yes it was THAT close..and that is scary as fck
To what are you referring?
@@timtuttle3757 IF Gorbachov had not let Legasov actually present his case, if he had just trusted the reports. If the Soviet Union had just continued to deny the severity and cover it up the incident would of killed half the continent to the whole continent of Europe. Millions dead or severally sickened.
Well... the series would probably not there because we would live in a world that's disturbingly closer to Fallout's (as in 200+ years after the end) than I'd like to imagine... I was a child in Frankfurt then and my fiancée had just been born and until the day she has slight (invisible, but causing occasional problems) tendency for her joints to go wobbly or dislodge completely... and that's a radiation birth defect... Frankfurt... *a somewhat far distance* away from Chernobyl... oh and we still have radioactive mushrooms all over central Europe and radiated wild boars...
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
@@timtuttle3757 Europe came very and i mean VERY close to be uninhabitable.. Kinda scary to think about..
Ah, no. That was the biggest lie of the series. The suggested 2-4 megaton steam explosion that'd destroy Europe was BS. It was an impossible scale by many orders
Miraculously, The Three who went into the valve room *survived!*
_Alexei Ananenko_ and _Valeri Bespalov_ are believed to be both *still alive* as of 2024, while _Boris Baranov_ died in 2005 from an unrelated illness (heart disease).
This is believed to be due to the circumstances of their involvement. The entire basement was flooded and they were submerged in water for the entire duration of the mission. Water is one of the best _radiation shields_ due to it's density and the ionizing radiation's interaction with water. This is believed to be the reason they received far less radiation compared to most people working at the site.
"This snake" getting on the bus, played Maester Luwin in Game of Thrones (maester for the Starks). Remember? :D
There are actually quite a few GoT actors in this series. We've already seen another one in this episode. (Try to spot him. 😉)
@@demopem i liked Roose Bolton.
"i ask the questions here. so.... where were you?" xD
@@demopem Well I'm mentioning it, because Spartan noticed other actors from other shows, but didn't seem to recognize the snake hehe :) The snake is a bad guy in this show, but a good guy in GOT
@@demopemThis show and Game of Thrones have the same casting directors so it only makes sense. 😅
@demopem the General who drove the leaded truck was Welsh actor, can't remember the name, but he played one of Tyrion's mountain clan guys...Shagga maybe?
one of the central themes to this series is how corrosive lies can be, and how the very repressive Soviet government created the atmosphere where lying and covering up was standard practice. Disagreeing with the official government propaganda could get you a long prison sentence or even death.
Yes men ..usa and soviet were same. During nvasion of vietnam usa forced people to join army or else be prisoned. The constant lies they told the mass while killing innocent people in vietnam was so sick. The govt were literally a tyrannical force
It's a sad joke that the central theme to this series is how corrosive lies can be - while most of the plot and dialogue of series is a lie
@@wakkadakka9192 i understand that they took creative liberties, but what exactly would you classify as a de facto lie
@@wakkadakka9192Its miserable people like you that ruin everything.
@@HAbarneyWK Okay, here is just a few examples:
Legasov never hid the tapes from evil KGB spies.
At that moment in the series when they are only arguing that city needs to be evacuated, the real Chernobyl was already a completely evacuated a day ago.
Firefighters were buried in the memorial cemetery with all honors, and not in a hole in the ground filled with concrete.
Dyatlov didn’t yell at anyone, didn’t threaten anyone, and never denied the reactor explosion. He was calm and reasonoble professional.
At the moment where Legasov accuses evil KGB that they never began to fix reactors as they promised, in reality more than half of the reactors had already been fixed, the rest were under repair.
Minister of the Coal Industry was a very famous and respected person who himself began his career as a simple miner, there were no soldiers or threats, miners volunteer right as he asked.
And so on and so on. There are small and big lies in every episode. Can give you a hundred more examples if you wish.
Sure you can call it "creative liberties", others call it "overdramatization", some even call it "propaganda" - but the point is the same, it's a fictional story filled with lies and stereotypes for the gullible public who is not interested in the truth.
One of my first childhood memories: I was two and a half years old, when I was desperately looking for a doll that I loved to play with. She was part of a pair of two girl dolls, the one I was missing had a blue dress (the other had a red dress). So I asked my mom "Where is the blue Anna [my name for the doll]?" and I remember she said, she had to throw it away, because I played with it outside the other day. I thought it was because it was dirty, as I had played in the sand box (I really loved that doll and took her everywhere.) Some time later, don't recall how old I was then, I was tidying my room and found the doll with the red dress (which I only ever played with inside) and I quite angrily asked my mom, why she threw away my blue Anna, just because it was dirty? My mom answered: "Not because it was dirty. But because it was outside when Chernobyl happened. We also threw away all your sand toys, remember?" I was too young to fully grasp the meaning of this, only later when I was older and learned more about Chernobyl. By the way: We used to live just a few km south of Frankfurt, Germany. And May 1st (5 days after the explosion) is a national holiday in Germany. Many people had some days off and spent time outside (unknowing of what happened, as the Sovjets kept it secret first). Luckily, the area we lived was too far away for any dangerous radiation, however, the fall out was a real thing (radioactive particles in the air raining down). Again, to our luck, the contaminated rain fell down further to the south of Germany, where they had to throw away all the crops and for many decades it was recommended not to eat wild animals (wild boar, venison) from certain areas in Bavaria.
EDIT, 'cuz some troll answering nonsense below and it might be generally relevant for others: Radiation is often mixed up with radioactive contamination. There was very little (not fatal) radiation from Chernobyl coming to Germany. However, with the explosion a lot of radioactive material was blown up into the air, carried by wind, etc. How severely this affects your health his highly dependent on the dose you take in for how much time. Wind also spreads the particles far apart, the concentration is lower, the farther you are away and so on. Anyway: Radiation can get through walls and fabric and so on. Things growing, living, lying outside on the other hand can get radioactively contaminated from the fall out. This posed a greater threat to south Germany than radiation, which was measured to be only 0,01 mSv (Millisievert) per year.
The show, btw, also dramatizes quite a bit reg. touching people suffering from radiation disease. They are contaminated, yes, but they themselves don't radiate. The issue is with the radioactive material on their clothes, skin, hair. When you get in touch with that = really bad. You touch a person with radiation disease = not so much of an issue (if the person has been washed and treated medically).
boar, deer* aber selbst wenn Sie draußen mit ihr gespielt hätten, wäre die Strahlung auch hineingelangt, also glaube ich nicht, dass es einen Unterschied gemacht hätte…
Yes, Radiation sickness can't be spread as such, But close proximity to someone as heavily contaminated as say the firemen from chernobyl can pose a danger..
I think that couple in the hotel bar that asked him were the KGB that followed them out, glad he didn't tell them the truth.
Why would you be glad about that?
@@tilltronje1623 Cause KGB was the Soviet secret service, testing if he was loyal to the country or if he was leaking secrets. If he revealed the truth aka leaked something he was suppose to keep a secret, they could've killed him.
I mean, there wouldn’t be a point in it anyway, all it would be is either snitching to the kgb or start a mass panic… idk which is worse…
@@tilltronje1623 He would have been arrested and taken off the job.
"It's not 3 roentgun it's 15000"
"It's another faulty meter, you're wasting our time"
15000 is equivalent to one x-ray I think
@@laserpanda94 lol
Röntgen
röntgen/roentgen*
@@Cassxowary Both right, just not a roentGUN, even though that would probably look awesome...
The translation is ""there has been an unpleasant level of radiation detected. Take documents, medicines and foods needed for a week"" So the people were told they would be back, but as you know never did. Be aware the next episode is even worse. At Episode 5 BE SURE YOU PLAY ALL TH ENDING CREDITS
8:20 as you'll soon find out, gloves would have done nothing
During the Chernobyl disasters I was 5 years old and I went to kindergarten (Warsaw, Poland), I remember that we had to drink the so-called Lugola liquid, a concentrated dose of iodine which protected the thyroid gland from the absorption of this radioactive.
If I remember correctly, a lot of the things we know about the effects of radiation today, we learned because of Chernobyl. So things that seem logic to us ("why don't they wear protective gear, why do they willingly do this or that" ) they DIDN'T know.
And they didnt have the gear. Some of the reason for that was that they were "under-geared" and didn't have the gear that they ought to have, but some of it was because a thing like this had never happened before, and NO ONE at this point had the right equipment for a situation like this! Or a protocol for what to do ...
also, communism
Not true, we learned a lot from Chernobyl, but the effects of radiation were already widely known. The show just misrepresents that.
Ananenko. Bezpalov. Baranov. I'll never forget how much I bawled after that scene the first time I watched it. Immediately searched about their fate online too.
They were getting 8 mili (0,008) Röntgens in the begining of the episode. In the first episode they were talking about 3,6 Röntgens. Also, I'm not sure if you noticed but the actor playing Boris, Stellan Skarsgård, was also in the Dune movies as the Baron.
To be honest, I really doubt they know the difference. I mean, they were surprised that 1g of U235 contains so many atoms (billions of trillions). This shouldn't be a surprise with anyone who had basic chemistry education at school. I mean, ever heard of Avogadro's number?
They didn't even notice mastor lewyn
Stellan was 33 and living in Sweden at the time of the events so he is well aware of both what happened and what the Soviet Union was like. I was 14 living in Stockholm and clearly remember a lot including hearing the morning news of a Swedish nuclear reactor detecting radiation from Russia.
If you don't truly understand what a rontgen even is, the numbers are just numbers .
@@jonasfermefors And I was 2 years old, living in Germany. I have no recollection of it whatsoever 😉
But of course I learned about it from my parents and through school.
Yes, you can indeed google the names ;)
I guess you shouldnt yet to avoid spoilers. But you can at the end!!!
200%
Those 3 guys are very real!
By the way, the firefighters are very real too, as is the wife who is a main character. She is very real too.
The only fake main character is the lady scientist. She represents what were in reality a couple different people. Because there were more real life experts who did contribute and tried to help once they were called in. And of course experts would have a very drastic and real view on what the consequences would be so they were ready to face the regime if need be. Some more vs others. But there were many true heroes.
You can google most of the names and you will get results.
This show is remarkably on point with what happened. Scary as it is.......and its maybe even scarier to realize most of this did really happen.
No the show isn’t, it lies blatantly about how the disaster happened and exaggerated the aftermath.
@@elric5371
Well,
I am pretty sure we are not going to learn how a nuclear reactor works by watching this show lol
But I dont think people expect that.
As for it lies blatantly? I dont know if I can agree with that. Its dumbed down, yes! But the core concept that there were flaws and higher risks was very much true. Just you wont exactly understand those higher risks by watching a TV show. I think the show also gives you an accurate view that the teams did not have 100% best training ever. Which it was an issue. Now, once agains, you are not going to fully understand all that watching a TV show.
There might be a bit of extra drama between Legassov and Scherbina. Again, its TV. But they did work together and all containment measures you will watch on the show did happen in real life. Of course their relationship was different and there were other people there who were also important. But, again, this is TV. And yes, the lady scientist is there instead of other important real life characters because this is America and they have to fill female lead quotas. We have to live with that...I do not agree with it but I am not american. If you ask me, yes, I find it despicable that you have to invent a lady and replace other important historical figures.
But this is very far away from Braveheart and its remarkably on point with a ton of stuff being depicted as it happened.
Regarding this particular episode.
. there was an helicopter crash. We do not know if radiation had anything to do with it. The crew might have experienced radiation sickness. They did a big mistake at the end and did crash.
. they did have an issue and it was dangerous and they needed to sacrifice 3 guys to go fix it. That was all true. And tough I know it was not that dangerous in the end, I seriously doubt they were sure back then. I seriously doubt they were not almost as scared as depicted. Because they were really dealing with something extraordinary.
So, once again, why call it a blatant lie? Its more like...its pretty on point for a TV show. Most of the stuff shown you can google it and check it did happen. Ohhh they give it a bit of extra drama? Sure! Its TV. Ohh they do not tell you exactly how a reactor works....well....what did you expect? Seriously lol
FYI, the creator and writer of this show, Craig Mazin, also wrote for The Last of Us series. Brilliant guy. He also wrote the Hangover movie sequels by the way 😅
I can remember the time in Germany. I was 14 Years old when Chernobyl happend. We could go outside but it was not advised. People refused to drink milk or eat Mushrooms
soviets, at the time, lived in a society where there was only one truth, which was the state was infallible and to question it meant a visit from kgb, a trip to the gulag, or death. so, to suggest that a nuclear power plant built and governed by the state had failed catastrophically was an extreme challenge to their power and that is why the more indoctrinated sycophants like dyatlov would never dare admit the core couldve blown up, even though he looked at the graphite on the roof. to admit that was to admit the states fallability, which was not allowed.
Sums it up neatly
There was no GULAG in 80s
@@Antoine-du5qo while gulag has a specific meaning, it was also a blanket term in most of the west for any soviet penal colony where forced labor, harsh living conditions and death were often expected...especially for political and reeducational prisoners. so in the context of my meaning, and as an understood blanket definition, in 1986, yes there were.
@@foreignmilk5589 that's fair enough
I was 14
My dad was an officer in army intelligence
We lives in eastern United states
My parents didn't let us go outside The day radiation was discovered in Scandinavia and stayed indoors almost 2 weeks
33:02 Yes, that's true. Three men went in there back in 86.
They didn't have flashlights, they followed pipes by feel. And they didn't volunteer like that, they found the guys who knew it best and told them to go do it and they did
you need to understand how communism works. questioning the position of the (perfect utopian) state can be monumentally bad. you say "no way I'd do that" but if you don't comply you will get jail or execution, your family members could lose their jobs or get arrested as well or get relocated. your kids won't be allowed in school, they'll lose privileges, you think it they'll do it. you need to understand just how oppressive that society was. think of cancel culture on steroids.
I was in Italy visiting family when this happened. you weren't allowed outside, you couldn't eat fruit off trees or drink the water. no local produce was allowed for consumption, no dairy, no meat, vegetables nothing. everything had to be imported. it affected all of Europe
Kinda wish they'd do a tiny bit of research after the first episode so they can somewhat understand how the Soviets did things back then and what would happen if you defy them.
Maybe not research on their own, but definitely ask the mods or someone if there is anything they need to know beforehand. It's good going in blind, but not with 0% of understanding of the way the world worked back then.
"Then I'll do it myself."
**cue boss music**
This is such a well done show, I love it! As for why everyone seemed to be dragging their feet or in denial, this had NEVER happened before and was thought impossible, and they were instructed that it WAS impossible. And yet, it happened
I was 7 when this happened and I can still remember how we were told not to pick berries and mushrooms in forests, reindeer meat was not recommended to be eaten and sand in sandboxes had to be mixed from time to time.
Keep in mind the old guy making the speech about "what must be done" is likely someone who fought in the Second World War. He knew about sacrifice.
This is what radiation really does. Not turn you into a superhero like in the comics. The people that risked their lives are the real heroes.
You guys are most likely done watching this series already but you guys are looking at the soviet union from a modern perspective which is understandable. Its both funny and annoying at the same time . Like the man said , this is something that has never happened on the planet before. Im sure it was hard for them to even wrap their heads around it. Telling someone 13 or 15,000 is jyst numbers to people who don't understand. Calling them clowns and stupid is a bit, idk, immature? Short sighted? Or perhaps "clownish"
"there's a bunch of sneaky snakes in here" Should be the show's tagline.
30:23 Remember these 3 names. They are Heros! And deserve to be remembered and recognized!
I'm surprised you guys didn't recognize Larys "Clubfoot" Strong from House of the Dragon - he was the assistant that opened the window at the start of the episode.
So many recognizable actors in this show!
Latex gloves wouldn't have helped the nurses. The level of radiation on the clothes was far too high and they didn't have anything specifically for radiation. They were stuffed either way.
The most dangerous types of radiations are in fact blocked by latex gloves.
Is that entirely true though? Yes, radiation passes right through it, but physical particles carrying radiation can be prevented from settling on the skin with a barrier like a glove
Ok coming
Not true, as 1. Though the clothes were radioactive, not high enough to give someone a lethal dose. 2. No one knows how the clothes ended up in the basement. People say the nurses but there is no solid evidence.
Fun fact the 2 people in the bar who asked legasov if they should be worried were KGB agents. They were testing legasov, if he had told them the truth he would've been arrested.
Why are you giving spoilers?
It is so freaky that those firefighter clothes are still there today full with radiation!
23:04 - i recon THIS is the moment when Boris realised how bad of a situation it was and how much worse it could get
24:40 - (simplified and to the point translation): "due to an accident at Chernobyl and un-satisfactory conditions, this is a temporary, but mandatory evacuation, please take all you need for THREE days, you have two hours."
You missed spotting Maester Luwin. He was the government official that wanted to keep everything quiet, but was first on the bus to evacuate.
Also, while maybe some people are having a power trip, I think many are hamstrung due to bureaucracy. Their bosses do not want to hear bad news, so they don't tell them. And the ones who have played the game long enough, not only do they not tell their bosses bad news, but they refuse to hear it themselves. It's a terrible way to survive at your job, when you don't know how to do your job (because you were appointed as a bribe due to the pay), but such a setup of governing officials leads to the government exacerbating the issue rather than helping.
Pretty sure they didn't miss the old guy getting on the bus.
I'm from the Netherlands, my mom's grandparents lived in the countryside and had a vegetable garden. They had to throw everything away, couldn't eat it, all contaminated. That's 2000km's away from Chernobyl
This series is so good, not just because of the attention to detail, acting, music etc.. it's the way that by the end of it, you will understand exactly what happened. It's so terrifying to think this really occured, so much scarier than any fictional horror. Bear with it guys, questions will be answered if you don't quite understand everything now. Top tier show
23:26 I was one of those kids in Germany who was not allowed outside. I recall relatively well how our kindergarden teacher explained to us why we could not go out into the playground like we ususally did after lunch.
Chernobyl, Andor... Stellan Skarsgård can deliver really epic and moving speeches.
400 kilometres is the equivalent of approximately 250 miles. It's not mentioned in the series, but 1,200 buses and coaches were used to evacuate Pripyat and surrounding towns andvillages. Xx
Just a cool fact that the decimeter they used that read 15,000 actually maxed out at that number so it was still probably much higher
There's also real footage of them trying to drop boron and sand on the reactor and the helicopter clipping the crane and going down
No the helicopter didnt go down when they where dropping boron and sand to the reactor. It actually happened when they where building the sarcophagus and the helicopter blade hit the crane and went down. It had nothing to do with radiation. They used that on the show for dramatic purpose. There also many other mistakes in the show.
@@Kornn66 Ah good catch
@@Kornn66 Yet they still show that it hit the cables from the crane.
@@lubomirhambalek Yeah but in the show its implied that the radiation caused the crash.
Moving the helicopter accident across time and combining it with dropping of the sand and boron, I find acceptable creative license. Even in the scene in the series, you can clearly see the crane cable being clipped, and the hook assembly dropping down, together with the helicopter. But I have not seen a single Chernobyl series reaction that notices this. The head-canon that can be made of this scene is perhaps that the pilot become so disoriented by the smoke and the effects of the radiation Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), that he lost situational awareness.
What an awesome thing is to go on this ride with you guys!! Yo, people, PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ANYTHING!!! All of the answers will be given at the end! Just anjoy!!
Ironic part is, the three men sent into the basement survived with no side effects from what I know. The three people almost guaranteed to die didn't. Go figure.
You have to understand that this was during the Sovjet Union when the state ruled and orders were obeyed under hierarchy. Most people knew the danger but stuck to order and could not act openly under the rule that prevailed in the Sovjet Union att the time.
Supposedly a spoiler, though I'm not sure how it effects anything for the viewer knowing this trivial piece of information:
Been a while since I did a deep dive into this, but I’m pretty sure the female scientist that comes to their aid is a personification of a whole board of scientists made specifically for the HBO show to simplify stuff for the viewer
Yeah, that's correct. All of the contributions she makes in the show are real but they were made by several different people.
I can understand why they just used one character to portray this in the show. It would have been very confusing to introduce a whole group of other characters for the audience to keep track of.
This is mentioned in the epilogue of the final episode
I'm pretty sure that explaining things that are revealed by the show later is called "spoilers." Thanks for the amazing knowledge drop, you learned commenter you. So brave, so knowledgable to explain somethng that is literally explained by the show.
Spoiller alert! you should have comment that on the last episode not the second one let them find out...
As was alluded to in my original comment, I was unsure whether or not it was revealed later, my recollection was this being shared by the creators of the show after the fact, but I concede I was mistaken.
That being said, I personally disagree with the concept of this being a spoiler. Knowing that a character is a personification of an array of people makes zero difference in how the story progresses, in my opinion. That being said I'll edit my message to hide the question unless you click "read more".
Fun fact: 2024 in Germany (1500km away) Wild boar are persistently radioactively contaminated with caesium-137. The half-life of caesium-137 is 30 years, and the substance remains biologically available in the forest ecosystem for a long time. In the data available to us alone, values of up to 27,000 Bq/kg can be found.
Dont worry what happened and what not, you will get your answers, in the end of the last episode (watch it until the total end).
The 3 men that were sent down to locate the valves is 100% true. They actually all survived and lived pretty long lives, which is insane considering what they were exposed to.
Something's the dramatized but the people volunteering is true and if they hadn't a sacrifice their lives like you saw millions would have died. tens of millions. Imagine with the landscape of Europe would look like today if those people have let that lava hit the water tanks. They could have all saved themselves and just ran from the site and let whatever happened happen.
The explosion caused by the reactor melting into the water would have been in the tons not the mega-tons. So enough to damage/destroy the other reactors but not enough to wipe out the whole continent. Also, they were able to pump out most of the water before sending in the three men (Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bespalov and Boris Baranov) in. Fortunately, all of them survived and two are still alive today. Non the less, the bravery they showed is truly admirable. And their humble response to the whole affair "We're not heroes, we were just doing a job that had to be done" is also respectable.
There were idiots running things, but there were heroes as well that would give their lives to save millions.
not idiots, communist people superficially profiting off others and having no incentives to be good humans&animals&earthlings, like most people without the communism… raised to be that way…
but yes
What idiots?
"They gave the number they had." This is also applicable to the military dosimeter. It was also maxed out.
This show is amazing. It’s scarier than any horror movie or slasher flick.
After the show is done definitely do the research on Chernobyl. Most of the show is true except for some dramatic license. E.G. the miners & 3 volunteers to swim by the reactor to drain the tanks. Also there are interviews with Dyatlov who lived for some time afterwards. The two bureaucrats who totally underestimated the disaster got something like 10 year hard labor which wasn’t enough. The dangerous & corrupt thinking communism fosters permeated all of the Soviet Union which contributed to the disaster in a multitude of ways. Fascinating & horrifying at the same time. This shows you how brilliant & how vile man can be.
You two are watching some of the best shows ever made: Shogun & Chernobyl.🤘🙂👍
1:22 "I thought that's all your brain would come up with" 😂😂😂
07:56 While the general level of radiation has fallen to te point where there are tourists visiting Chernobyl, that pile of clothes still can't be touched.
Episode Four: Pudgey does not make it through.
😂
@@AmbassadorDvinn🐕
I'm not so sure about that. Remember in Breaking Bad when they were more upset with the lady who yelled at the guy who confessed to killing a dog than they were with the actual guy because that guy was sad.
Spartan mentioned that the captain that volunteered to drive the truck was from outlander. The lady that was given the iodine pills is also from outlander, she's the fortune teller.
Good, you started this very sad journey. Everybody should know about Chernobyl. I live in Germany and we did not allow children to play outside when this occured bc the radiation was contaminating whole of eastern and middle Europe.
My family told me that east germany was not warned about the danger. They are worried that they might have been sold the vegetables from the affected regions because the russians didn't want to sell them among their own.
@@Lilithly East Germany, at that point in time known as German Democratic Republic (a joke in itself that is), was a satellite state of the former Soviet Union. Simply said, all those states were dominated by the Soviets and had barely anything to say. And yes, if they delivered contaminated food, your state would buy it and you'd eat it. There wasn't any alternative.Even the gras was poisoned. Very dark times. Typical 80s. I wonder why so many people look so nostalgically on that decade. So many bad things happened back then too.
was not born yet when it happened but heard about it thro my childhood from my parents. they said that when europe belatedly found out there was quite a lot of panic about the fall outs. My oldest cousin from my mother's side wasn't even a year old and my aunt stopped breastfeedin out of fear, crops in a lot of places had to be thrown out, and people felt like it was lava to buy stuff like vegetables and fruit at the supermarket. Wind blew a lot of that bull thro nearby countries, particles and stuff like that. took quite a bit to recover from the shock of it all, if you also consider how long so many people were kept in the dark of such a massive matter.
My parents are both Dutch, and they remember when this happend. There was definitely a scare throughout all of Europe.
And they also remember that a huge portion of Europe was unable to sell and consume food from farm lands all the way from Russia to Italy and Germany which in return made it so that there was a lot less food in Europe at that time.
It was a crazy thing that happend, which I hope never happens again !
The possible steam explosion from the water tanks that were full, was estimated to be 30-40 megatons. For reference, it is equal to some of the most powerful nuclear bombs we've ever created. The largest nuclear bomb ever detonated during tests was a 50-megaton Tzar Bomba, and the shock wave from that test travelled around the world 3 times. It was detonated on an island of Novaya Zemlya in October of 1961. Windows shattered in a settlement of Dikson, over 700 km away. The fireball was 8 km in diameter, and could be seen from over 1000 km away, including from Norway and Finland. The flare (light from the explosion) could be seen in Alaska and Greenland. The mushroom could reached 67 km at its peak - that's way more than half way the distance from sea level to space.
The guys at the end are true, their torches dying may be a dramatisation.
It isn't
Their torches dying isn't a dramatisation. They went down with crank torches too...I'll not spoil beyond here
28:00 - Someone else commented on another reaction video: "I've had stressful work meetings, but never "We're gonna lose all of Eastern Europe" stressful", lol
1) The three volunteers had no lights. the water in that area was luminescent due to the Cherenkov effect.
2) the helicopter crash occurred more than a month later
1. Actually, yes, they did have regular flashlights. They didn't have those backup dynamo flashlights, though.
2. Correct. The helicopter crash was actually caused by the helicopter getting too close to a construction crane and snapping its rotors. Radiation had nothing to do with it.
i was born in Germany a few years after Chernobyl happened and i remember that there was a huge food fear going on for years of my childhood. Like we weren't allowed to eat mushrooms or certain c´vegetables were labelled "radiation free"... stuff like that
There are still areas in germany where you shouldnt collect mushrooms because they still have radiation from chernobyl
Wild boar hunted in eastern Sweden are still being tested for radiation before they are eaten.
@@95BWGso they still won’t let them live in peace…
@@Cassxowary the wild boar population has absolutely exploded in size in Sweden in the last decades.
This was absolutely terrifying when it happened, I was only 10 at the time over here in the UK. I remember one of the national newspapers headlining (paraphrasing) that a poison cloud of radiation was going to engulf and destroy Europe.
I had a phobia about going out in the rain for years
I am Ukrainian, and my father was one of the liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster, he voluntarily sacrificed his health to save the world. For me personally this series is an insult. So sad that too many people perceive this as some kind of a documentary.
- Legasov never hid the tapes from evil KGB spies. He openly passed them on to his friends a year before he end his life due to his poor health.
- At that moment in the series when they are only arguing that city needs to be evacuated - the real Chernobyl was already a completely evacuated a day ago.
- The firefighters who gave their lives fighting the fire - were not buried in a hole in the ground and filled with concrete - they were buried in the memorial cemetery with all honors.
- Dyatlov didn’t yell at anyone, didn’t threaten anyone, and never denied the reactor explosion - but hey, let’s make a scum and a bastard out of a real person, the series needs an antagonist.
- Medics underwent training, including radiation accidents, once every six months and were fully prepared and equipped for such an event - but hey, let's show that medics are stupid and worthless, never miss the opportunity to show how bad communism was.
- At the moment in the series where Legasov accuses evil KGB that they never began to fix reactors as they promised - in the real world more than half of the reactors had already been fixed, the rest were under repair
- The Minister of the Coal Industry was a very famous and respected person who himself began his career as a simple miner - the miners knew him well and volunteered to go to Chernobyl, there were no soldiers or threats - another real person who was turned into a bastard in the series
And so on, in almost every episode they lied about something. Some call it "overdramatization", others call it "propaganda", but the point is the same - it's a fictional story for an impressionable public who is not interested in the truth. Turning real people into idiots and bastards and calling it history is the key to a successful series about evil commies.
What a sick joke that the main theme of the series is “the consequences of lies” - while the series itself is a one big lie.
when i first watched, i thought that the helicopter crash (21:54) was a result of the radiation literally obliterating the rotors.
it took me a while to realise that it was actually the rotors clipping the crane cable which destroyed them, and that this crash actually occurred in October 1986, 6 months after the reactor explosion.
to be honest it's kinda fortunate that the crew didn't survive the crash after such extreme radiation exposure
I like watching your reactions but in this series you come off so ignorant and rude. This was the first time in human history that nuclear reactor exploded. And USSR was a really different country, a police state. You couldn't say anything or do anything that would make the government look bad.
(Sorry for my bad English)
Your English is excellent.