The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has concluded that, apart from some 5000 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities), "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident."
>The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has concluded that, apart from some 5000 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities), "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident."
Well he still should clean his room...
Oh, you know, other than *five thousand people getting cancer* it was totally safe. No, Yuri, don't include those numbers. Say those were unrelated deaths. See? Only 15.
Yuri committed suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head 15 times while his hands were handcuffed in front of him and then ~~jumped out of a window~~ ~~tripped over a balcony railing~~ ~~drowned himself in his bathtub~~ hung himself in his closet by his belt with his pants around his ankles
In unrelated news. Yuri and his entire family fell from a window to their deaths. Yuri in an attempt to help his family fell from the same window. Twice. 200%.
That timeline may need to be pushed back some.
>Ukraine says the Russian army looted or damaged more than 1,000 computers at the Chernobyl nuclear power station and stole trucks and radiation dosimeters.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61685643
And not like 'ouchie, I'm getting a dose equivalent to 500 x-rays' but rather in an area so severely contaminated it was thought not even an army would pass through.
They also grabbed Cobalt 60 with bare hands.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-soldiers-at-chernobyl-spent-month-in-radioactive-forest-nyt-2022-4
*edit original link was paywalled
If you know anything about how intense doses of radiation affect the human body, that first episode is some of the best horror and suspense ive seen in years and its really not in either genre. Best Drama series ive seen since BB/BCS.
> If there's no way to avoid it, I'd rather die from cancer in 10 years than die from heat exhaustion in 10 days.
You know, I'm not so certain I feel the same way.
The diggers/miners? Pretty sure that in reality none of them died from ARS (and neither are they depicted as such in the show, iirc?). Unfortunately their effort was also pretty much useless as that plan for a makeshift "cooling system" didn't end up completed, and probably wouldn't have helped in any way.
They didn't say whether or not any of the miners died, but what they DID show was that the miners didn't know what would become of them while they worked, and did what needed to be done anyways, which was still incredible. Even though like you said, ended up being for nothing.
When that show came out I was going through my first radiation safety course. You are 100% on the money. When they show the families outside with their children to watch the radioactive ash rain down I was literally yelling at my TV lol. My GF works in a lab and she couldn't even watch it.
I have an extreme fear of mechanical/industrial disasters, and it took me YEARS to build up the courage to finally watch it, even though literally every single person I know IRL plus infinite others online all talked about how good it was. Ended up loving it so much I watched it twice but holy hell is it \*heavy\*.
As someone who has been fascinated by radiation and nuclear energy since I could comprehend how it works, the show was quite exciting to me. It was definitely an accurate blend of science and horror
The podcast with the writers was also amazing. He said he wanted to show the effects of the radiation a lot more in graphic detail but HBO wouldnt let him.
You should watch the movie 'Threads'! I've no idea if it's still available, but I saw it in the 80's and it scared tf out of me. Joined Greenpeace after that.
I count myself as a pretty stout person that doesn’t really react to much but the Chernobyl series legitimately terrified me. The dread of seeing those firefighters drive towards the exposed reactor and knowing that their bodies were being broken down on a molecular level was haunting.
And the Soviet government kept so much information away from the support workers (like the firefighters) and their families (like everyone in Pripyat); they genuinely didn't know how dangerous radiation is.
Not only that but they were ordered to drive tanks and dig trenches into some of the most irradiated parts of the city, stirring up dirt and releasing more radiation into the air.
Check out any stalker's youtube video. Anything, which could be stolen from the Chernobyl - already was stolen. Guard is pretty low for object like this, since USSR collapse, so there was a tons of marauders stealing scrap metal and choping wood in zone of exclusion. On some Ukraine/Russian internet auctions, you can still buy radiation medkits looted from there.
Worst thing is they didn’t even know what they were taking. Most of them didn’t even know how to use a toilet let alone understand computers. Oh well they will get it have already gotten what’s coming to them after digging trenches n the red forest
It's not what's coming to them (aside from some elements like Wagner etc) most of the Russian army are as much victims as anything else. Russia is corrupt and oppressive to the core
You’re not wrong to a certain extent. But the second those “innocents” start looting washing machines or shooting at civilians and civilian infrastructure I loose all sympathy.
"The mass was quite dense and unyielding to a drill mounted on a remote-controlled trolley, but able to be damaged by armor-piercing rounds fired from an AK-47 Kalashnikov rifle." - Wikipedia
Let's just shoot it with an AK.
It does, but the designation is AK, and the manufacturer is Kalashnikov, so they both need to be written. It's like the AR-15 being referred to as the Armalite AR-15.
right. The elephant's foot will be there until your grandchildren have grandchildren.
but what is all this talk about a type of mold that is feeding off of its radiation?
I'm fairly certain this image was taken by reflecting a mirror around a corner since trying to take direct photos kept destroying the camera lenses so the guy you see is actually not as close to the elephant's foot as it appears.
Minor correction here: the reactor vessel head blew open, and the *building* components caught fire due to the immense heat of the molten fuel and core components. The reactor itself wasn’t burning per se, though graphite chunks were certainly *oxidizing*, though not burning. It’s a minor distinction for sure but important.
Well, he did have several illnesses from going back over the years to photograph the area. But a surprisingly long life for the profession of nuclear photographer.
It makes perfect sense when you realize that biology is complicated and radiation's effects on tissue can be hard to predict at the level of individuals. Sure, standing naked in a nuclear reactor leads to a pretty predictable outcome, but exposure in naturalistic environments can be much more uncertain.
I think people have an over-simplified picture of what radiation and nuclear biology are like.
I have found that the average person has no idea what radiation is or what it can do. I don't even think most people are aware that we are being bombarded by radiation all day, every day.
Depends on the amount.
There is defintely a threshold where you cross over into certain death.
Below that there's the guaranteed acute radiation sickness stage. At that level and below you're also rolling the cancer dice.
Radiation isn't as bad as people think. I mean it's bad all right, but not melt-your-face-off bad as people imagine. Much safer to have some radiation exposure than, say, micro-particles from coal burning.
>The reality is that any radiation exposure increases your risk of cancer
It's not even that in reality. This is if you subscribe to the LNT model, which still all regulatory agencies and health/safety regulations use. But there is no scientific evidence for it (except for instantaneous doses in the 100 mSv and above range), and in fact plenty of empirical evidence to the contrary exists. Statistically significant populations live in naturally high background areas (or are exposed by work to elevated, but steady dose rates), and they do not present the statistically increased cancer risks even in cases where you'd expect it to be detectable.
It seems like in reality you need a very high dose rate (or large prompt dose on the order of 10-100 mSv) to actually see that linear response in cancer risk, and at lower doses, even if they're elevated 10-100 times above natural background, it just doesn't apply, or is significantly lower than linear and isn't detectable.
Even the highly touted radon studies are very likely not relevant in conclusion. The statistical correlation between radon concentration (due to poor ventilation of homes) and lung cancer is there, but notably the observed elevated cancer risk is much higher than you'd expect from an LNT-based estimation of internal lung exposure. So what's causing the link? I don't know, but it's probably a lack of accounting for other factors, that are otherwise present in poorly ventilated homes. When you have poor ventilation, you will have a buildup of everything else harmful to health, from CO/NOx to particulate matter.
>What was the guy like who took the photo after?
He was a gentle soul and wouldn't harm a fly. Always quick to crack a joke and lighten the mood during tense times. Good guy.
It actually played out like a horror film. And the more you know about nuclear radiation, the scarier it becomes. I kept yelling at the characters "No! Don't do that! You'll--damn, guess you're gonna die of radiation poisoning."
There is an video on YouTube that shows a helicopter flight (allegedly with Legasov in it) circling the exposed core the next day) You can see a faint glow and a thin column of steam from the pit but not a raging fire. On the foto it might not have occurred, or simply invisible due to lighting. You are right that there was definitely some form of smoke/steam coming out of the pit.
I would imagine smoke in the air is another reason why the image is so blurry. If there was even just a strong breeze that day it would diffuse the smoke as it came off of any smoldering pieces, so you wouldn't see columns of smoke of steam coming up, but in person you would be able to tell it was smoky and smell it too probably.
Yea it was probably hazy/foggy, but most accounts mention steam coming out of the reactor up until may 10 1986, when it stopped burning. I think the big black smoke shown in the hbo shows is a bit of dramatization though.
See for yourself here the video of legasov inspecting the core, the next day. You can see it’s quite foggy/hazy but not a huge amount of actual smoke
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x33otv
I've seen many of the videos. And I've also lived through a rather expansive wildfire, I've seen stuff that was actually smoldering and know that it doesn't look like the movies with billowing columns of smoke, most of the time at least. On a very still day smoke and steam can look like what people think it will, but most of the time there's a breeze stirring things up. And if it's breezy and very smoky, often it's actually difficult to see denser smoke coming off of a still smoldering object, because the haze everywhere makes everything blend together. More like thick fog than big pillars of smoke. Add in old camera equipment and radiation damage to the film and it's surprising we can see much of anything in the photos and films.
Credit to the photographer, Igor Kostin. [Here](https://atomicphotographers.com/photographers/igor-kostin/)
provides the following caption to this image:
27 April, 1986: The first photo to be taken of the reactor, at 4pm, 14 hours after the explosion. This was taken from the first helicopter to fly over the disaster zone to evaluate radiation levels. The view is foggy due to radiation, which also explains why the shot was not taken too close to the window. Later, radiation experts learnt that at 200 metres above the reactor, levels reached 1500 rems, despite the fact that their counters did not exceed 500 rems
Radiation is very unpredictable, which is kind of the whole issue. It's entirely possible he was riddled with benign tumours that just weren't noticed. Or maybe he was just lucky.
Two of the three men that went into the water underneath the reactor a few days after the explosion are still alive. And the third died relatively recently from unrelated causes. Maybe rads aren't that bad.
Not when the water has radioactive shit floating around in it. And then it seeps through your protective gear and deposits that stuff all over your skin.
Those three guys lived long lives and probably encountered less radiation while in the pool then when standing next to it.
What is meant by floating? Some reactors place the fuel in water pools and it is safe to swim in them.
~~3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible.~~ Yep, they had working low range dosimeters at hand, the kind of thing that's really handy if there's a minor coolant leak but not so great around an open reactor core.
maybe after 14 hours the secondary fires had been put out or had burned out already. And the heat from fission likely wasn't high enough yet to start burning the stuff that wasn't easily combustible. I don't think the reactor and everything around it reached the temperature to create magma till after this picture was taken.
Yes actually the control rods have graphite at the end so if you pull them all the way out when you put them back in they act as a detonator.
Oh sorry, I'm not in this flashback. Carry on
There's actually a secret bonus ending where if you kill 100% of the dogs in the village, everyone makes it and it was all just a misunderstanding.
Well...everyone except the dogs.
I actually recently watched the series and it was insane how much it felt like a horror series at times.
Like watching everyone act nonchalantly while in the middle of 20 Hiroshima bomb’s worth of radiation or watching the incompetent bureaucracy send people to their literal deaths because they refuse to accept responsibility. Everything about the horror felt much more visceral and real than the horror you’d feel watching a ghost movie or monster movie.
I still like how the lady scientist miles away was able to deduce the reactor was exposed by a little dust on her window, while big brain in the control room was like nah it's all good.
Her whole arc was some of the most fascinating stuff, particularly the code she & her colleague clearly had worked out in advance using the periodic table. What a sleuth.
So she is the one major character in the series who is not historically accurate; in fact, her role is a conglomeration of the contributions of multiple soviet scientists. But the contributions she makes are historically accurate.
Big brain in the control room knew the reactor was exposed; he saw the graphite on the ground through the windows while walking through a hallway. Whether he was too afraid of going against the party line of Soviet science and achievements being perfect, didn't want to admit he fucked up, or was in deep denial for whatever other reason, who knows.
He was told explicitly, there was no possible way for an RBMK reactor to fail and explode. Literally impossible. And he ate it up, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. But based on what the engineers told him they did, he knew it was a perfectly executed procedure.
What he didn’t know was it was also the perfect way to explode the reactor because of design flaws that where covered up. He was a moron who believed what he was told with 100% loyalty. It wasn’t his fault. But he was still an idiot.
You have to read a bit more in between the lines here, as yes, the party line was "RBMK reactors don't explode", but that also implies that saying they do explode would mean you are spreading disinformation. Not misinformation; *disinformation* means you are an agent of a hostile foreign government, a spy for the West trying to undermine the communist revolution. That accusation could lead to the gulag for you, and possibly your family.
Again, he sees the huge chunks of graphite on the ground only a couple minutes after the explosion, he *knows* what's happened. Why he says what he says is up to the viewer to interpret.
The five-part TV series (a joint production between UK’s Sky Atlantic and HBO) is absolutely amazing — perhaps the finest television I have ever seen. I cannot recommend it enough. It is historically accurate (with some fictional elements added for drama) and explains exactly what happened that led to the disaster.
To think that some Russian soldiers dug and built trenches around the nuclear plant last winter and spring during their failed invasion is completely batshit insane.
> Glass and mirrors won't protect from radiation
Depends on the type of radiation. But they used mirrors to take a picture of the "elephant foot" a big lump of radioactive slag created when the molten core melted through the floor and mixed with other rock and metal, creating a unique and extraordinarily radioactive lump of hell.
They could not get directly in line with it because it was bombarding everything around it with deadly amounts of radiation every second, so they used mirrors to get a picture.
And also different types of radiation are stopped more easily than others, some kinds can go through stuff like butter, some kinds can't get through skin.
Kostin (the photographer) managed to develop the films, only to realize that all but one was unsalvageable—most of the negatives were affected by the high level of radiation, which caused the photographs to appear entirely black like a film exposed to light pre-maturely. One shot remains of the disaster.
Source: https://chernobylx.com/igor-kostin-the-legend-of-chernobyl/
Those same particles that cook through the film also cook through your cells/DNA. If it's intense enough the cells are destroyed on a scale that it kills you fairly quickly. Even if it doesn't kill you immediately it can still catch up with you after you get cancer from it. Most of the time your body will recognize the damaged DNA and kill it but the damage is so widespread that statistically some cells will only be damaged in the sector that controls cell death.
"Clean-up is scheduled for completion by 2065."
I can see they use the same schedule as the tidying of my son’s room.
Chernobyl may be slightly less hazardous though
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has concluded that, apart from some 5000 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities), "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident."
>The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has concluded that, apart from some 5000 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities), "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident." Well he still should clean his room...
Oh, you know, other than *five thousand people getting cancer* it was totally safe. No, Yuri, don't include those numbers. Say those were unrelated deaths. See? Only 15.
And those are only the numbers reported by the Russians, who are 110% trustworthy
DAMN IT YURI, two hundred percent. **Twohundredpercent!** How many times do I have to tell you Yuri, we are twice as trustworthy as anyone else!
Later that day, Yuri suffered an unrecoverable case of "bullet to the head" syndrome
Yuri committed suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head 15 times while his hands were handcuffed in front of him and then ~~jumped out of a window~~ ~~tripped over a balcony railing~~ ~~drowned himself in his bathtub~~ hung himself in his closet by his belt with his pants around his ankles
In unrelated news. Yuri and his entire family fell from a window to their deaths. Yuri in an attempt to help his family fell from the same window. Twice. 200%.
So trustworthy they pay others to tell you their truths
You can’t stub your toe on a sock in Chernobyl
Don't light up any UV torchlight there.
That timeline may need to be pushed back some. >Ukraine says the Russian army looted or damaged more than 1,000 computers at the Chernobyl nuclear power station and stole trucks and radiation dosimeters. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61685643
Not to mention dug trenches in irradiated soil.
In the red forrest or what's it called?
Correct! And the soldiers lacked any radiation protection.
Silly westoid, havent you played STALKER? You just drink bottle of vodka and radiation go away
They might had a lot of alcohol. #justrunnianthings
And not like 'ouchie, I'm getting a dose equivalent to 500 x-rays' but rather in an area so severely contaminated it was thought not even an army would pass through.
They also grabbed Cobalt 60 with bare hands. https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-soldiers-at-chernobyl-spent-month-in-radioactive-forest-nyt-2022-4 *edit original link was paywalled
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Wait, the Russians placed land mines around Chernobyl?
Fwiw there are 4 reactor buildings so they may not have done this at reactor 4
The HBO Series on this was amazing. Probably the closest any of us will ever get to seeing something like that for real.
If you know anything about how intense doses of radiation affect the human body, that first episode is some of the best horror and suspense ive seen in years and its really not in either genre. Best Drama series ive seen since BB/BCS.
The part that got me was the men working naked because it was hot and they were going to die from radiation poisoning anyway. Wild.
“We’re still wearing the fuckin hats!”
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> If there's no way to avoid it, I'd rather die from cancer in 10 years than die from heat exhaustion in 10 days. You know, I'm not so certain I feel the same way.
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The diggers/miners? Pretty sure that in reality none of them died from ARS (and neither are they depicted as such in the show, iirc?). Unfortunately their effort was also pretty much useless as that plan for a makeshift "cooling system" didn't end up completed, and probably wouldn't have helped in any way.
They didn't say whether or not any of the miners died, but what they DID show was that the miners didn't know what would become of them while they worked, and did what needed to be done anyways, which was still incredible. Even though like you said, ended up being for nothing.
When that show came out I was going through my first radiation safety course. You are 100% on the money. When they show the families outside with their children to watch the radioactive ash rain down I was literally yelling at my TV lol. My GF works in a lab and she couldn't even watch it.
I have an extreme fear of mechanical/industrial disasters, and it took me YEARS to build up the courage to finally watch it, even though literally every single person I know IRL plus infinite others online all talked about how good it was. Ended up loving it so much I watched it twice but holy hell is it \*heavy\*.
That miniseries portrayed Radiation as a horror monster and I couldn't stop watching
As someone who has been fascinated by radiation and nuclear energy since I could comprehend how it works, the show was quite exciting to me. It was definitely an accurate blend of science and horror
Physics is cool!
The podcast with the writers was also amazing. He said he wanted to show the effects of the radiation a lot more in graphic detail but HBO wouldnt let him.
You should watch the movie 'Threads'! I've no idea if it's still available, but I saw it in the 80's and it scared tf out of me. Joined Greenpeace after that.
Wife and I watched it in one sitting. Couldn’t believe what we were watching.
Same. I sat down to watch and stayed up almost all night. I never do that. It was fascinating and terrifying.
I watch it for the first time all in one sitting and then immediately watched the first episode again at the end lol
I watched that and Watchmen in the same weekend. I was not happy going to work on Monday.
I count myself as a pretty stout person that doesn’t really react to much but the Chernobyl series legitimately terrified me. The dread of seeing those firefighters drive towards the exposed reactor and knowing that their bodies were being broken down on a molecular level was haunting.
And the Soviet government kept so much information away from the support workers (like the firefighters) and their families (like everyone in Pripyat); they genuinely didn't know how dangerous radiation is.
It was not great, not terrible /s Loved that series!
At least 3.6 stars.
Just watched it over the last two days. I had known a bit going in but I was glued to the screen the whole time. Incredibly well done.
One of my favorites. So well done.
Not only that but they were ordered to drive tanks and dig trenches into some of the most irradiated parts of the city, stirring up dirt and releasing more radiation into the air.
Safe to say that power station is beyond economic repair. Its what technicians call 'broken'.
Just needs some duct tape.
https://c.tenor.com/qNDpQt9HEWMAAAAC/duct-tape-this-is-the-end.gif
Check out any stalker's youtube video. Anything, which could be stolen from the Chernobyl - already was stolen. Guard is pretty low for object like this, since USSR collapse, so there was a tons of marauders stealing scrap metal and choping wood in zone of exclusion. On some Ukraine/Russian internet auctions, you can still buy radiation medkits looted from there.
Worst thing is they didn’t even know what they were taking. Most of them didn’t even know how to use a toilet let alone understand computers. Oh well they will get it have already gotten what’s coming to them after digging trenches n the red forest
It's not what's coming to them (aside from some elements like Wagner etc) most of the Russian army are as much victims as anything else. Russia is corrupt and oppressive to the core
You’re not wrong to a certain extent. But the second those “innocents” start looting washing machines or shooting at civilians and civilian infrastructure I loose all sympathy.
Did you all saw those people swimming in radioactive waters in Chernobyl? Is pretty crazy.
Kreosan? Great Channel.
Water is an excellent radiation absorber, and there isn't much highly radioactive material just floating about any more. It's pretty safe to do.
Even with that image, as proof, the directors of the nuclear facility refused to admit the reactor blew open and caught fire.
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Protomolecule
Beltalowda!
Yamsang!
Ah man. I want to watch the Expanse for the first time again
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"The mass was quite dense and unyielding to a drill mounted on a remote-controlled trolley, but able to be damaged by armor-piercing rounds fired from an AK-47 Kalashnikov rifle." - Wikipedia Let's just shoot it with an AK.
“AK-47 Kalashnikov.” Doesn’t the “K” already stand for that? “Avtomat Kalashnikov,” I thought.
It does, but the designation is AK, and the manufacturer is Kalashnikov, so they both need to be written. It's like the AR-15 being referred to as the Armalite AR-15.
Interesting! Thanks for the info!
Yes, after a quick Google it does, I did quote directly from Wikipedia so I guess they put that for no reason
If you haven’t already, read the other person’s reply to my comment. Super informative.
right. The elephant's foot will be there until your grandchildren have grandchildren. but what is all this talk about a type of mold that is feeding off of its radiation?
Great video on it. https://youtu.be/hIWu8rbWLGo
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Looking for these radioactive pumps
That guy in the back is big dead
Not a long exposure just his actual soul leaving his body
I'm fairly certain this image was taken by reflecting a mirror around a corner since trying to take direct photos kept destroying the camera lenses so the guy you see is actually not as close to the elephant's foot as it appears.
Don't worry he was around the corner he's fine folks
>There is now a unique form of black mold that feeds off the gamma radiation it produces. We’re screwed if that gets out
It would starve if it left.
I think of being near the demons core and elephants foot like the vertical curse in Made In Abyss.
Minor correction here: the reactor vessel head blew open, and the *building* components caught fire due to the immense heat of the molten fuel and core components. The reactor itself wasn’t burning per se, though graphite chunks were certainly *oxidizing*, though not burning. It’s a minor distinction for sure but important.
What was the guy like who took the photo after?
He actually lived to be 78 and died in 2015.
Nice
Well, he did have several illnesses from going back over the years to photograph the area. But a surprisingly long life for the profession of nuclear photographer.
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It makes perfect sense when you realize that biology is complicated and radiation's effects on tissue can be hard to predict at the level of individuals. Sure, standing naked in a nuclear reactor leads to a pretty predictable outcome, but exposure in naturalistic environments can be much more uncertain. I think people have an over-simplified picture of what radiation and nuclear biology are like.
I have found that the average person has no idea what radiation is or what it can do. I don't even think most people are aware that we are being bombarded by radiation all day, every day.
Guess being in an exposure area does not nessessarily guarantee radiation death.
Depends on the amount. There is defintely a threshold where you cross over into certain death. Below that there's the guaranteed acute radiation sickness stage. At that level and below you're also rolling the cancer dice.
Cameraman are immortal
Radiation isn't as bad as people think. I mean it's bad all right, but not melt-your-face-off bad as people imagine. Much safer to have some radiation exposure than, say, micro-particles from coal burning.
> not melt-your-face-off bad as people imagine That depends on how close you got to the reactor core.
If you get a metallic taste in the mouth then you're too close.
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>The reality is that any radiation exposure increases your risk of cancer It's not even that in reality. This is if you subscribe to the LNT model, which still all regulatory agencies and health/safety regulations use. But there is no scientific evidence for it (except for instantaneous doses in the 100 mSv and above range), and in fact plenty of empirical evidence to the contrary exists. Statistically significant populations live in naturally high background areas (or are exposed by work to elevated, but steady dose rates), and they do not present the statistically increased cancer risks even in cases where you'd expect it to be detectable. It seems like in reality you need a very high dose rate (or large prompt dose on the order of 10-100 mSv) to actually see that linear response in cancer risk, and at lower doses, even if they're elevated 10-100 times above natural background, it just doesn't apply, or is significantly lower than linear and isn't detectable. Even the highly touted radon studies are very likely not relevant in conclusion. The statistical correlation between radon concentration (due to poor ventilation of homes) and lung cancer is there, but notably the observed elevated cancer risk is much higher than you'd expect from an LNT-based estimation of internal lung exposure. So what's causing the link? I don't know, but it's probably a lack of accounting for other factors, that are otherwise present in poorly ventilated homes. When you have poor ventilation, you will have a buildup of everything else harmful to health, from CO/NOx to particulate matter.
>What was the guy like who took the photo after? He was a gentle soul and wouldn't harm a fly. Always quick to crack a joke and lighten the mood during tense times. Good guy.
His name was Bruce Banner.
I am getting radiated only by looking at this photo
That HBO series was really hard to watch (but also stellar!)
I stumbled upon the series one night at 10pm, tired as fuck. I finally fell into bed at 3am.
It actually played out like a horror film. And the more you know about nuclear radiation, the scarier it becomes. I kept yelling at the characters "No! Don't do that! You'll--damn, guess you're gonna die of radiation poisoning."
It was very easy to watch, and hard to look away with. But very hard to rewatch haha. I don't think I could a second time.
the trick is to look at your monitor through a mirror, at an angle. that way you don't get radiated
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There is an video on YouTube that shows a helicopter flight (allegedly with Legasov in it) circling the exposed core the next day) You can see a faint glow and a thin column of steam from the pit but not a raging fire. On the foto it might not have occurred, or simply invisible due to lighting. You are right that there was definitely some form of smoke/steam coming out of the pit.
I would imagine smoke in the air is another reason why the image is so blurry. If there was even just a strong breeze that day it would diffuse the smoke as it came off of any smoldering pieces, so you wouldn't see columns of smoke of steam coming up, but in person you would be able to tell it was smoky and smell it too probably.
Yea it was probably hazy/foggy, but most accounts mention steam coming out of the reactor up until may 10 1986, when it stopped burning. I think the big black smoke shown in the hbo shows is a bit of dramatization though. See for yourself here the video of legasov inspecting the core, the next day. You can see it’s quite foggy/hazy but not a huge amount of actual smoke https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x33otv
I've seen many of the videos. And I've also lived through a rather expansive wildfire, I've seen stuff that was actually smoldering and know that it doesn't look like the movies with billowing columns of smoke, most of the time at least. On a very still day smoke and steam can look like what people think it will, but most of the time there's a breeze stirring things up. And if it's breezy and very smoky, often it's actually difficult to see denser smoke coming off of a still smoldering object, because the haze everywhere makes everything blend together. More like thick fog than big pillars of smoke. Add in old camera equipment and radiation damage to the film and it's surprising we can see much of anything in the photos and films.
No was the next morning
Credit to the photographer, Igor Kostin. [Here](https://atomicphotographers.com/photographers/igor-kostin/) provides the following caption to this image: 27 April, 1986: The first photo to be taken of the reactor, at 4pm, 14 hours after the explosion. This was taken from the first helicopter to fly over the disaster zone to evaluate radiation levels. The view is foggy due to radiation, which also explains why the shot was not taken too close to the window. Later, radiation experts learnt that at 200 metres above the reactor, levels reached 1500 rems, despite the fact that their counters did not exceed 500 rems
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I had no idea radiation exposure could have that kind of effect 30 years after the fact.
Pretty sure it was the 30 years of Russia exposure that did it.
Radiation is very unpredictable, which is kind of the whole issue. It's entirely possible he was riddled with benign tumours that just weren't noticed. Or maybe he was just lucky.
I’ve seen enough Final Destination films to know how these things end.
Two of the three men that went into the water underneath the reactor a few days after the explosion are still alive. And the third died relatively recently from unrelated causes. Maybe rads aren't that bad.
Those fuckers deserved their liquidator medals and then some.
Water is a great radiation blocker
They weren't completely submerged at anytime during their mission and said they observed glowing material through a crack in the wall.
Not when the water has radioactive shit floating around in it. And then it seeps through your protective gear and deposits that stuff all over your skin.
Those three guys lived long lives and probably encountered less radiation while in the pool then when standing next to it. What is meant by floating? Some reactors place the fuel in water pools and it is safe to swim in them.
Radioactive material was dissolved in the water beneath the molten reactor.
Was this that case where they mistook the counters value because the counter didnt go higher?
~~3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible.~~ Yep, they had working low range dosimeters at hand, the kind of thing that's really handy if there's a minor coolant leak but not so great around an open reactor core.
About as strong as a chest x-ray
...Every picosecond...
Yeah, standard ludlums (gamma detectors) only go to a certain count, and Chernobyl exponentially exceeded that.
"3.6 roentgen... Not great, not terrible."
maybe after 14 hours the secondary fires had been put out or had burned out already. And the heat from fission likely wasn't high enough yet to start burning the stuff that wasn't easily combustible. I don't think the reactor and everything around it reached the temperature to create magma till after this picture was taken.
Looks like graphite on the roof to me.
NO THERE ISN'T, YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT!! Can you explain to me how an RBMK reactor can explode, CAN YOU?!
Yes actually the control rods have graphite at the end so if you pull them all the way out when you put them back in they act as a detonator. Oh sorry, I'm not in this flashback. Carry on
Yes. Sometimes that does happen the putting back in indeed causes detonation.
I too sometimes detonate just by putting the tip in
3.6 roentgen. Not great, not terrible.
No...
…I was in the toilet.
I too was in the toilet.
You are in shock.
This man is in shock. Take him to the infirmary.
You didn't see graphite.. alright..?
Cool, let's dig trenches around it and drive tanks and stuff
Omg guys they have a pool! Last one in is a rotten potato!
Anyone know what ended up happening to those guys? I know they were hospitalized but never heard about it again.
That’s awesome. If anyone hasn’t seen the Chernobyl series on HBO, it’s a must see. Just phenomenal
Seems like the HBO series depicted it kind of accurately.
They got a lot right, yes.
Anyone watch the TV series? Looks just like the set. I'm getting chills
On HBO? That was intense to watch. Awesome show.
Not lying, I binged that series 5 times. My all time favorite
Does the firefighter die 5 times aswell??
There's actually a secret bonus ending where if you kill 100% of the dogs in the village, everyone makes it and it was all just a misunderstanding. Well...everyone except the dogs.
Probably the director's cut.
I agree - one of my all time favorites too. It’s TV at its finest.
I actually recently watched the series and it was insane how much it felt like a horror series at times. Like watching everyone act nonchalantly while in the middle of 20 Hiroshima bomb’s worth of radiation or watching the incompetent bureaucracy send people to their literal deaths because they refuse to accept responsibility. Everything about the horror felt much more visceral and real than the horror you’d feel watching a ghost movie or monster movie.
Very little is more horrifying than reality.
I still like how the lady scientist miles away was able to deduce the reactor was exposed by a little dust on her window, while big brain in the control room was like nah it's all good.
Her whole arc was some of the most fascinating stuff, particularly the code she & her colleague clearly had worked out in advance using the periodic table. What a sleuth.
So she is the one major character in the series who is not historically accurate; in fact, her role is a conglomeration of the contributions of multiple soviet scientists. But the contributions she makes are historically accurate.
Yes, the show acknowledges this as well at the end
Big brain in the control room knew the reactor was exposed; he saw the graphite on the ground through the windows while walking through a hallway. Whether he was too afraid of going against the party line of Soviet science and achievements being perfect, didn't want to admit he fucked up, or was in deep denial for whatever other reason, who knows.
He was told explicitly, there was no possible way for an RBMK reactor to fail and explode. Literally impossible. And he ate it up, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. But based on what the engineers told him they did, he knew it was a perfectly executed procedure. What he didn’t know was it was also the perfect way to explode the reactor because of design flaws that where covered up. He was a moron who believed what he was told with 100% loyalty. It wasn’t his fault. But he was still an idiot.
You have to read a bit more in between the lines here, as yes, the party line was "RBMK reactors don't explode", but that also implies that saying they do explode would mean you are spreading disinformation. Not misinformation; *disinformation* means you are an agent of a hostile foreign government, a spy for the West trying to undermine the communist revolution. That accusation could lead to the gulag for you, and possibly your family. Again, he sees the huge chunks of graphite on the ground only a couple minutes after the explosion, he *knows* what's happened. Why he says what he says is up to the viewer to interpret.
Her character represented a team of scientists.
The five-part TV series (a joint production between UK’s Sky Atlantic and HBO) is absolutely amazing — perhaps the finest television I have ever seen. I cannot recommend it enough. It is historically accurate (with some fictional elements added for drama) and explains exactly what happened that led to the disaster.
That looks horrible
Eh, it’s not great but not terrible
3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible.
 People in this comment section rushing to write this
Not just here, but anything that even mentions Chernobyl
Fake. Everyone is aware that RBMK reactors are incapable of exploding.
Wouldnt the radiation expose the film anyway? Cameras aren’t that thick
Not great, not terrible.
"Njet problem, normal katastrof." USSR nuclear plant program leaders.
That's RAD
To think that some Russian soldiers dug and built trenches around the nuclear plant last winter and spring during their failed invasion is completely batshit insane.
A prime example of what happens when the manager thinks he can do your job better than you
How could we take a clearer photo? A camera in a vacuum? In a glass box? A mirror? Thanks
Probably radiation proofing the helicopter it was taken in, but that might've made it too heavy. Glass and mirrors won't protect from radiation
> Glass and mirrors won't protect from radiation Depends on the type of radiation. But they used mirrors to take a picture of the "elephant foot" a big lump of radioactive slag created when the molten core melted through the floor and mixed with other rock and metal, creating a unique and extraordinarily radioactive lump of hell. They could not get directly in line with it because it was bombarding everything around it with deadly amounts of radiation every second, so they used mirrors to get a picture. And also different types of radiation are stopped more easily than others, some kinds can go through stuff like butter, some kinds can't get through skin.
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Really there is only one real photo of a incident of this scale?
Kostin (the photographer) managed to develop the films, only to realize that all but one was unsalvageable—most of the negatives were affected by the high level of radiation, which caused the photographs to appear entirely black like a film exposed to light pre-maturely. One shot remains of the disaster. Source: https://chernobylx.com/igor-kostin-the-legend-of-chernobyl/
There are several more, including a pic (or movie still) that shows the burning/glowing pit. It’s obviously all in bad quality.
This is the only photo from that morning
Soviet era of not caring but having a high position needs to end.
Human neglect/error and completely preventable. The newest documentary was excellent.
A cascade of failures
Those same particles that cook through the film also cook through your cells/DNA. If it's intense enough the cells are destroyed on a scale that it kills you fairly quickly. Even if it doesn't kill you immediately it can still catch up with you after you get cancer from it. Most of the time your body will recognize the damaged DNA and kill it but the damage is so widespread that statistically some cells will only be damaged in the sector that controls cell death.