Jump to content

Chernobyl


Daddyjt

Recommended Posts

I’ve been watching this HBO series, and I must say, I’m hooked. 

 

I feel woefully ignorant of the events that transpired during this tragedy, and I feel horrible that I chuckled at the occasional joke about this event when I was younger.

 

Not only is this series an outstanding testament to the courage and selflessness of so many brave souls, it is an outstanding primer on the technical knowledge of the RBMK reactor.

 

There some honest-to-god heroes showcased in this series who quite possibly saved the world - literally.  

 

Well worth your time. 

 

 

  • Thank You 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The China Syndrome, released 12 days before Three Mile Island accident shows the fragility of Nuclear Power and humans who work with it, but electrical energy is the cornerstone of economic development. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is another well-documented accident. 

 

World energy consumption shows Coal and Oil, together, supply 60+% of total energy, while Nuclear is about 4%. 

 

Chain reactions are very hard to control, and this is one of toughest to control, despite technological leaps in the last 40+ years.  Safe Nuclear and Renewables would be very nice in the next 10+ years.

  • Thank You 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Three Mile Island was much worse than the government revealed at the time!  I know people who were part of the evaluation team on site after accident!  That happened right before my wedding in 1979, a year later in 1980 I was near the missile silo in Arkansas that blew up!  As we drove by we could see the nuclear warhead being hoisted by a crane!  Fun times! NOT!

 

 

  • Thank You 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Daddyjt said:

I’ve been watching this HBO series, and I must say, I’m hooked. 

Yup - me too.

Clever ploy by HBO ..... start a really good series a few weeks before GOT is over for the season (or over for good).  Keeps people subscribed that might otherwise cancel ..... at least for a little while longer.

  • Thank You 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the time Chernobyl happened, before anything had been announced, my brother-in-law who had studied nuclear engineering called us and said that there had clearly been a meltdown, somewhere in Europe.  He had seen the radiation numbers spike and was able to figure out approximately where it was.  He actually managed to figure out that it was likely Chernobyl that had booked off.  

 

Sadly, there have been quite a few meltdowns through the years, and yes, there were some incredible, unsung heroes at the Chernobyl disaster.

 

Given that I live only a couple of kilometers from one of Canada's larger sites, I'm clearly not one to dwell on possible disasters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have HBO but I am very curious about that show.

 

Safe nuclear power generation is very well understood. The problem isn't with the reactors or the newer designs per se, it's that politics and money are too often in the equation when sites are selected. Then, once they are running, you have the human element that cannot be accounted for, in it's entirety, by the software and controls used to operate the facility. People violate rules and policies and procedures - not as hazardous with fossil fuel plants but critical with nuclear plants.

 

There just isn't enough efficiency and stability with solar and wind to provide a meaningful amount of the power this country alone requires. All of the ignorance surrounding nuclear power has had the effect of extending and promoting the burning of fossil fuels for power generation indefinitely.

  • Thank You 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/26/2019 at 3:27 AM, Daddyjt said:

I’ve been watching this HBO series, and I must say, I’m hooked. 

 

I feel woefully ignorant of the events that transpired during this tragedy, and I feel horrible that I chuckled at the occasional joke about this event when I was younger.

 

Not only is this series an outstanding testament to the courage and selflessness of so many brave souls, it is an outstanding primer on the technical knowledge of the RBMK reactor.

 

There some honest-to-god heroes showcased in this series who quite possibly saved the world - literally.  

 

Well worth your time. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for posting this, I had seen it listed but just went right on by it. 

I too never fully knew the extent of this melt down and how close it came to becoming a global disaster.

What did the expert quote every 24 hrs. was the equivalent of 48 Hiroshima size bombs going off (2 per hr.), releasing that much radioactivity into the air.  

If you haven't watched it yet check it out...........

Edited by Blues Pwr
  • Thank You 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to wonder if such a disaster were to happen in a western nation if we would have the cajonas to evacuate a city and designate it an exclusion zone, and not let anyone back in?  I wonder if we could react fast enough to limit the number of people who would die from radiation?  Perhaps we would, I just don't know, and I hope we never find out.

  • Thank You 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Brian_at_HHH said:

I have to wonder if such a disaster were to happen in a western nation if we would have the cajonas to evacuate a city and designate it an exclusion zone, and not let anyone back in?  I wonder if we could react fast enough to limit the number of people who would die from radiation?  Perhaps we would, I just don't know, and I hope we never find out.

 

I think it would be difficult in this day and age - I can only imagine the law suits and injunctions and so on. 

 

I’ve wondered the same thoughts w/ regards to the effort during WWII - I just can’t see all those companies switching over to produce rifles, tanks, planes and ammo like they did back then...

  • Thank You 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/28/2019 at 11:49 PM, Daddyjt said:

I’ve wondered the same thoughts w/ regards to the effort during WWII - I just can’t see all those companies switching over to produce rifles, tanks, planes and ammo like they did back then...

Civilian production became "War" production because

1.  The entire country was mad as hell at the Japanese.

2.  Deep down, the American Citizen still trusted the Government.  Among other things, Americans knew that war was ongoing in Europe, and better to fight an enemy there or in Asia, than to fight one on US soil.

 

You are unlikely to see such a thing in the future, because

1.  Americans don't get angry enough when thousands of citizens are killed by "terrorists"; and

2.  The decades-long list of provable lies told by Government at all levels has destroyed any lingering doubts about the ethics or competence of Government.

 

The USA fought  "world wars" of colossal scale, and we were done in four years, with surrender papers from beaten foes.  Our current Elected Dirtballs have had us fighting in the Middle East with no will to win, no WAY to win, no plan to win.  We're going to be there until the end of time, draining our economy and killing our youth, sacrificed in vain because US politicians don't have enough stones to declare a war, let alone fight one.

Edited by Schurkey
  • Thank You 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Schurkey said:

 

...

 

Our current Elected Dirtballs have had us fighting in the Middle East with no will to win, no WAY to win, no plan to win.  We're going to be there until the end of time, draining our economy and killing our youth, sacrificed in vain because US politicians don't have enough stones to declare a war, let alone fight one.

 

Yeah, but Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman will still be able to funnel billions to the Elected Dirtballs reelection campaigns ensuring their cash cow doesn't go dry until after Armageddon.

 

 

 

On 5/26/2019 at 2:27 AM, Daddyjt said:

I’ve been watching this HBO series, and I must say, I’m hooked. 

 

I hope HBO makes this available to Amazon Prime or Netflix sometime in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's great! I've studies the Chernobyl events for a long time. Many people thought thousands and thousand died, but it was actually only 29.

The fallout sickness and death count is obviously higher, some estimates saying near 100,000 people died 'unnaturally'. There is still skepticism that the Russian government has ever come clean about the real statistics of death, sickness and exposure.

 

I totally believe in the heroism. Very brave men fought to save the world there. All of the firefighters died, some of horrible radiation sickness days later. Then the 'liquidators', approximately 100,000, were exposed to extremely high levels of contaminates while cleaning up. Real life interviews of those men revealed that they all knew the job was dangerous, but it had to be done, and they are to this day damn proud that they played a part in stopping a much worse catastrophe.

 

It is a very interesting part of history, and it kinda changed my mind about 'safe' nuclear power. I don't think it can ever be safe, not without some very convincing technology... 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...