First time watching Chernobyl episode 3 reaction
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Chernobyl is a 2019 American-British historical drama television series created and written by Craig Mazin, directed by Johan Renck, and produced by HBO and Sky UK. It is a miniseries in all 5 episodes, depicts the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed in Ukrainian Republic, the Soviet Union. It mainly features an ensemble cast led by Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, and Paul Ritter.
Chernobyl reaction skip to:
0:00 - Chernobyl reaction intro
1:22 - Chernobyl 1x3 reaction
23:37 - Chernobyl review
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Another impactful episode. What was your reaction? What did we miss?
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Thank u Oak for sharing that very personal experience about your father's passing. I've not lost a parent yet myself, but I do understand, as a nurse, the basic human empathy within us all that will not allow me personally to ever let a person die alone. I've been w several people during their last moments cause for varying diff circumstances family couldn't be & I truly hope I was able to give them some comfort.
There are a couple guys in Arlington buried the same way
You guys keep saying they are infected. That's incorrect.
Radiation contaminates/poisons people.
It's an atomic process not a virus.
Salaar reaction please
I am a physician and earned a physics degree before becoming a doctor. The effects described here are accurate. This important to understand that exposure to radioactive material does not cause other matter to become radioactive. The firefighter who is dying from radiation sickness has been decontaminated in the sense that his clothes were removed and he was washed. But he has ingested radioactive isotopes by breathing them in and swallowing them. These cannot be removed. They are sitting inside him, continuing to blast his tissues and dna with radiation. He is not literally radioactive, but he had radioactive material inside him. Radiation effects are remarkably dependent on range and shielding. Even his skin, the bedsheet, and the air in the room provides significant shielding. If his wife stands in the doorway, she gets a minimal dose. If she gets 6 feet closer, she gets significantly more. If she gets within a foot, she gets hundreds of times more. If she touches his skin, she gets thousands of times more.
Yes, thank you. It is also the reason that they were buried in lead coffins. (The cement burial was dramatized). There are people today who LOVE to say this entire episode was more dramatic than necessary, including the ways that the men died. That again, simply is false. These men suffered, and the woman in the series DID lose her baby. She did have multiple miscarriages afterwards, and she lived in Kiev with her son when this was released. They actually left some of the story out, her son was born on the spectrum due to the amount of radiation in her body.
People always go to the fact that Nuclear Power kills such a low percentage of people per k/whr. Which is true, what they don’t speak about though is potential disasters.
If a missile hits a solar plant, a wind turbine, or a dam it destroys the property and kills
Unfortunately they opted to "raise the stakes" with the bs about her pregnancy. It's weird how both her and her son are still alive today (or where last anyone heard before this war in Ukraine). It annoys me that they went to such lengths to be accurate on every other thing, then intentionally lied about this one thing, probably because they wanted to make the whole situation just that much scarier...
That she was bullied after this show came out is abhorrent, regardless of any facts about exposures. 😢
"exposure to radioactive material does not cause other matter to become radioactive."
As a blanket statement, this is false. Material can be activated -- made radioactive -- by exposure to sufficiently high amounts of radiation. That almost certainly did not happen in the case of the victims here; but your general statement is incorrect.
@@joshuacoldwaterWhat do you mean by "the cement burial was dramatized"? The people who were there say that's what happened; and you can see the top of the concrete if you go to Mitinskoye.
That last scene of the concrete flowing over the lead coffins gets me every time. Just the thought that their bodies are forever exiled from the earth, like they've become something alien, just preys on the mind. It's like this horror story will never really end.
Absolutely! Like their bodies are so dangerous, they still can kill you by… existing…
Imagine far into the future, when that concrete block and then lead coffins, THEN remains are either rediscovered or knowingly unearthed for 'Science,' what they'll find then?
They aren’t buried in concrete in real life though.
@@AniwayasSongthey were buried in zinc coffins and no concrete either.
Fun fact: my dad was almost sent to Chernobyl for clean up from Lithuania but his commanding officer let him off the hook only because my brother was a newborn at the time. My parents went to beg him and everything 😳
A friend of mine is Ukrainian. Her father was born in Kyiv Oblast, her mother in the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. They met at Chornobyl.
They weren’t actually told about radiation levels, so when they conceived a child, they didn’t know the potential dangers. Fortunately, upon learning of this, both were sent to Moscow, where they worked on the admin work for Chornobyl. They are thankful for that, now, since it probably saved their lives, and the life of their eldest son.
I don't think Vasily's wife in this series, understood about radiation dangers. The staff weren't allowed to tell her specifics because the KGB was trying to ensure the truth didn't get out to the public. She seemed to think it was burns only.
Nor did he. Otherwise he would have insisted for her to stay away from him.
There’s a book, “voices of Chernobyl “, where she has her say. She didn’t really understand what radiation was. It’s a remarkable book but chilling. A difficult read.
It's also unfortunately false that patients with ARS are a meaningful source of radiation to others. Once they shower and remove clothing and suchlike, their radioactivity drops to nominal levels. They will die, but they will not pose a significant threat to others.
Because the dangers in this series were complete bs. In reality the protective shielding there was to protect the patient from the other people because their immune system had been completely destroyed by the radiation exposure. They weren't radioactive, like this series seems to claim. The dust they inhaled was but their own body shielded that from exposing others. The wife miscarried because of the sane exposure everyone had that day in that town, not because she went to be with her husband as he died.
No one did - this was the first time anything like this had ever happened (of note)
I have so much respect for Lyudmilla after reading her story in "Voices from Chernobyl". In real life she went to the hospital day and night, not only to take care of her husband, but also all the other firemen. She brought them gifts, and cooked food, even though their stomachs could no longer process it. She removed pieces of organs from her husband's throat and tried to make him as comfortable as possible, even by almost removing her own nails because she didn't want to hurt him when she touched him. One of the sweetest moments in the book, which I wish they had kept, was on the night of the 9th May, during the celebration of Victory Day, Lyudmilla's husband told her to open the windows so they could watch the fireworks together. His condition at that time was already extremely bad. Yet, with the little energy he had left, he sat up and gave her a couple of flowers that he had hidden under his pillow. Apparently he had given the nurse all the money he had so that he could get the flowers for his wife... The most cruel thing was his death. Lyudmilla had been staying by his side for 2 weeks because she did not want to miss a single second with him, so she barely got any sleep. On the day he died, she told him that she would have to be away for 3 hours, because she had to attend her friend's funeral (another firefighter who had died). After she got home she called the hospital and was told that he had died 15 minutes before she called. He had been calling her name non-stop until his final breathe...
Her story is so sad, she never got over him and I know she will always love him....
Thats heart breaking
The story of his sister is also extremely sad. SHe had an operation to try and save him and it let her crippled and sickly the rest of her life and she never could have any children.
😭
They didn’t show Akimov because by this point he had no face, portions of his skull were showing, he in reality could not speak & had to blink to respond to questions
I heard they filmed it but his makeup was so disturbing even HBO felt they had to cut it.
@@toddjohnson271 dam
those 3 divers deserve a worldwide holiday and ceremony every year
I think they did. And you could thank 2 of them in person still potentially. They all survived. The 3rd only died like a decade or so ago
@@lornepribbeno3760 I know they survived, because someone mentioned it in a comment in another reaction video, but my point is that most people that didn't see this series don't even know those 3 people existed and risked they life to save millions.
@mawortz The Ukrainians might be a bit distracted at the moment, no parades in Kiev
They didn't volunteer though, they just happened to have the knowledge required to navigate the area in the dark and we're given the task. (There were no flashlights in reality)
The radiation dosimeter has the most terrifying sound I've ever heard !!
I was watching Slow Horses and there was an episode where they walked into a house that had an active dosimeter inside just buzzing and it made my skin crawl.
Even in a video game, hearing those clicks makes you panic. Can't imagine in real life.
Even more amazing - that dosimeter (Geiger counter) sound is probably only etched in people's minds as a horrifying sound because of the events that happened at Chernobyl. (sure other events happened later but this triggered the nightmares)
@@Eddy0042 Well this show made it a character. No piece of media has ever done that before. Since you can't see the "monster" they're fighting that sound is the only thing that hints at it. And when you start to see what the radiation can do that sound becomes horrifying.
In shool we once watched a German documentary called "Rückkehr nach Tschernobyl" (Return to Chernobyl) it told the story of people who were evacuated from the towns and villages and were later allowed to go back. The sound of the dosimeter was a constant background noise in the movie to show there is still radiation in the air. From time to time you could see it.
16:30 - that’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit, I’d be pissed too
Guys, I think, the important thing everyone, who watches this show, must understand is that we gained the 70 if not 80% information about radiation BECAUSE of this catastrophe. Before that the only ones who knew, what it can cause were scientists. This is why Luydmila (firefighter’s wife) says “He’s burned”. Not a single soul except the liquidators and scientists understood what they were dealing with. They didn’t know, how dangerous radiation can be. Remember, what Legasov said - “We are dealing with something that has NEVER occurred on this planet before”.
We learn on our mistakes and our knowledge about radiation was paid by lives of all of these people.
In a documentary I watched about the Hiroshima bombing, they mentioned that many of the survivors were in a decades long study and that some of the data from them was used for Chernobyl. Very interesting but heart breaking too.
@@94bottles soviets.. well usa also.. were using even own soldiers as test guinea pigs. Drop a bomb, charge a brigade trough, occupy trenches in measured distances, measure short and long term effects. So some knowledge about radiation was know, but it was not much in education for common people. They would be too scared.. as rightfully they should be. So Chernobyl a bit helped to truly grasp the horrors of a nuclear war on a big scale.
I can't tell you how refreshing it is to watch an all male panel who are not afraid to express emotions. Because of that, I subscribed. Imagine how delighted I was to hear such a well thought out conversation as a bonus! Thank you.
Real men no how to cry lol
Men were NEVER afraid to express emotions they just do it differently
@@mohammedashian8094 sure.....
@@kdizzle901 They do now! My generation didn't. I love it!
as a swede i remembered we could not hunt or fish anything at all! it was to high risk. my dad saved a peace of moose meat from that day and had it tested 12 years later and that peace o meat still had a deadly dose !
Here in The Netherlands all crops had to be destroyed and cows couldn't go outside anymore for the longest time. Crazy!
In the UK there was a ban on milk and meat produced in certain areas because livestock had been contaminated.
@@mosovanhe Same here in Wales, farmers weren't allowed to sell their meat
I was living in Italy, and we couldn't buy milk, lettuce, and lots of other agricultural products for quite some time. (Later a client claimed that Chernobyl had made him allergic to cats, but... I remain skeptical. 😂)
Well, my parents who lived in East Germany told me that suddenly after Chernobyl they could buy all sorts of foods in huge ammounts that would normaly be not available or only in very small numbers. And cheap too. Many didnt know why or didnt ask.
In the East German Media they whre told that everything was ok of course.
28:55 as you may know Russia invaded Ukraine (where Chernobyl is located), full-scale, in 2022.
Russian troops occupied the still working Chernobyl power plant and the part of the plant containing the sarcophagus that was built around the site of the accident. They didn't stay for long though.
While they were there they dug trenches and dug-outs and within a few days a lot of the troops started to get sick.
Vomiting etc.
Turns out the soil they dug into was still HEAVILY radiated.
Yah, it's not gonna be safe for a very long time.
They were also eating mushrooms...
When my father in law was passing the nurse told us, “when you reach the point where you can’t leave, let us know, we’ll help set up the room.” We were like ???? Two days later, we let them know. Our hospital was great and had chairs that turned into beds. Shout out to nurses/hospital staff that help people going through some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
The miner that says "Now you look like the Minister of Coal" is played by the actor that played Lord Commander Mormont in Game of Thrones.
Omg no way??? 🤯
yeah there's a few game of thrones characters in the show. The guy in the military uniform at 23:00 was with Theon Greyjoy when he captured Winterfell
That’s not James Cosmo that’s Alex Ferns James Cosmo is like 77…….Alex Ferns was also in The Batman and Wrath of Man
@@theHalfBloodPhoenixno it’s not
@@kdizzle901 IMDB would disagree with you. Alex Ferns is the head miner but James Cosmo is the one who says, "Now you look like the minister of coal." Try reading
I consider this to be one of the best horror media out there. You're dealing with an incompetent government and a monster that's gigantic and unkillable. And worse part - it's real.
Yes, the nuclear industry still keeps it that way now, if any information of anything happening gets out, you can be sure, something more, has or is happening.
Three mile island, Fukushima
@@MrTreviscoexcept that nuclear industry wasnt the one lying. It was the Soviet union....
@@MegaMerdeux the nuclear industry and governments lied and continue to do so, their secrecy alone makes it so they do not have to lie as much as they had to.
No the concrete containment system was completed back in the 80s. The new safe confinement system was completed and slid into place over top the old sometime during the 2010's. I forget the exact year
2017
Yes, the 1, 2 and 3 reactors were all kept running for many years after the accident. The last reactor was only shut down in 2000.
The show doesn't make this very clear but the reason you shouldn't touch the patients isn't because they are "infected" and touching them will spread radiations to you or something (as long as they've been washed of radioactive materials, at least), it's because the radiation exposure has damaged/destroyed their immune system and thus you are very prone to infecting /them/ with something. It's not for your protection, it's for theirs.
Edit: As has been mentioned in the replies, while that is the main reason to avoid touching, it IS also to an extent to protect other people depending on the manner in which the patients have been irradiated. If they have ingested a radioactive source (such as the firefighters potentially breathing in irradiated dust) then it becomes an internal source of radiation that can't be washed off and will continually release radioactive isotopes, which could put someone else at risk.
You're correct that once victims were decontaminated, they shouldn't have been a radiation risk. However, surface contamination with radioactive materials is not the only way the victims could have been hot. A second mechanism, which likely did occur, was inhalation and ingestion of radioactive materials, which surface decontamination won't do anything to address. The third mechanism is by direct activation: subject a mass of material to sufficiently high levels of radiation, and some of that material can be made to be radioactive.
Nevertheless, you're right that the bodies of the victims were unlikely to be significant radiation sources themselves. But OTOH, it is absolutely a fact that the firemen and plant workers that died of acute radiation sickness were welded into lead coffins and buried under concrete. That's absolutely true -- it happened. So putting aside the question of whether they were actually a risk, they were definitely perceived as a risk.
@@Big_Bag_of_Pus That is very true, there's a definite difference between what we know now and what we knew then. Same with for example the whole "the baby absorbed it" which, while we know to be untrue now, was something she was told at the time (iirc it's mentioned in her account in the book). So I'm not particularly pinning it on the show as a mistake!
This is actually incorrect, the danger is indeed to people who get close to them. There are two ways you can remain radioactive after exposure, ingesting the radioactive particles by breathing etc, and from neutron radiation like directly from the fuel. This can penetrate and attach or knock neutrons off the neucleus of elements like sodium in the body, turning them into highly radioactive isotopes.
Thank you, was about to comment about this, they didn't do a very good job with that
@@Metaljacket420 Interesting, I haven't heard this one before even while I researched (well, 'researched') the subject after I first watched the show. All I could find was that it was to avoid transmitting something to the patients; same for the plastic around the beds and such.
When you realize just the scale of devastation that this incident caused, it’s no surprise that it’s attributed as the beginning of the fall of the Soviet union. To their credit they literally did save them selves from the even worse devastation by avoiding the explosion but still Chernobyl cost so much in so many ways.
Regarding the 'Dome' Quinn talked about: that's the new one, the sarcophagus was finished sometime after the explosion but they knew it wouldn't last forever, so a few years ago when it started leaking/cracking (i don't remember the exact problem) they rolled the new Dome on top of the old sarcophagus
The new dome had already been in construction from almost the beginning, because they always knew the sarcophagus wouldn't provide more than 30-40 yeats of protection. (It actually started deteriorating much earlier. Advanced damage was recorded in 1996.)
This new dome is supposed to last for at least a hundred years.
The ORIGINAL containment structure over the Chernobyl nuclear plant (the "Chernobyl Shelter" or "Chernobyl sarcophagus") was NOT “only recently” completed. It was completed in November 1986, about six months after the Chernobyl disaster in April of the same year.
However, the NEW Safe Confinement (NSC), a more stable and long-term solution, was slid into place over the original sarcophagus in November 2016. It’s a massive steel structure built to prevent further release of radioactive materials and facilitate the eventual decommissioning of the damaged reactor.
Wondering if u know if that was done cause the old one was actually cracking & leaking out more radiation or was the new confinement structure put on just as a precaution? I'm just curious cause I wonder if anyone was newly exposed to any radiation putting up this newer structure.
I heard rumors that Russian troops damaged the new structure and it was leaking already. Don't know if that's true or if anyone knows. Could still be occupied
@@jenloveshorror
The original Chernobyl containment structure, often referred to as the "sarcophagus," was hastily constructed after the 1986 disaster to contain the immediate release of radioactive materials. Over time, the sarcophagus showed signs of degradation and was considered unstable. The construction of a more durable and long-term solution became necessary, leading to the development of the New Safe Confinement (NSC).
The New Safe Confinement was designed to prevent further release of radioactive materials and facilitate the eventual decommissioning of the damaged reactor. It was not constructed due to direct damage to the original containment dome by military action.
@@helicopterharry5101
As far as I’m aware, there has been no reported military action damaging either the original sarcophagus or the New Safe Confinement.
@BlueShadow777 thank you for all the info. Much appreciated. My heart truly breaks thinking about all the ppl affected & still, I'm sure dealing with all the after effects even to this day.
You guys have quickly become one of my favourite channels on TH-cam lol
Thanks for giving us a shot 🤜🤛
Fun fact regarding the workers that allowed them to drain the tanks under reactor four. After their lights died, they did the whole job in the dark, tracing the pipes hand over hand to find the valves they needed to open.
Nuclear accident in general and Chernobyl specifically have been a casual study topic for me since the late 80's, so I knew a fair amount of what happened and what was shown. Even so, the first time I saw this show was an unending succession of gut punches. After re-watching it multiple times, there's still parts that chock and bring me to tears. Absolutely brilliant
Props on the creators for making a gripping scène from literally watching cement dry.
I am very sorry for your loss, Oak
Without giving anything away, the what and why will all become clear in episode 5. Keep watching.
They mention it’s 50 degrees Celsius. For reference, the human body is 37 degrees Celsius.
This show is on par with Band of Brothers. Boris Shcherbina is played by Stellan Skarsgård btw. Super talented guy.
You know some stuff in this show is for dramatization only. The Minister of Coal is the best example. He wasn't some weakling in a suite. Mikhail Shchadov was worked in the mines since the age of 15. He worked as a miner and later a mining engineer and a leader. He went trough all the steps till the top and he was a literal badass. The leader of the miners resembles him the best
Leaders like Mikhail Shchadov and Alexei Stakhanov, impossible accomplishments like the Chernobyl dig, Mirny diamond mine, Raspadskaya coal mine. It's no wonder that even in the political minefield of USSR miners held a lot of power
Jared Harris IS brilliant in this. IDK if anyone has suggested it, but there was a tv movie in the 80s called The Day After. I won't spoil if you haven't seen but similar issues and worth watching.
Jared Harris is awesome in everything. Man's got such range!
"Threads" from 1984 is way better even though "The Day After" is great in its own right.
So much more gritty and depressing. Awesome movie definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it!
@@Dmitriy.0 My favorite actor of all time. Loved him in The Expanse!
@@emil87th He was quite good in Fringe as well. He's killing it in Foundation currently, even if my opinion on that show itself is quite low.
@@Dmitriy.0 He was in Fringe? I must've totally forgot that. And yes he's excellent in Foundation! I agree with the rating on the show. I quite liked the first season, not having read the books. But the second season was ass (mainly because of too much Salvor and Gale and that whole stupid plot line with the "enchantress" whatever she was).
Love Lee Pace as Brother Day and Laura Burn as Demerzel is killing it too!
Not sure if this has been mentioned before but Jared Harris who plays Valarey is the son of Sir Richard Harris, the original Dumbledore actor. If you like him he was also in another mini-series called The Terror (season 1). I really think you guys would like it if you're into old-timey arctic nautical exploration with a touch of horror. Jared also stars in the excellent Apple TV scifi series, Foundation - also worth watching.
And he was also great in Mad Men.
They used ACTUAL FireFighters Photographs :( ,and the huge Dome above old "sarkofagues" is not made from concretion,but from Titanium steeel coveren with special thich rubber from inside. Trivia-Director Johan Renck were Stakka Bo rep musician,with huge hit "Here we go(again"...check it out. I dont want to spoil your show,i wached it all -and i know that the butler is guilty...
My father recently retired as a chemical engineer who worked with radioactive waste. Our whole community knew a fair amount about radiation. The firefighters would have been exposed to Cesium-137 and Uranium-235. The former emits beta particles and the latter alpha particles. Alpha particles are a big wrecking ball of a Helium nucleus that can obliterate DNA, but they can’t penetrate skin. It’s dangerous if ingested or inhaled (dust and smoke around the fire would have been devastating), but once inside, the person’s skin will block it from reaching anyone else. Beta particles can penetrate skin and cause burns, but they can’t penetrate clothing or even minimal barriers. So the firefighters weren’t dangerous to the people around them once their clothing was removed and they were washed. There would have been trace amounts but nothing dangerous.
That said, this show is accurate to the time period regarding what many people believed. The USSR was very stingy about certain kinds of knowledge, and nuclear energy was a closely held secret. Radiation was not well understood, and many medical professionals believed it to linger or be contagious. Hence the precautions that were taken in the hospital and in the burial.
Thank u guys for picking up on the fact that the guy who was 25 was the "senior chief engineer." I've seen so many reactors completely miss the point of that. How on earth was a 25 yo a senior chief. That should be wrong & unusual to anyone, but all they could think of it's so sad someone so young laying there dying (obviously it's tragic, but not the point of that scene). Good catch fellas & more to come bout it later!
It’s a shock that he was so senior when he was so young, but when you read his life story it’s also just such a waste of potential. He was a prodigy and earned his way to that room and then this happened. RIP
@ms-literary6320 Thank u for info bout him. I hadn't realized that. That man had to be so intelligent & what happened to him was heart breaking. Think of how amazing his life might have been if this tragedy never occurred. Actually, that's the same sentiment I feel about all those who suffered & sacrificed.
To the guy in the black hat thing… sorry for your loss. I was in a very similar situation and circumstances in 2010 with the death of my mother with similar injuries (subdural haematoma)… so I empathise.
Some years later after the accident the three employees who went down the basement to drain the water actually really went in the dark, they guided themselves by memory since they had no flashlights. Really crazy.
Of course showing complete darkness doesn't make good viewing, so the decision was made to introduce a pump action torch to make things visible.
What the production team did was to research what soviet pump action torches were available at the time and built a copy of it.
They said this was very accurate except for the light and no one clapped after. People didn’t celebrate doing what was expected of them. (They deserve the applause though so I’m glad the show put it in).
I wish more reacters watched The Terror (season 1) miniseries, has Jared Harris and the guy who plays the firefighter here. It's a criminally underrated miniseries imo. Jared Harris is one of the best for sure.
I have said it before..this series truly captures how frightening the whole situation was...if you ever (in better times) have the chance to go to Kyiv to the Chernobyl museum or take a tour to Prypjat..do it..its the single scariest experience of your lives and it changes your view on nuclear power and weapons forever
this series is tough, especially since I remeber seeing it on the news when I was little. I can't watch the next episode again, so i'll see you guys in ep 5.
There was a Japanese man who got hit with lethal amounts of radiation that they kept alive for 83 days. I’ve heard different reports like that they kept him alive to use him as research into what radiation does to the body, or that it was his family requesting them to keep him alive.
It is terrifying to read about what happened to him during this time and how much his body degraded while he was still alive.
Consider watching a short epilogue after episode 5. There will be some real footage and they will also explain what happened to Chernobyl after an accident and what happened to all the people who were involved in the liquidation
At 19:38 when oak asks “does the fire going out make the meltdown worse?”- Not necessarily worse. The meltdown was going to happen regardless of if the fire was put out. They needed the fire out because the smoke/fallout was spreading across Europe from the wind which was the most pressing issue (remember early on Sweden detected elevated radiation levels after only a few days). The meltdown happens because even though the fire is out, the plutonium in the fusion reactor continues to ‘react’ (in basic terms) which creates energy and heat. The core continues to get hotter until it melts through the concrete floor holding it in place. The miners were digging a tunnel so liquid nitrogen could run underneath the Chernobyl Plant so when the core melted through the floor, it would be cooled so the radiation/radioactive particles wouldn’t get into the groundwater and river which was the water supply for over 50 million people.
ETA: Typically worst case scenario in a nuclear power plant is a “meltdown”. Which is why all the scientists have been so confused with and saying “it’s not possible” that the reactor exploded. There wasn’t a contingency plan for this situation because the idea of a reactor accidentally exploding was an unthinkable possibility. Nobody thought an explosion was possible until it quite literally, exploded.
It's always such a thing with the "experts". Some people just say what they want to hear, and then this type of reactor poses no danger.
The 3 volunteers in the diving gear actually survived and 2 of them are still alive today
"I told you I'd show you Moscow" plays like pure Hollywood...but that dialog actually happened. We know that directly from her. So don't let the trolls tell you everything's fictionalized. They actually prettied up what happened to Ignatenko, but I won't tell unless you ask me.
It is said that the showmakers had to scale down the monstrosity that had happened to the victims of radiation. The last image of those victims were so terrifying that even HBO said they couldn't show it on screen. It makes me shudder when thinking what really happened to them😢
His face was gone in real life
Thanks for the reaction gentlemen. It takes a lot of self awareness to have such a shared commentary about this series. Keep doing what you’re doing 😊
I don’t know if it has been mentioned but there is a podcast that goes with this show that is worth a listen. Each episode gets a podcast episode.
This series is just incredible to give you a general idea of what went down in Chernobyl. It just puts you in the feels.
And I have a show suggestion. Idk if y’all have seen band of brothers or the pacific. But those are incredible shows. And also, masters of air is airing right now and that’s a good show as well.
Great reaction like always
Surely now that masters of air is coming out, it means we get the whole trilogy soon? 😇
I'm glad you picked up that "soviet apple cutter" joke and linked it to the AZ5 button issue. I've seen this 100X and never put that together.
😁👍
Love your reactions! Can’t wait for you guys to react to the remaining episodes ❤
Thank you for the intelligent and thoughtful reactions. This miniseries was superb, and Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard were just so, so good. Oak, sympathies for your loss. It's so hard to lose a parent.
radiation is by far the worst way too die, basically what happens is it breaks your DNA and so your body slowly deteriorates, starts losing skin because the body cant create anymore due to DNA being broken, organs start to fail and so on, it just breaks your bodies ability to regenerate, and so its a slow but very painful death
Oak, I am so sorry you went through that and I ugly-cried right along with you as you told your story. My sister passed almost two years ago and the hospital still had Covid procedures that only one person could visit per day - not even just one at a time, one per DAY. My parents alternated days, with one visiting her from 12-7pm while the other spent the day sitting around their hotel room killing time. When we were told she was not going to survive, I made the five hour drive down to spend her last few days with her, and we had to have a board member pull some serious strings to get them to allow us in together to say goodbye. I cried leaving every night, not knowing if that was going to be the last time I saw her. She did ultimately pass alone which still haunts me, but her doctors did say she was on so much morphine she didn’t feel a thing and I sincerely hope that’s true. Those poor people, I can’t imagine having my loved one sealed in lead and buried in concrete in a place where I couldn’t ever visit them again, or watching them suffer the way those men did.
This series is so gut wrenching (and I think the next episode is the worst in that regard) but is also so important. So many ordinary people put their lives on the line to do what was right, and you don’t hear about them or hear their stories. As much as it breaks my heart, I am also in awe of the bravery shown by SO many people there.
Great reaction! Love your work. Thank you.
The make up and prosthetics work for those hospital scenes is just breathtaking, really. I mean, the images are incredibly disturbing, but that's just proof of how well done they are. They don't look caricaturesque, they look realistic enough to be disturbing without seeming fake. I think they won or at least were nominated for Emmys or Golden Globes for that, and rightfully so
The first sarcophagus (the concrete protection around the reactor), the one they were talking about building in this episode, was actually finished in November 1986. The second sarcophagus was finished building in 2017.
It´s an awesome soundtrack. Glad you noticed my post. Greetings from Sweden.
OMG You guys started Chernobyl?!?! I a so far behind on your reactions, this weekend is going to be a binge watch starting with GenV lmao So excited to watch these. This show was a masterclass in TV. absolutely amazing!
In reality when Akimov was interviewed, his wife was in the room, because she could understand what he was saying.
They also toned down the actual condition of the fire fighter, because it was too horrific to show on screen.
Thank you so much for reacting to Chernobyl. It's such a great series.
I binged the first 3 episodes, but after this one, I needed a break. That ending alone with the funeral had me bawling my eyes out. It felt so final and hopeless, with the concrete.
Also, if I ever am in a state like Toptonov, Akimov or Ignatenko, just kill me. I would choose to live in almost any other scenarios, even if my survival is questionable or if I am in pain or severrely disabled, etc. As Tyrion said in GoT: "Death is so final, while life is full of possibilities." But if there is absolutely no chance of surviving and I had to spend the last days or even weeks in that much pain, I choose to opt out.
This was and is a dictatorial state. Even when everything fails, the KGB works. If only he is left, they will denounce and torment each other.
This state lied, cheated and did whatever it wanted and it's still the same in Russia today. There was and is no parliamentary or other control.
Maybe AmarthwenNarmacil would have been "used" for medical or other purposes - the next disaster or something else could come tomorrow and "while you're there" we'll just take AmarthwenNarmacil. Who should stop us? You see that “free will” in such a state is such a thing.
so many scenes in this series that get the waterworks flowing, from the sad to the proud.
The cover that they placed over the damaged reactor recently was a better made replacement job. There was another "sarcophagus" cover that was the original one they placed over the reactor in 1986. The area and town around the Chernobyl plant is still uninhabited and still has lots of dangerous pockets of radiation. Apparently there are small areas where the readings are very low. But there are other areas where is still super dangerous to be around for too long due to exposure.
Great reaction! Appleton Oak your story about your Dad during Covid really hit home. It's heart-wrenching how many families, including mine, faced restrictions that limited precious moments with loved ones. Despite the rules, my family and I insisted on staying by my Grandma's side in her final weeks, (5 of us) and thankfully, the nurses understood. It's a stark reminder of the pandemic's toll on personal connections, especially during critical times. My friend's Dad was terminally ill during the peak of covid, when there were no vaccines and everyone was very scared. They enforced the 2 people at a time and she wasn't able to see her dad for a few weeks. When she was able to see him weeks later her Dad's cognitive abilities and awareness were impacted so heavily that he wasn't the same, her time with him was stolen. People who are ill deserve to have their family with them at the end and vice versa. The scenario here is much much more extreme with so many more risks and is hard to watch.
The test reactor 4 was running was to verify the reactors residual heat could generate enough steam to keep the reactor circulation pumps running for the 60 seconds it would take before backup diesel generators could kick in to prevent a meltdown should the reactor need to be scrammed. The test was required in order to receive the certifications needed to legally operate the reactor, and they had failed the test twice prior to the night of the accident. That was one reason there was so much pressure to successfully complete the test. Another was that the Soviet State never made a mistake.
Hope you're ready for Episode 4. That one is an especially tough watch.
As for fact checking, the liquidators actually didn't have those wind up flashlights in real life, they did their jobs in complete darkness. They were added into the episode so that way the audience could still see what was going on, and truth be told it was a good idea - I doubt you'd have much audience retention on total darkness.
If I may also suggest, have any of you seen United 93? I'd highly recommend it for another history binge such as this one. It is also a very impactful film.
Especially if u like animals lol
I'm pre-anxious for their Epi 4 reaction 😢
Hildur Guðnadóttir had a massive year from 2019-2020, winning both a Grammy & Emmy for “Chernobyl” & Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe, BAFTA & more for “Joker.” She’s only a Tony-award away from an EGOT after that single year.
So much great acting talent, even in the small parts. Alex Ferns, the actor who played the head miner, also played Commissioner Savage (rat trap guy) in “The Batman” & Linus Mosk (aka Syril Karn’s BFF) in “Andor.”
& speaking of “Andor,” Robert Emms, who played Toptunov (the guy Emily Watson was interviewing in the hospital) played Lonni Jung in “Andor” (the Rebel guy inside the ISB).
In April 1986 I was nearing the end of working for 8 months as an English Assistant in a French high school. I was 24 going on 25, the same age as the firefighters and young guys in the control room, so that hits hard. One day a friend rushed up to me to tell me that a nuclear reactor in the USSR had exploded...and I said "But nuclear reactors can't explode, can they?!".
Boy was I wrong.
As we anxiously tracked the progress of the cloud over Europe there were reports that women in Germany were having abortions for fear of the effects on their babies. That broke my heart.
This episode is the most gut-wrenching for me (some Gen Z-ers think it's the next one but I beg to differ because I still care about human beings)
You can adjust the volume of a dosimeter, so to speak.
The noise doesn't really tell you how much radiation there is. But the change in the noise tells you if you're getting closer or further away from a radiation source. If you set sensitivity really high, it will make a lot of noise when you get close to even a very weak radiation source, and if you set it really low, you won't hear much even in heavily irradiated areas.
If you want to know how much radiation there is, you need a different kind of detector.
10:17 Finally reactors who understand that those guys at the beginning were not just delusional, but also really thought that could not happen. So refreshing
This series is a pure masterpiece. Love your reactions
The coal leader was in Andor as the short guy helping Syril. One of the guys in charge with glasses was the doctor at the prison. Luthen. The main control kid in the first episode is in ISB.
AZ-5 did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do. And THEN the explosion happened.
Also, the safety test was effed from the start by a chain of events...
But as the reactor said "Communism made them make a faulty AZ-5 switch" 😂
That's what the show does to you. You've a whole government with corrupt and inept people as an antagonist yet the show runners went ahead and created imaginary and false characters/scenes to attack an ideology, knowing fully that the west will lap it up.
This show is a very well made propaganda, which you just can't stop watching. I love it myself.
I love the structure of the show where episode 1 takes place in the hours around the accident. Episode 2 takes place over the course of days and episode three is the weeks following the explosion. You can guess where this goes from here.
For ne this was the hardest to watch. Some people find the 4th harder and they are both tough. But MAN, this was tough to watch.
I had a good friend from Minsk and colleague at UCLA who died young of a very rare kind of thyroid cancer that was unusually common among people exposed to Chernobyl. He was among the nicest and smartest people I have known and left a wife and child behind. He was a victim of the accident who was never counted among those victims.
I love these dudes.
They’re like the only genuine reactors I really don’t like reacting but I like these guys
I wouldn't have sent the guys in with dosimeters. They know they are going to die regardless, and the getting ever louder clicking is just going to make them panic.
Her hugging him isn't a danger to her, it's a danger to him. All of the firefighters were decontaminated once they got to the hospital. The problem is that with the amount of exposure they got their immune system was destroyed. So the slightest thing would be enough to kill them since their body would have no way of fighting it off.
It's so hard to watch. The pain and suffering is truly unimaginable. So many brave men and women who did what they could to help.
Alex ferns in this was fantastic, he played an iconic villain in a popular British TV soap as well as many other things
There are mini-podcasts at the end of each episode. They do a great job of detailing what is Hollywood and what is fact.
Great reaction!
I consider this series a monumental work which stands head and shoulders above anything else I've seen on the small screen. Taking in the writing, the music, the filming, the extraordinary and sensitive recreations of Ukraine/Russia - this is a work of great art.
I could watch the interactions between Legasov and Boris for hours without getting bored.
Yeah the doctors were called in on this one. You get what you ask for. Don’t worry, it gets worse.
While radiation is not fully understood the biggest threat to low level radiation is getting radioactive matter inside of you. Contamination not infection. It won't pass from person to person EXCEPT that in this case these guys were so heavily exposed that their actual tissues are radioactive. Flakes of skin, hair follicles, and such would be breathed in where it would settle in the lungs or swallowed into the digestive tract providing continuous exposure. Exposure is a cumulative "life time dose" so even tiny amounts will add up over time until they are fatal. Ordinary background radiation will give you a lethal dose in about five hundred years.
wrong. these men here still were not radioactive at all. there is 0 evidence to support that the firemen ever gave a radiation dose to anybody who interacted with them. There is a whole documentary basically disproving the dramatization this show provides. however the pregnant woman had birth defects not because the fetus absorbed the radiation for her and saved the mother. she ended up suffering from something pretty common for women in that area. nothing about interacting with these men spread anything.
26:52 was an actuall photo of Vasilly Ignatenko Prypyat firebrigade
Not sure if it's still available but when I watched this, there was a companion podcast from the makers of the show for each episode, where they talk about when what they show is not really what happened and why they changed it. IIRC the makers of the show mentioned that the people who went in to drain the bubble tanks in real life did not have back up torches (flash lights)
Instead, when the lights failed, they really had to find their way in complete darkness which makes what they did even more heroic
The reason they did not show this in the show is because showing a scene where there is no light at all does not make for great viewing.
All that’s still available on Max
Mason's face always over thinking about the water drops in the sink 😅
Can't wait guys! 🎉 thanks for providing entertaining for me and my cat❤
Those were crazy times. People everywhere were concerned about the radiation coming from Chernobyl but they smoked as chimneys 😅
These episodes were rough to watch and hard hitting. I was so emotional watching this show, it was extremely well done.
Hildur Guðnadóttir composed the soundtrack by going around in different nuclear power plants (including Ignalina which is the same RBMK reactor as Chernobyl) and recording the sounds of the machinery. She then sampled those sounds and made them into music for the series.
I don’t think I can watch episode 4 with you guys. I may have to fast forward to the ending/ thoughts. It’s really hard and painful to watch for a lot of people. But I’m glad you guys are reacting to this amazing show.
As others have said the firefighters were decontaminated by removing clothes and washing of the body. That removed radioactive particles. As others have also said they ingested or inhaled particles as well. This is far more dangerous to them. The irony is the particles that are most easily stopped are the ones that are more dangerous when inhaled/ingestion because nearly 100% of Alpha and Beta particles will be absorbed in the body. Alpha’s are stopped by a sheet of paper. Beta’s require more to be stopped but not much more. Even air will stop powerful beta’s after a couple of meters so water in the body will stop nearly all beta’s. Gamma rays are what require the most shielding (lead/concrete) but that means most would exit the body depending on the energy level. Those would be what would come out of the body and impact others around them. Key point is even then the patient has not turned radioactive. They just have radioactivity inside them. Absorption of neutrons is required for something that wasn’t radioactive to become radioactive. For neutron activation to occur you need lots of neutrons bombarding a target which is done with a cyclotron on purpose or inside a reactor where lots of neutrons are present.
There was no neutron radiation from Chernobyl…
I can't remember where I read it (so check what I'm saying) but I have a feeling that the firefighters were not given the option of an early escape (death) because the authorities wanted to see what actually happened to the point of death (it had never happened on this scale before). Utterly horrible and brutal.
I remember this happening so clearly and we were in Ireland. Every house got packs of iodine tablets just in case, my dad passed and when we were clearing his house he still had them in his “emergency” box
Dont know if you guys noticed but the miner at 12:06 who says "now you look like the minister for coal" is the actor who plays lord commader mormont in GoT