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Media Center>Chernobyl
Frazod 09:08 PM 05-06-2019
Just finished the first episode; I guess I'll be keeping HBO a bit longer after Game of Thrones ends.

It is fascinating, horrifying and infuriating. And spellbinding.
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Frazod 10:21 PM 05-07-2019
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
Is this a dramatization or more of a true accounting of what happened?
It's a dramatization based on factual evidence.
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'Hamas' Jenkins 12:18 PM 05-08-2019
Originally Posted by Frazod:
Yeah, that much is a given. I'm just curious as to how accurate it is from a scientific standpoint. Shows like this always take some liberties with the actual events or combine characters for dramatic purposes, but I really hope there's no glaring stupid shit with the science.
I thought they would start with the events that led to the actual explosion, but given the structure of the narrative it looks like the filmmakers view that as less important than the structures which orchestrated the coverup, which was indicative of the inherent flaw/rot in the Soviet system.

The Cliffs Notes version of what actually happened:

They were going to test the RBMK reactors at low power to see what would happen if they suffered a sudden loss of power (Dyatlov also told them to drop down to a power level far lower than the reactor's design). In the event of a power failure, the diesel generators that would would pump the coolant water would take about 45 seconds to spin up and deliver it to the core to prevent overheating.

The thought was that there would be enough residual steam from the water that it could keep spinning the turbines, and providing enough power to keep the pumps running, and thus, cooling the reactor.

As they slowly reduced power in the reactor they went too far, dropping it to a fraction of the intended power for the test. They couldn't get the power up because of the creation of some of the isotopes in the lower power environment. To compensate, they removed almost all of the control rods and filled the reactor with water, which made the reactor both unstable and highly volatile from a power perspective.

Due to Dyatlov's insistence, they ignored the automatic shutdowns and proceeded with the test. Due to the absence of control rods and the prevalent water, power began to rise uncontrollably. This acted synergistically with another element of the reactor design--the void coefficient, which was the opposite design of Western reactors. As more steam was produced in the core the reactor became even more reactive. This led to a positive feedback loop and an exponential increase in power.

Once the engineers realized that the reactor was getting away from them they panicked and dropped all of the control rods. The problem is that the control rods were graphite tipped, and don't absorb neutrons like the rest of the rod. As they were lowered and displaced the water that hadn't yet boiled off to steam, it created a hot spot in the reactor core, which lead to a massive steam explosion and graphite fire. As the containment vessel itself was also substandard, the reactor blew its top.
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O.city 12:23 PM 05-08-2019
So I'm guessing at the time the engineers and physicists didn't know the design flaws or the issues with the RBMK?
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'Hamas' Jenkins 12:26 PM 05-08-2019
Originally Posted by O.city:
So I'm guessing at the time the engineers and physicists didn't know the design flaws or the issues with the RBMK?
Correct. It was a weird design anyway, designed to use far less enriched fuel and actually enrich uranium itself, which is wholly different from Western reactor designs--some for enrichment (weapons, nuclear fuel), most for commercial power.

I probably can't comment on the design much further; I'm far enough over my skis as it is.
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Mecca 12:36 PM 05-08-2019
The best story of the whole thing is the 3 russian dudes that crawled through the basement in the pitch black covered themselves in radioactive water to drain the pools of the other reactors or the whole thing may have taken out half of Europe.
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O.city 01:01 PM 05-08-2019
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
Correct. It was a weird design anyway, designed to use far less enriched fuel and actually enrich uranium itself, which is wholly different from Western reactor designs--some for enrichment (weapons, nuclear fuel), most for commercial power.

I probably can't comment on the design much further; I'm far enough over my skis as it is.
I've been reading about those designs. Interesting stuff


Nuclear power seems like a real avenue we should be using more of.
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Stryker 01:25 PM 05-08-2019
Well son of a bitch! I sat combing through the guide last night and saw the Chernobyl on HBO and even looked at the info on it and didn't watch. I will check it out now.
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Buehler445 01:35 PM 05-08-2019
Originally Posted by O.city:
I've been reading about those designs. Interesting stuff


Nuclear power seems like a real avenue we should be using more of.
It should be IMO. But this will probably not help that case.
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Baby Lee 02:20 PM 05-08-2019
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
It should be IMO. But this will probably not help that case.
About half the opposition to nuclear is ill-informed hysteria about danger.
About 20% is conspiratorial hysteria about nuclear power being a stalking horse for military funding and proliferation
The rest is grumbling about expense.

But the thing is, a huge, overwhelming almost, portion of the expense is government oversight and licensing. The government is loathe to license until there has been a thorough examination and accounting of every blade of grass in a 50-mile radius of the plant.
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wazu 06:26 PM 05-08-2019
Anybody else find it odd that the characters all have British accents?
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Frazod 07:00 PM 05-08-2019
Originally Posted by wazu:
Anybody else find it odd that the characters all have British accents?

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notorious 10:23 PM 05-08-2019
I have watched a lot of documentaries and read quite a bit about the Chernobyl disaster, but nothing has manifested the feelings I had watching this show.

I was angry, and beyond frustration when the commies did what commies do.

All of this doesn't hold a candle to the Semipalatinsk Test Site aka "The Polygon"

**** the Soviets. They were truly evil.
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BigRichard 04:30 AM 05-09-2019
Originally Posted by Frazod:
:-)
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Demonpenz 05:15 PM 05-09-2019
one of the problems with radiation is it makes people british
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stumppy 08:01 PM 05-09-2019
Originally Posted by notorious:
I have watched a lot of documentaries and read quite a bit about the Chernobyl disaster, but nothing has manifested the feelings I had watching this show.

I was angry, and beyond frustration when the commies did what commies do.

All of this doesn't hold a candle to the Semipalatinsk Test Site aka "The Polygon"

**** the Soviets. They were truly evil.
Goddamnit why did I google that. All those kids.
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