Chernobyl Disaster Documentary

The Day of the Explosion


First image of Explosion taken by helicopter news reporter who was first on the scene

One day the emissions from Chernobyl just stopped. They had no idea why, so sent in scientists to find the answers. That is an amazing video. The length of time they spent inside, the levels they were exposed to and the repeated trips they made wearing almost nothing in protection.

www.youtube.com...


Cross section of reactor before explosion


Explosion rips of top of reactor and crushes reactor down


Entire core melts through bottom of reactor


The molten lava releases and mixes with the sand around the reactor (yellow)


Molten lava burns through concrete floor


Circle marks where the "Elephant's Foot" was found


Molten lava burns through concrete floor and pours down tubes


Molten lava vitrifies (turns to glass from the sand) and cools. Uranium fuel is trapped inside and can no longer become fissionable. However a new examination is showing the glass is deteriorating and water is seeping in again

seems like the russians were at least more on the ball than the japanese are. Comparing timelines the russians got more done in a much shorter time frame.

I just watched Inside Chernobyl's Sarcophagus documentary again on my PC. The documentary was filmed just as the title says. It's full of disturbing images of what happens when a reactor melts down. It' NOT a pretty sight.

It's something that is relevant because of the current disaster in Japan. I considered uploading the doc and posting a thread myself but a search revealed that I don't have to.

Japan has had weeks to do something about the damaged reactors but from what I've seen they haven't done much. The Russians however attacked the problem head on and used whatever means they had available to contain the problem.

The spread of various radioactive materials is pretty much out of control in Japan. The planning phase should have been over by now. They need to take SOME action to take control of the situation.

Bumping this thread,for current interests,and the disaster in Japan........
This is a Tragedy,worth looking into,maybe help solve the problem.....

Wow, I have always been fascinated by the chernoble accident. I was 18 and livinng in Scotland at the time, which got a lot of the cloud I beleive. I have also heard that there are some pastures in England which still have hot spots of radiation which are unsafe - can't remember where I read that.

Thanks for the updates everyone, and all the pics and video. Will get them all watched today.

One think I don't understand. The molten lava of glass and fuel - the pics show it was running through pipes - why did the pipes not just melt? That stuff must have been Thousands of degrees, and steel will melt at much lower temps than that.

Odd. Not that I question the facts of course, this is just something I have never been able to get my head round!

Just thought I'd add a bit to this thread, that disaster was something I will never forget. Anyways, on to my post:

There is this guy that runs a site called englishrussia.com and on his site he has several pages of excursions to the plant and to chernobyl and the town of Pripyat. I'm not sure if he is the one that took the photographs or if somebody else did, but there is some amazing photography of the area around Chernobyl and Pripyat.

englishrussia.com...
englishrussia.com...
englishrussia.com...
this one has many pictures of the plant after the disaster:
englishrussia.com...

There are literally dozens of pages like those above that are dedicated to the Chernobyl disaster.
Search Term: Chernobyl Viewing those pages are like an emotional roller coaster, awesome stuff for sure.

I'd like to add a few tidbits that I have learned about the Chernobyl disaster. Russian is my first language, and I had the opportunity to trawl www.pripyat.com for any useful information, witness testimonials, and some documentation that I've never seen anywhere else.

1. The disaster is very commonly blamed on people who operated the reactor at the time, but the main factors were the unsafe reactor design and ambiguous guidelines for its operation.

2. (a) The SCRAM button operates a manual system; it has to be continuously pressed to insert the rods fully. Letting go of the button stops the insertion.

2. (b) The data readout from the main computer shows that SCRAM button was pressed twice, within a few seconds of each other.

2. (c) The first activation of the SCRAM button wasn't in response to an emergency, it was pressed when everything seemed fine and within the (then known) operation limits. The exact reason is unknown, but it was most likely either to counteract the slowly rising reactivity (which the automated rod system was trying to compensate for, but couldn't cope with), or simply to shut the reactor down as its power output was no longer needed.

3. This brief activation of SCRAM, which inserted the rods partially and inadvertantly created the "end effect" of the rods, is what caused the big spike in the reactor output, damaging the fuel channels.

3. (a) The second pressing of SCRAM button was in response to this output spike, but it was too late.

Feel free to explore in more detail: accidont.ru...

here's a little did you know for anybody who isn't aware of bionerd23

bionerd23 in chernobyl in 2012, the woman who ate chernobyl's apples