A Brief History of: The Istanbul Radiation Incident (Documentary)

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A deadly radiological accident occurred in Istanbul, Turkey, in December 1998 and January 1999 when two packages used to transport radioactive Cobalt 60 were sold as scrap metal.
The event exposed 18 people to radiation resulting in multiple hospitalisations and showed an entire nation the risks of radioactive materials.
Locally the horror of the fascinating incident would be known as Turkey's Chernobyl.
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[@PlainlyDifficult]

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[@brucebaxter6923]

sounds like some james bond shit, dodgy companies created to fake a paper trail and gain a radiation source

[@gyromurphy]

Your shirt has shipped! I should be wearing it in just a few more days.

[@fahrimertdincer8421]

Im living in turkey and are you saying we have a nuclear(radioaxtive)acident what why media is not showing that what ....oh when chernobil exploded our prime minister said radioactivity makes taste of the tea beter of corse that acident not gona leak .....

[@fahrimertdincer8421]

Well ı dont get suprised when ı wach it .... i can garante that 3. Radiactive waste is still in our cauntry if that conteirner is buried under graund well just saying cancer rates some how became not suprizing in fun and weırd fact ı ask my momto wach it and she says she saw a conteirner like that 3 years ago (dont wory she just pased by that conteirner whit her car and think what a weırd gas canister )yea if you find some one from turkey and ask him they not even suprized that hapens

[@theolder_man5768]

@LANDEN TEEL - STUDENT I think it's Night on a Bare Mountain ( near the beginning) Mussorgsky.

[@TheConjurersTower]

So what I'm learning from all of this is if I have a scrap yard I should also own a Geiger Counter and scan literally everything that comes in...Good to know.

[@tuvelat7302]

That was my take away, too.

[@johnladuke6475]

This is probably of variable importance depending on where your scrap yard is in the world. Places where the general public are familiar with the radioactive warning symbol are a lot less likely to have someone bust open a medical radiation source.

[@leechowning2712]

Considering that part of the city of Durango here in Colorado had to be demolished and rebuilt after a cement company accidentally used Uranium tailings from a 1940s mine above the city.

[@29boilersunderthesea99]

@@leechowning2712 Now that's a lot if damage

[@alreed2434]

@@leechowning2712 Yeah everybodys foundation and floors were poured out of it.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

ah yet another case of "Dude where's my Gamma Ray Source?"

[@electrohalo8798]

honey!, wheres my Gamma Ray Source!

[@swampmonkey420]

Tumour maker 2 : Colbolt sunday

[@Baelor-Breakspear]

Honey, I blew up the Gamma Ray Source!!!

[@johnladuke6475]

Spoiler alert: Your missing medical radiation source always turns up at a scrap yard. You can narrow it down by asking about waves of "food poisoning" among recycling workers.

[@xiro6]

@@johnladuke6475 food poisoning of recycling workers must be considered as possible radiation.

[@bleachguy64]

That doctor who first diagnose them with radiation poisoning and contacted the proper authorities is a real hero and saved alot of lives. This disaster could have been a lot worse if that source was melted down.

[@cobeer1768]

"Browsing IAEA publications" Sounds like a wild Saturday night.

[@rampagerick]

Alright. It's Saturday night, I have no date, A 2 Liter bottle of Shasta, and my all Rush mixtape. Lets rock.

[@eaglevision993]

That is actually what I do when I get bored....but their publications are not as vast as I´d like.

[@JoshuaTootell]

What's a Rush mixtape? I just have EVERYTHING Rush produced @@rampagerick 😂

[@bmstylee]

@@rampagerick yes but did you need your brother to get the last guy?

[@bmstylee]

@@JoshuaTootell exactly. Rush , Iron Maiden and Dream Theater are the only bands i grab everything I see.

[@MrBirdnose]

Reminds me of the "radioactive cheese grater" incident, where a cheese grater ended up being quite radioactive. Presumably a source was melted down into the steel when it was recycled but no one could pinpoint where.

[@Kitsudote]

I wonder how often stuff like this happens. In most cases you'd probably never know that your cheese grader is radioactive.

[@MrBirdnose]

@@Kitsudote Exactly the conclusion they came to -- this stuff probably happens far more frequently than anyone knows. It wasn't radioactive enough to be an acute hazard. Wouldn't want to sleep with it under your pillow though. ;)

[@Immashift]

This, this is why I own a Geiger counter, and take far too much pleasure in waving it around the house once in a while.

[@Kitsudote]

@@Immashift I have entertained the idea of getting one as well. Not for safety but just to play with it and maybe measure some bananas 😉

[@MrBirdnose]

@@Immashift Ever find anything unexpected?

[@SpecialEDy]

The Closed Captioning calls them "Terror Therapy Units", and I'm not going to consider that an error.

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

That would be the logical thing to do.

[@henriknilsson7851]

Sounds like an accurate description… at least when left out in some random scrap yard

[@jaredkennedy6576]

In all fairness, radiotherapy sucks. It burned my skin worse than any sunburn, and now I have a permanently hairless stripe across my chest.

[@whocares269]

@@jaredkennedy6576 fr, my grama raised me and between chemos and radiotherapies her legs were completely hairless- except for one weirdly fast growing fuzzy patch on her shin🤨 Suppose when your body tries to self destruct you're going to need some weird ass treatments that do some bizarre shit🥴 If you have any more troubles, "prontosan" (uk, might have different name depending on the country) is a wound gel that's also really good for radiotherapy burns without the risk of annoying them more😙 Hope you recovered well after your burn, and the cancer disappeared like the hair in your odd bald patch! 💕

[@EM.1]

@@jaredkennedy6576 I hope you recovered well and got rid of the cancer. Regarding the chest bald stripe, you can fix the aesthetic issue by shaving completely your body hairs on the chest, no body hairs on the chest and the bald stripe disappear.

[@illuminutty9723]

Me listening, heard hospital, "oh sounds like Brazil's case." Heard scrap, "similarities uncanny." Heard brothers, "oh no."

[@Stopthisrightnow560]

Never accept scrap metal from a pair of brothers!

[@Rayden440]

It’s always the brothers. It’s like scrap metal workers comes in pairs or something

[@wizard3z868]

@@Stopthisrightnow560 or bird or shellfish meat especially if they be italian and last name mario lol

[@yalmanmfp]

Shit :( This time shame came for us. From Turkey.

[@Flynn217something]

Always 2 there are, never more never less.

[@justsammy2023]

"Plainly difficult does not condone throwing batteries in general waste" ...waiting for the "or nuclear sources for that matter"...

[@5roundsrapid263]

Conventional alkaline batteries are actually safe to dispose of. It’s the rechargeable ones that have toxic heavy metals.

[@justsammy2023]

It's not the heavy metals so much as the fact they can explode and cause fires

[@daved5839]

Car batteries belong in the oceon

[@ChrisEffpunkt]

@@justsammy2023 depends highly on the type of battery, but you are right!

[@Buddha23Fett]

Yes. The appropriate place to dispose of them is in the ocean.

[@atlascheethac7869]

In 2018 the Cobalt-60 machine in my home town hospital had to be replaced. They had an almost half kilometre long police motercade following the truck caring the material

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

That's quite a motorcade! Where was this, if you don't mind my asking?

[@robc4191]

@@anhedonianepiphany5588 clearly not Istanbul.

[@hughezzell10000]

Terrorists would really love to get their hands on Co60. It's nasty.

[@compmanio36]

@@hughezzell10000 Given incidents like this video, it makes you think they probably already have it.

[@analinrose]

I misread this as: "The Cobalt-60 machine in my home had to be replaced"

[@jameshepler62]

Scrap Buyers: Why is there not a “propeller/ fan” in there ? ☢️ There is clearly a propeller or fan picture on the package! ☢️

[@whitewolf262]

man, this new fan sucks

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

Sad, but true!

[@gbel78]

A sign that this metal stuff is good to produce metal fans

[@brandonwilliams7464]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that wondered about this; more than likely they had literally no idea what the fan meant lol

[@jameshepler62]

@@brandonwilliams7464 It really should be a symbol involving Death somehow, so that the unknowing could be even at least instinctively scared away. The same with the stupid “Biohazard” symbol. All these symbols are only meaningful to trained people, & they were designed by scientists who forget clueless (by no fault of their own) people are in MORE danger than the “we who barely get the extremely subtle scientific symbolism of the design, & WE’RE scientists.” I have Doctorate level Science training BTW. That’s the point of “Mr Yuk,” and Exploding things, and Flame Symbols. You kinda get the point quickly.

[@germshroom9786]

Hey, do you think you could maybe do a video on the different radiation measuring scales. Since you often mention different units such as Sieverts / Gray / Becquerels / Rad / Roentgen / Rem. Find it confusing when different units are being throw around with out context for each and how they relate to eachother thanks :)

[@robc4191]

Yes, a Guide to Plainly Difficult

[@chair6703]

id like this too

[@tcpratt1660]

Hosted by Lab Coat Man and Steptoe & Bro (maybe borrow Drachinifel's for Steptoe's voice?)

[@RCassinello]

It'd be great if we could just get him to pronounce Becquerel properly.

[@theabbottagencylive5210]

Yea, I operate with sieverts and would love a video covering the scale of the different measurements, I always joke about ranting about the many radiation measurements and how there should be a few XD

[@ribaaz]

I'm picturing those guys buying the things for scrap metal: "ah yes i do love me some fumbling into something with a radiation sign on it"

[@murilospineli2241]

poor people do crazy things to don't starve

[@bobkile9734]

Most people in these countries have no idea what that sign means. We know mostly thanks to movies and TV shows.

[@ribaaz]

@@bobkile9734 eh i know but it was a funny scene in my mind, with a heavy brit accent

[@dmhendricks]

@@murilospineli2241 > "poor people do crazy things to don't starve" They're okay with radiation sickness and amputation for the little money they're get from it? Of all the scrap metal in the world, they choose radioactive? I suppose that starving isn't a problem when you're dead, but it seems like an odd trade-off. > "Most people in these countries have no idea what that sign means." Nobody knows how to do their job at first, but we look things up. I frequently have to reference things at my job because I don't know something. For real, there are only a handful of symbols that you probably need to know, I assume most notably radioactive and biohazard. It takes minutes to look them up, and according to Wikipedia, they have Internet access in Turkey.

[@RobinTheBot]

@@dmhendricks spoken from your armchair, we can tell hahaha It's equal parts sad and funny when people with no knowledge of the country or culture, or off poverty and general, comment on it. It always reminds me of the "Just sell your house if climate chang will sink it" thinking.

[@panzerkitsune]

Ths raises so many questions: what was the consequences for the faulty handling by the company? Why did it not ship? Was there any attempt to investigate the containers different serialnumbers at all?

[@j.f.fisher5318]

I'm assuming because they'd already gotten the pay for shipping it, but if they didn't ship it they got to keep it cuz capitalism.

[@jsnsk101]

@@j.f.fisher5318 that makes no sense at all

[@OKANGUVEN99]

TAEK (Government Agency) was accounted responsible and court ordered them to give a couple of million to the affected family. The company (as far as I can tell) were spared because of some law/agreement loophole. TAEK's president at the time said(paraphrasing) "When one gets a license to do something, it is from that point on their responsibilty. When a person gets a license to own a Doberman breed of dog its the owners fault when dog bites somebody after that. And the company is the main culprit but We are also at fault for not asking where those materials were for all these years." Source: I'm Turkish and looked at a bunch of news articles and interviews about the subject.

[@DeputatKaktus]

Those investigation reports usually do not contain this type of information. The investigators are only responsible for uncovering the chain of events that lead to the incident and not what should happen to those involved or why things were not done differently. Any legal proceedings that may or may not follow at a later point are of no relevance to the investigators because they are often subject to national law. They might say „Things happened due to the actions of person X” but would never say “What person X did was illegal / should be punished”. In fact, investigators are often expected to not look at people but only at events, if at all possible. (Exceptions might exist). This enables them to be more unbiased and impartial towards one side or the other. In forensics, someone examining samples from a suspect and comparing them to material from a crime scene will often never even know who or what they are examining. They might just be asked to confirm whether sample A and sample B come from the same person. The result may either send someone to prison or exonerate someone. All the investigators can say is „we can confirm / rule out with 99.9999999% probability that the samples come from the same person“. This is to keep out even the most remote possibility of any bias. Bad things happen when investigators get in any way invested in a case.

[@xponen]

@@jsnsk101 he meant you pay a 3rd person to dispose a waste, example: toxic electronic waste (ie: if your business is repair electronics), but then that 3rd person just throw it away in the garbage, why? because you already paid him, why would he do anything.

[@DenizTurkmen]

I remember this incident from the news, I was living in Turkey at the time. It was scary for sure, especially after all the suffering from Chernobyl. I never got to know the reason behind it in such a detail. Thank you for taking your time to make this video.

[@windwalkerrangerdm]

Greetings from Turkey! Been following your channel for a while, and I was surprised to see this event in your channel! I was 16 years old when this happened, and was living in Bursa, somewhat south of İstanbul. But I clearly remember this event making to news and headlines, and public being riled about it. This was because we had severally increased cancer cases after Chernobyl and older people remembered the bad days. People were talking about stillborns, or birth anomalies, and the average life spans of Black Sea region getting much shorter. It was believed that tea cultivated in the region had become dangerous. I don't know how much of these were true and how much was simply public hysteria, but this event stirred that fear once again. In the end, the initial response was adequate for a country with no experience in such situations, but still there were a lot of mistakes made. Thankfully, none of these were critical mistakes and it turned out fine, except the other core not being found at all. I live in Istanbul right now, and the fact that it might just be lying around in a forgatten scrapyard is still horrifying to think. That being said, it should have lost much of its danger considering all the years past. Thank you once again for this great content. Your channel and productions have a charming aspect to them, despite the unsettling content.

[@isasamett]

Ğ

[@davidripley2916]

. . .I've heard the Blue Mosque is magnificent and stunning. . . Lucky you! 👍💎

[@windwalkerrangerdm]

@@hiungnu220 nope

[@tudogeo7061]

Hey greetings from Romania. I was curious a few years ago to read through the incidents list compiled by the Romanian Nuclear authority. Made me laugh and scared af at the same time. You wouldn't believe the number of incidents and the human stupidity.

[@ferretyluv]

It has a half life of like 5 years. So only 1/64th of it should be left, right?

[@Bozothcow]

It's always calming when your doctor says, "GIVE ME BLOOD!"

[@jokuvaan5175]

Balls

[@SyntheticSpac3]

Blood for the blood God

[@madcourier6217]

@@SyntheticSpac3 SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

[@niccatipay]

Milk for Khornne flakes

[@goachingoulding3926]

CHURCHMAN UTILITYMAN HOMECOMING FOR HUSSEIN

[@jacob_90s]

After hearing several of these incidents where the material is just shipped to a foundry and then melted down, I have to ask, how the hell are these foundries able to get away with apparently having zero QC on their products if apparently they'll put literally anything in them? Even ignoring being able to put dangerous materials like radioactive substances in them, all kinds of weaker or corrosive materials could go into the smelter and lead to a weak and unreliable product

[@eCitizen1]

Incredibly sad mishap that should never have occurred. What a debacle.

[@mauricedavis8261]

Very well stated Sir!!!🙏🤔

[@lofthouse23]

God I love the word 'debacle'.

[@binkycatfish]

This one hits close It is very well covered from a foreign perspective, nice work.

[@binkycatfish]

@@HighlandLaddie simply put; turks

[@karp9984]

@@binkycatfish am turk, can confirm

[@72pinkush]

@@HighlandLaddie Usually one idiot asks the other: "You think this is fine?" and gets a reply: "Yeah sure but don't blame me if it goes bad!"

[@RawbLV]

@@HighlandLaddie We don't know if they had radiation warning signs

[@Wok_Agenda]

I visit scrap yards often for tool hunting, i always see funny looking equipment of the medical kind . I've warned the owners about the dangers but no one cares. There was an incident here in Greece at a landfill were radiation was detected in a dump truck. It was from a private medical facility , they dumped waste in the garbage bins.

[@davelowets]

Unless your country is full of idiots, they are aware...

[@tupcho33]

That is one of the few incidents i did not know of and you covered. This is by my opinion one of the most amazingly put up videos from you, so much information - thank you

[@denizeren6069]

I live in İstanbul all my life and I didn't know about this at all. Thank you for covering it.

[@cymbala6208]

It's the same with radioactive incidents all over the world: they are often covered up in order not to upset the people.

[@suzandefneklc8167]

We probably weren’t even born yet thats why

[@f.k.b.16]

Our local scrap yard has a geiger counter of some sort all the trucks have to go through. Not sure if this is just something they do or if it's government mandated.

[@jwarmstrong]

Maybe the owner read the radiation to scrap metal at Juarez 1984 - 4000 tons of metal & 20 houses had too much radiation caused by an x-ray source - few could afford that clean up..

[@The_Mimewar]

Ours same. I’m in America, and I guess it’s been needed more than once. Quite scary

[@MotJ949]

This wasn’t so much a scrapyard as someone scraping metal in their backyard.

[@Globovoyeur]

@@jwarmstrong According to my information, this was only discovered months later when a truck delivering some of the contaminated steel to Los Alamos made a wrong turn and drove through a radiation monitor there. See incident #429 -- the last 1983 incident in my table. www.chris-winter.com/Digressions/Nuke-Goofs/Nuke-Goofs.html

[@The_Mimewar]

@@MotJ949 ah! It is AMAZING what comes through a “salvage” yard.

[@crispydiesel93]

How did they market that to the new shop owners? "With the new cobalt 60 security system, any thief will immediately be traced by the police"

[@Bronythepony]

Your accent makes “source” sound like “sauce” and hearing about dangerous radioactive sauces made this entire video fantastically entertaining.

[@henriknilsson7851]

Henderson’s Relish, after all it is “Strong & Northern”

[@jameshepler62]

Nothing like food with some Radioactive Sauce. Really hot 🥵! PS- I really like John’s accent; definitely adds to the presentation along with the awesome graphics and of course the “patented PD Disaster Scale” tm.

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

Only an American could confuse your speech this way. I'm certain that they would have the same issue if the word was coming from the Queen's lips. As an Australian, I welcome any accent which lacks the harshness and distortion of those from America.

[@starfishsystems]

@@anhedonianepiphany5588 That's right. How could a person possibly confuse "sōauss" and "sōauß"? They're as different as chalk and cheese.

[@KyllingThyme]

@@anhedonianepiphany5588 "America bad, ooga booga"

[@TheLaurentDupuis]

You should check what happened to Mafelec (a metal company) when Cobalt-60 is mixed with regular cobalt and used as switches in elevators.

[@johnmccallum8512]

@Tim M www.french-nuclear-safety.fr/Information/News-releases/Mafelec-company-ASN-to-issue-a-report they were sent to the Otis lift company in the US which is where the radiation was detected the steel was from India.

[@davelowets]

@@johnmccallum8512 "from India"... Doesn't surprise me one bit

[@charlesseymour1482]

In Mexico they did get the Cobalt 6p0 into iron used in patio furniture. Uncovered by standard gamma ray screen at the southern border. On the second shipment!

[@spannaspinna]

Somewhere in China same thing happened though it was ibeam construction steel

[@AndyG94]

YUP! I am from the city where it happened Ciudad Juarez

[@charlesseymour1482]

The cobalt sources are used for sterilizing spices. So scrap metal shops sometimes get mixed into cast iron from recycled metal. My company was concerned that we might accidentally spread radiation. I put together a source inspection program.

[@justdeeznuts]

No you didn't

[@carolinacoreas7716]

@@justdeeznuts source?

[@sylekin]

@@justdeeznuts sounds like a strange thing to make a lie about...i think he may be truthful.

[@tonyennis1787]

I'd expect all scrap metal dealers to have Geiger counters.

[@elvingearmasterirma7241]

@@sylekin and like Oddly specific

[@ReverendTed]

12:08 - I really appreciate having the doses put into context of their relative severity. Thanks!

[@greatskytrollantidrama4473]

I was needing a highly technical if flippant breakdown of a heinous disaster. Thanks

[@ChrisBrindley-yakker]

Hey PD!! I love you content, you have the largest collection of radioactive events ever but can you do an episode of the measurements (msv,gy, roentgen, etc.), their uses, and history? I dont understand how there is a wonderfully understood standard of radiological energy management but several different measurements for seemingly the same thing.

[@alec4672]

When I lived in New Mexico the scrap guy I went to actually did this. He actually had a legit set up with a detector hanging above the entrance (he told me it was all used stuff he got from a nuclear plant that was upgrading). He did this because once in the late 90s a round what looked to be a bolt on cap showed up. While some weeks later his son 13 at the time and an amateur photographer was playing with a pinhole camera and long exposures in the scrap heaps and that's how they found it. He had the picture his son took on the wall by the cash drawer for everyone to see. That little cap looked like a starburst firework in the picture. Turns out the round cap was the lid for the inner portion of a cobalt-60 container. The NRC was involved, and eventually the FBI. They never did figure out how it got out in the wild like that but probably from a negligent medical company was their best guess.

[@alphete]

Pal, I've got to say, the contrast between the perfect british accent, narrative tone and wording, and the expressions on your bubble dialog boxes for the comics are making my day. It's pure perfection. "Score and a Hen", "Balls" and such. Exquisite combination.

[@tonyennis1787]

The Turkish nuclear authority had more on the ball than I had expected.

[@aenesu]

turkish government and public used to take radiation thingy very serious since many people died of cancer in the coastal region of blacksea cuz of the chernobyl. aparently, not serious enough lol

[@tonyennis1787]

@@aenesu Thanks for the info. Things like this happen, it is inevitable really. Their response was good.

[@oxulucozcan4923]

I'm Turkish and ... me too. I think it's because they had a lot of slow days at the office and were eager to get going.

[@MrJoncovert]

Love your videos. They are the reason I have a renewed fascination with radiation incidents, and why I recognized the teaser picture you posted for this video.

[@herbertpocket8855]

Thanks to this channel, I know to avoid the sweet allure of scrap medical equipment

[@unholy7324]

Man every time I watch one of your videos I learn a new radiological measurement standard. You should do a video explaining them all.

[@futuregodkingoftheuniverse8381]

The amount of passers by watching it happen is very accurate, in Turkey people have an unexplained love of watching construction sites and other projects

[@mekikoromanova2324]

Plainly Difficult has been enjoyed from a currently warm place in the Adirondack Mountains. And all thats left to say, is Thank You for all the Effort you put into making these, I have enjoyed every single one.~

[@1978garfield]

I remember a case in the 80's where some radioactive material made it in steel that was used for chair legs. Discover magazine covered it but I can't find the story now. Fortunately many scrap operators now have radiation detectors and are trained on what many sources of radiation look like.

[@krashd]

That not the "radioactive cheese grater" event? It was caused by a recycled orphan source making it's way into steel.

[@justinoblanco]

Just realized how much I love your intro music/title. Really fun.

[@CritterFritter]

Yeah, whenever a story includes the words “Two brothers…”, in it, something is going to go wrong.

[@u.v.s.5583]

Sounds like beginning of a Darwin Awards nomination.

[@jaredkennedy6576]

When you posted the teaser for this video, I went wandering online and stumbled across the Wikipedia list of nuclear accidents. If anyone wants some reading to keep you up at night, it's a very long list.

[@SupersuMC]

Oh, dear. Does humanity never learn?

[@ChrisEffpunkt]

16TBq is still enough to cause serious damage. Like, I have a rad safety course for handling radioactive materials for up to 1GBq over the lowest regulations and this is still a million times more active than what I am allowed to handle. Mind blowing, I love my Job!

[@lairdcummings9092]

Feeding my dogs, when suddenly my radioactive spider senses* tingled... Plainly Difficult has uploaded! *Or maybe I glanced at my phone.

[@davidjernigan8161]

It may be a federal requirement, as there are a lot of reports on the NRC website where a load of scrap sets off their radiation detector.

[@lsrengines]

There's a great story in one of the James mahaffey books about a father trying to kill his son or hurt him severely with a radioactive source in Texas. Would make a good story

[@i-vlog1994]

When you are taking your morning poop and see one of your favorite KZbinrs just uploaded a new video. 20 minutes later try to stand up and stumble into a wall like you are drunk from your legs falling asleep

[@aresjerry]

Thats how you get hemorrhoids and deep vein thrombosis

[@robc4191]

@@aresjerry huh? From sitting on the pot too long? OH NOOO!!!

[@EM.1]

Remembers me the case in Brazil. Don’t scrap items that you don’t know what they are, especially if the uncanny shaped objects have the radioactive ☢️ label everywhere, even if scrapping metals makes your living you can get ARS or the slower but yet extremely painful MRS, same in case of deadly metal or chemical poisoning.

[@davelowets]

Or better yet, don't STEAL items, as was the case in brazil

[@EM.1]

@@davelowets I completely agree, on the Brazilian case they did everything possible to crack the pot open, then ignored every warning’s about the content of the “precious yet mysterious stolen pot content” and kept life going as usual even if they started to feel sick while near the object before stealing it, to share the materials and the “magic fancy colored dust” with everyone in the entire neighborhood. It’s the equivalent of finding a possible ordinance that’s degraded or not completely exploded and being like: Let’s take it and bring it home, the metal and others things are still well preserved, let’s crack open the thing and disassemble it without caring for the lethal danger of the chain of actions.

[@randomdude1053]

What is mrs

[@EM.1]

@@randomdude1053 Mild Radiation Sickness. Not as deadly as ARS, but extremely painful and debilitating. Mild Radiation Sickness MRS -multiple surgical procedures lifelong related problems. -chronic pain and reduced strength and resistance of the body. No viable medications for the chronic pain because every substance (even food and cleaning products) has a different effect on the body. -Predisposition to develop multiple forms of tumors and metastasis. -lack of coagulation and difficulty with scarring process (even small wounds or lacerations might not close completely) -plus more things and issues that shorten the life expectancy for the person. It might be 6 years or 30 years it’s very difficult to have a correct and accurate estimate of how many years the person will live.

[@DerUberBrot]

Hey pal! Been watching your vids for the last few months. I joined today. I wanted to say you really make informative and fun videos that double as educative as well, in my view. :)

[@Pymmeh]

"Once the old sauce has been removed" is exactly what I say to the wife when Uncle Archibald gets into the single malt.

[@davidripley2916]

To be fair, Single Malts are the best 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🤪

[@mehmetsahsert3284]

as a turk myself i have never heard about this incident before. i have been listening to your videos when i work for the last 2 weeks and i love your content but i would never imagine one of your nuclear accident videos happening in my nation.

[@suzandefneklc8167]

This was years ago, we probably weren’t born yet

[@25_26]

:)

[@thomasonishi.]

Can you make a video covering all of the different measurements used in some of your videos? I forget what the difference is between sieverts, ppm, curies, etc.. I think they are all very interesting but it's difficult to conceptualize the difference between certain sizes and types.

[@billydoe6240]

Here 1 minute after dropping. Oh yesss, I LOVE SATURDAYS ty for the wonderful content my man

[@zachsmith1676]

I’d love to see you do the Halifax explosion, mainly to see what you rate it, but also cause as I recall it also influenced safety regulations for the naval transportation of dangerous goods. Love the work you put into each of the videos you post.

[@haroldsaxon1075]

Thank you for making more of your disaster video content!

[@Screamblade_]

I see an upload I click. Thank you as always for your AMAZING work. I don’t know how to thank you so much!

[@Amanda_0518]

I was reading the comments and now I'm starting to really wander about regulations of warning labels. Can stickers that are easily peeled of or torn apart be approved as being "enough"? Should just the radiation sign be considered enough when you could easily add something else to clarify the material is deadly in case anyone possibly doesn't know it? Why not require warnings to be as durable and clear as possible? Situations like this might be rare and unexpected but it's crazy to think of how much damage could have been prevented if someone had just figured out the danger sooner

[@Mi_Fa_Volare]

No need to add something else. You can't tell me someone being unaware of what that symbol means. That hardly is an excuse. I certainly know the Türks can be maw runs , but they don't live under rocks. They often don't take things seriously. That's their problem.

[@davelowets]

You have never bought anything from a pawn shop, have you? Those stickers on their items are damn near IMPOSSIBLE to get off.

[@StewCal65]

Love your videos. Maybe you could make a short video explaining all of the different radiation measurement terminology. Makes my head spin.😁

[@nobodynoone2500]

You REALLY need to do a video explaining all the different radiation types, measurments and terms. I have no idea what a rad, TBQ, or how any of it relates or compares to say: A bannana, a bomb, a trip thru the airport x-ray machine, a smoke detector, or a 1kg lump of plutonium. Can you put it into perspective?

[@nobodynoone2500]

Greys? Severts? Cmon man, help us out.

[@Ontheregz]

Have you learned how to use google yet??? lmao 🤡

[@brycemedvin8765]

Man, can't you make just a little bit of effort to educate yourself instead of demanding someone else to teach you?

[@sharcc2511]

Im no expert, so take this with a grain of salt (Or Cobalt-60). There are three main ionizing radiation types, Alpha particles, which are weak and blocked by about anything. Beta particles which require light shielding, Gamma rays which require heavy lead shielding, and Neutron emissions which can generally only be blocked by Water and a few other scarce metals. Neutron radiation is typically only found in active reactors, and is scarcely produced by events such as these. Alpha & Beta particles are more common but easily stopped by a lot of materials thatre everywhere nowadays. Gamma rays are the big issue, as shown in this video, since they are both common and hard to block. A gray is (roughly) 1000 mSv. A rad is iirc 0.01 Gray (10 mSv) and a pretty pointless measurement nobody but Americans use. As stated in the video, a full-body dosage of 3 Gys is lethal, but exposure time is important. An instant exposure to 3 Gy will probably kill you, but being exposed to a total 3 Gy over the period of a few months won't have such a strong impact - but a continous exposure to 3 Gy for those few months would be quite bad (Certain death, probably.) Yes, Bananas contain potassium, but the full-body dosage of eating a Banana is ludicrously small, don't even bother. Smoke detectors (while not containing potassium) are similarly a non-issue. Xrays can vary from around 0.0025 (Airport Xray) to 15 mSv (CT Scan) This sounds like a lot, but bear in mind this is a one time dosage, not a prolonged one, and is only done once every 10 years or so. This is also why Doctors run out of the room during Xrays - A 15 mSv dose once every 10 years for you is fine, but that same (albeit lower as theyre not under the machine) exposure for them every single day for a year would be *bad.* The exact radiation readings of a Uranium fission bomb vary wildly and shouldnt be accurately used as a comparison. More useful, the Maximum Annual Exposure Limit for Radiation Workers in the US is 50 mSv total full body dose over the course of a year. Generally they are exposed to much less, and the public even less than that. If you have a 1kg chunk of Plutonium (Assuming it's an active isotope) in your hand, the dosage won't really matter. You're fucked.

[@SakuraAsranArt]

Those long arms slowly creeping up on that guy with a big-ass needle is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen on this channel!

[@bskull3232]

One sees the triple yellow triangles, one decides to cut it open. Brilliant.

[@Markle2k]

But if you put it in casks and hide it somewhere, someone 10,000 years from now will instantly know not to fool with it.

[@IDance4joy2]

@@Markle2k right? Ugh.

[@Lemon_Inspector]

@@Markle2k If they didn't learn anything after 10,000 years, there's no helping them.

[@Markle2k]

@@Lemon_Inspector So, you know how to read Linear A, I presume? It's only three thousand years old. It contains many more clues and isn't merely symbolic. We think. We know what the numbers are, although not what they were called.

[@tararose5650]

As ever, fantastic work, Plainly! I’d never heard of this one either

[@njunderground82]

12:36: Ah, spinal tap (lumbar puncture). Fun! I've had one of those.

[@jtyhrg]

Thank you so much for this great documentary!

[@illusivec]

Holy shit I remember seeing this on TV when I was a kid. I didn't understand what the deal was at the time. Good to finally have some closure. Also, dumping radioactive material in an empty warehouse then forgetting about it is such a Turkish thing to do...

[@davelowets]

It's happened in many more places than just Turkey..

[@Ralfi-Film]

It is possibel even in Germany!!!!

[@twothreebravo]

I actually hadn't heard of this event until your video popped up today, and I like reading about these things myself.

[@davelowets]

Reading??

[@darioinfini]

Haha, there are some youtube channels whose opening themes really annoy the F out of me. I really like yours though, it captures perfectly what we're about to find out. Thrilling and alarming at the same time. Thumbs up.

[@IdealX-fr4eg]

I'm obsessed with this channel and these stories

[@PseudoEmpathy]

This is one of the reasons I feel like carrying an active Geiger counter. However I live in "nuke free" NZ so what are the chances I'd be exposed, right?

[@stella-vu8vh]

Hey you get that geiger counter and please update this comment! oh dear

[@ValleysOfRain]

You still have 7 radiotherapy centres in NZ, so there's still a risk from radiotherapy elements like in this case.

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

Nuclear weapons are more secure than most other sources of radioactive components. NZ only doesn't have weapons, every other source is right there for medical, research and industrial uses.

[@DrJambonius]

Unfortunately active volcano and old volcano stuff (Like specific beach) will have natural radiation, not a lot, but some... seems like you can't really avoid 100% nuclear radiation. Here in canada, in specific regions, the very soils is relatively rich in decaying uranium (Natural origin). It decays into radioactive radon gaz (Amongs other things) that tend to infiltrate our houses basement. We can mesure our exposure to it using given by governments, but the best option is to mechanically ventilate our basements as often as possible... Better not think too much about it.

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

There’s still a risk of exposure from lost sources, and coal power plants release a lot of radiation too from radioactive elements in coal.

[@riftendrifter]

I've been watching your videos on and off this past week hadn't subscribed until today because I thought I had already, especially as I was recommended this video so quickly

[@iViking90]

Me: Can't be that bad. Doctor: You've been irradiated. Me: Balls!

[@davewilson3049]

Great channel mate! .......Love your work.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Much appreciated!

[@neeneko]

I wonder how long it will be till we get Part II : Someone found the other Source.

[@davelowets]

Hopefully never.

[@cadenbarnfather1434]

Dave, not finding it is arguably worse than professionals finding it

[@jaykace5160]

Thank you plainly difficult, for reminding me its Saturday in the best way possible, keep up the amazing work

[@Les__Mack]

Thank you for your videos. They sometimes touch people in ways you could never know. Getting out of the hospital and still being sick, I needed some cheering up. Thank you. For some reason nuclear accidents cheer me up! Now I have my owner gieger counter (SEI Inspector EXP Plus Geiger Counter with Wand) and Americium source of alfalfa particles (that's a farm joke btw). Cool beans! Thank you for making my day just a little bet better. You, my friend, are a good person.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

The amount of work and the special procedures necessary to search through that scrapyard and are amazing.

[@GrandMoffJames]

People: *mishandles a nuclear item Also people: *omg nuclear is the worst thing ever all power plants are Chernobyl’s

[@billbauer9795]

It is a fact of life that people are careless, and that;s an argument to not have nuclear power plants. Personally I think we should switch to nuclear power plants, but make sure that there are many redundant safety features...

[@MadScientist267]

@@billbauer9795 You mean redundant like there are? We're just not responsible enough. As a species.

[@billbauer9795]

@@MadScientist267 Are you saying that there are already redundancies in the existing reactors? In Chernobyl they had disabled their own safety measures, so Chernobyl doesn't count. But apparently it wasn't redundant enough at Fukushima...

[@MadScientist267]

@@billbauer9795 Yes there are redundancies for redundancies... But this doesn't mean that something can't still fail. When they build things like reactors, they do a whole lot of risk assessment, and take precautions up to a practical limit. The sad truth will always be that no matter how much we have seen happen and have been able to account for and build into those facilities as protection, there will always be an unforeseen hole in the plan. Whether it be human error, extreme and unusual natural phenomenon, or just the inevitable failure of moving parts... They have, and will continue, to occur, regardless. I'm not against R&D on a lot of things, but when the stakes are that high...

[@billbauer9795]

@@MadScientist267 "Redundancy" means that if A fails it's ok, as B stands in the way of a disaster, if B also fails, then there's C, etc. If there are enough of those layers of security, then the chance of all of them failing is essentially zero. What you were talking about were cases where there weren't enough layers of security. This reminds me of an incident where a plane transporting a nuclear bomb has accidentally dropped it on US soil. Lots of things failed that day. Luckily there was a safety switch on the bomb and as a result there was no nuclear detonation on the US soil.

[@GroyperHands]

what is that little box at the top right during 6:00 ive seen it in every one of his videos so far, it looks like some frame check or reference image but why?

[@madman407708]

And on the ninth rewatch of the entire channel , Plainly released another, and so it was good, Amen.

[@swampmonkey420]

Rookie numbers ;) Am I the only one who puts this on when they go to sleep?

[@madman407708]

@@swampmonkey420 I do the exact same thing! Ever since the Cod Strife video it's been my go to background noise 😊

[@johnathanblackwell9960]

@@swampmonkey420 I find that The Great War to be a great sleep aid (the documentary not the channel)

[@rlikemoney]

@@swampmonkey420 i put on drachnifel to go to sleep. Different topics for sure but its actually as interesting and just as calming

[@aubreybrown9119]

Hoodies needed in the merch store! Love these videos ❤❤❤

[@horusreloaded6387]

Living in Turkey, I only heard about this in an old stand up show, and it was just a throw away sentence about ignorance/incompetence. Edit: Just googled and learned about a recent accident from 2017 which occured close to where I live. Someone dropped a source in a dam construction site and didnt notice it. So a 16 year old unregistered construction worker finds it and thinks it is some kind of a prayer bead. Takes it home and becomes sick. His brother and sister also gets wounds on their hands after holding it.

[@m3talistic]

Please do a video on The radiological accident in Tammiku Estonia.

[@ploed]

Cabalt-60 incident? Never gets old!

[@VanessaScrillions]

I really really really love these videos. Thank you

[@josephastier7421]

Ah yes, the dreaded Cobalt 60 orphan source returns once more.

[@molly_the_spy]

I used to read iaea publications and case studies all the time. Back then there wasn't much on KZbin about radiation and nuclear accidents and incidents. Now there are quite a few channels doing this sort of thing. I was also an avid reader of lab accidents.

[@kwhite749]

Saturday late night viewing in bed... thanks Plainly Difficult. Love from Australia xo

[@markmccullough1270]

Thank You John for your consistently well researched and presented videos. Much appreciation from a currently quite damp (that's what we tell the tourists) corner of Cornwall.

[@dainythedragon]

It’s sad and scary that lack of knowledge on radiation symbols can lead to things like this

[@leechowning2712]

And this is why the Norway deep storage site is trying to define a symbol that will actually last the thousands of years the area will be hot.

[@dogakaratas6560]

As a turk i enjoyed learning this from you thanks dude ❤

[@izzieb]

It's Plainly Difficult not to comment here before you've seen the video. But you know it's going to be a good video with some dry humour.

[@alan-the-maths-tutor]

Not exactly a radiological incident but this is an amusing story. I worked at an experimental physics facility (neutron spallation source) in the 90s in the UK whilst studying for my PhD. We routinely used U-238 foils in the experimental set-up (analyser foils since U-238 has a very strong resonance with fast neutrons). One day, my colleague who was my senior and in charge of managing the inventory of several U-238 foils we had in our possession was asked to check and locate them all. There was one missing and for several days he frantically searched for it. He was told in no uncertain terms that if he could not find it, there would be very serious consequences. It had fallen behind a lead "castle" or stack of lead bricks in a storage cupboard which we used to store them when they were not in use. I think he was very relieved to have located it.

[@shoutitallloud]

I guess the missing source has decayed almost completely. Right?

[@WildBluntHickok]

Nope. The rule of thumb is take the halflife and multiply by 10. So a bit over 50 years. The reason it takes so long is it's not reducing by a set number of atoms but by a set percentage. So with a halflife of 5 years it drops to 50% potency after 5 years, 25% at the 10 year mark, 12.5% after 15 years, etc. From what I remember of multiples of 2 that should put it at one 1024th the potency at the 50 year mark.

[@shoutitallloud]

@@WildBluntHickok i got that. Thanks

[@tomwatts703]

It really is something reading up on radiation and nuclear incidents and seeing how the vast majority are caused not as an inherent consequence of nuclear power, but by poor management and negligence....

[@jasonfuller9440]

Of all there scary videos on YT, Plainly Difficult makes the scariest. I never really thought about how much radioactive material is used everyday. You think it's carefully documented and accounted for when in reality it's forgotten and lost. Someone is supposed to watch the sleeping dragon. Instead, the dragon is misplaced, forgotten and/or lost. It's only a matter of time before the wrong people get their hands on the dragon.

[@leechowning2712]

Look up uranium mine tailings.

[@davelowets]

The wrong people HAVE gotten their hands on "dragons" before.. Thankfully they got caught before they amassed enough to do anything with it.

[@WizADSL]

Please consider making a video about the various measures used for radiation exposure and what they mean relative to each other.

[@SparkRattle]

The guy who disliked this was the guy who applied for the export papers but stored the radioactive material instead.

[@MaturePatriot]

Steel Mills have had problems with Cesium gauges falling into a crucible of molten steel. It's known as "smoking" a source. Almost all upward facing surfaces will have Cesium contamination from the smoke particulate settling out onto the surfaces. Usually costs more to Decon the mill, than to tear it down and dispose of the waste.

[@NickJohnCoop]

I hate to say it but whenever I see a 5 on the scale I think “Not terrible but still bad” I’d kind of want to see a 4 or a 3 just to gain a sense of proportion.

[@jenniferbaldini3527]

"One of the cylindrical drawers...was seen on the ground". 'You *didnt* see the drawer!'. ☢ *groans*

[@pyronite59]

"You want to see a 3 or 4? Here! (*Tosses red binder at you*) Safety first... Say, does anyone else taste metal?"

[@jenniferbaldini3527]

@@pyronite59 "I wasnt even in the ROOM when they raised the power". 'Well, if you wernt in the room, where were you?' *"The toilet."* Wheres all this grey ash coming from?

[@pyronite59]

@@jenniferbaldini3527 - Hmm, a woman of culture here I see… And a glass of vodka an hour for 4 hours for the grey snow. Btw, isn’t that blue glow beautiful? 🤩

[@jenniferbaldini3527]

@@pyronite59 Ah yes, the blue glow of an exposed core. Beautiful it is. Boy, those atoms and ions REALLY must be excited! But dont worry. Everything was done right...we did everything right. 🤫