A Brief History of: The Lia Radiological Accident (Short Documentary)

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#Nuclear #Lia #iaea
Today's subject like many orphaned sources on this channel show the deadly ramifications of improper storage and disposal of radioactive materials.
3 Men would find a deadly Soviet Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator .
Thinking they were heaters the men used them to keep warm during the winter night, little did they know that these unlabeled objects contained 1295 TBq of activity of 90Sr.
Today we are looking at the radiological disaster in Lia.
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[@PlainlyDifficult]

Special Black Friday deal! Buy a 2-year plan at 68% off and get 4 EXTRA months free!! Go to nordvpn.com/plainlydifficult and use our coupon code Plainlydifficult at checkout!!

[@graemedavidson499]

This episode reminds me of the abandoned Soviet nuclear powered lighthouses powered by RTGs. I recall some were ransacked and RTGs dismantled...

[@RocketRoosterFilms]

When I first read this, i thought it was going to be a Soviet joke such as "Buy one five year plan and get two more years free!"

[@gyromurphy]

This episode was great as usual!

[@MegaPoxie]

Can you do a story on the surprising commonality of the City of London, Washington DC and Vatican City?

[@jwenting]

Nord VPN, the 2020 computer security disaster.

[@isaacschmitt4803]

Y'know, give a man fire, he's warm for the night. Give him a chunk of highly radioactive material, and he's warm for the rest of his life. . .

[@leobracken2316]

Hmm, I thought it was setting them on fire that kept them warm for the rest of there life?

[@Bramswarr]

@@leobracken2316 some other answers are also acceptable. men can also be warm inside: the belly of a thing which ate them, taun tauns, atop an elephant's foot, nazi ovens, etc.

[@truthsRsung]

Did Stalin have the Bible rewritten?

[@leobracken2316]

@@truthsRsung it's a Terry Pratchett quote: "Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." -Terry Pratchett

[@truthsRsung]

@@leobracken2316 ....a much older proverb reads...‘Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’

[@gregergreg]

"Hey check out this warm metal" -"This is weird. Why is it staying warm?" "IDK, it's definitely not something natural" -"Ok then let's sleep on it"

[@AuGrrr]

Why is it warm? I don't know many you should sleep on it

[@kiloalphasierra]

“Let’s drink this vodka while we figure this out!”

[@sethmartin9814]

Radioactive isotopes are indeed naturally occurring

[@PotatoGodzilla]

That's what I though omg why would you bring it home?

[@LOL60345]

@@PotatoGodzilla they didnt even bring it home, they slept right there in the winter forest.

[@undeadnightorc]

That one dude who spent 3 years lying on his stomach with all sorts of hell happening on his back. That is not a fate I wish upon anyone.

[@poprawa]

But this heat source was handy, so was scrap metal for someone else

[@poprawa]

So were power sources with no maintenance for USSR

[@leinadyon]

Can't even imagine if someone squeeze some lime juice on his back

[@u0aol1]

It's just a little tickle.

[@jadefalcon001]

I can think of a few people

[@Page5framing]

The more I watch this channel the more I think I need to invest in a Geiger counter.

[@niccolorovelli4378]

I was thinking the same thing

[@rixille]

lol same here, maybe its paranoia but we live in a world that was littered by boneheads so...

[@jackfanning7952]

The reliability of a Geiger counter is limited by the proximity to the source and amount of radioactivity present.

[@jackfanning7952]

@@CrimsonSlytherin A thousand test nuclear bombs were set off in the United States. Even today, you are exposed to that and the radioactivity from the other 1200 nuclear bomb tests in the rest of the world. Of course, there is also the radiation from over 100 serious nuclear accidents, daily airborne emissions and dumping of radioactive water from reactors and the massive amounts of radioactive tailings left at mining sites throughout the world. Take a deep breath. You have just been exposed and there is no known safe dose for a carcinogen.

[@rixille]

@@jackfanning7952 Indeed, it seems like anyone who gets one should understand how radiation works, and understand how the Geiger counter measures it and what significance that has to their own health, etc.

[@ichaukan]

I always have to marvel at how many of these "minor" orphaned-source incidents there have been over the decades that I'd never previously heard of before seeing your documentaries. Very well done as always!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you! Its pretty scary how many subjects like this I still have yet to cover!

[@bansheemania1692]

@@PlainlyDifficult I do scrap metal for a Side Hustle....I Know Own A old civil defense geiger counter lol.

[@franglish9265]

@@PlainlyDifficult when I read the report before your video, I had to stop part way through, because of the images and medical descriptions. It's frightening how many orphan source incidents there are like this one.

[@dalepatten5612]

@@bansheemania1692 Reminds me of an incident my dad told me about where some guys brought some scrapped equipment in to a scrapyard here in Detroit. Second it touched the scale it set off a bunch of alarms and the scrappers and their payload were quickly kicked off the premises. The cops were never called so who knows what happened to the scrappers or their payload. The object came out of a abandoned steel mill supposedly.

[@Lazarus7000]

@@dalepatten5612 Could have been for radiological examination of finished product. X-ray or even fluoroscope. Could be rather strong too, given what it might have been used for.

[@MotJ949]

I’m going to make it a personal policy to never touch random scrap metal ever again. You just never know when it’s an orphan radiological source...

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Especially if its creating heat!

[@Peter_S_]

Owning a decent consumer level geiger counter is a good thing if you're around random scrap and industrial debris.

[@bansheemania1692]

@@Peter_S_ have my uncle's old CD one. Thing is Built like a tank. They are or were about 50-100usd on ebay

[@stanislavkostarnov2157]

@@PlainlyDifficult in that particular area, DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!!!! my dad grew up not so far from there, one time on a trip to some relatives, they decided to play ball between some suburban garages, next to the garages was a small industrial reservoir, and they were slightly surprised that despite it being -20, the liquid had no hint of ice even as the surrounding streams were frozen solid, still, everyone decided it was just an effect of coolant water being dumped from the smeltery next door... & that was their belief, until the ball (made of some old pieces of thick leather) missed the goalposts and went into the 'water'... where it promptly dissolved with a lot of hissing... apparently, the landscape feature was a reservoir for 70% sulfuric acid to use in tungsten production (washing the ore for impurities) at the metallurgical plant just bellow... the factory tried writing warnings but, putting a fence was deemed impractical, & all the notices were quickly eaten unreadable by the vapors. (the cold is what prevented the odor from being apparent, since they were all wearing thick balaclavas...)

[@Peter_S_]

@@bansheemania1692 Those are useless. That's why I said "decent" geiger counter. The V-700 series is only useful for post warhead detonation level detection of gammas or high energy betas. Useless. You need something that can detect alphas with the VERY MINIMUM of of a tube like an LND-712 or FAR BETTER, an LND-7317 pancake tube with a mica window. Uranium and so many other sources are primarily alpha emitters.

[@Riiludragon]

If I ever find a mysterious object that's mysteriously warm I'll know to run the other way as fast as I can

[@RR2BOX46]

I would distance myself, but would have to ponder future activities with said object. How and what to do with it before the agencies are notified and dispose of it. A few minutes to think ;D

[@phantomaviator1318]

@@RR2BOX46 hit it with a hammer and pee on it ya know *for science*

[@RR2BOX46]

@@phantomaviator1318 LOL!

[@Markus-zb5zd]

We had a case here... As we had nuclear industry in the city we have quite a good geiger counter on our fire truck... When we reached a truck accident the geiger counter went off and was giving an alarm.... We evacuated the area, ordered the street to be closed and called our measurement team... Their geiger counter didn't find anything... So we called the next 2 cities with emergency measurement teams... As it turns out... The alarm unit of our geiger counter had a short circuit due to all the movement in the vehicle xD Anyway, getting away is usually the best option... Though pissing on it is intriguing

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

@@Markus-zb5zd Your story is a tease! I thought you were going to uncover a secret dumping operation, or something like that.

[@Pusher97]

Someday I will fully understand The Plainly Difficult Disaster Scale.

[@dragonslayerornstein387]

The bigger the number the smaller the incident per deaths

[@Davidautofull]

if its on the scale, its deadly.

[@theRPGmaster]

I just realized what's depicted in your profile picture... Clever.

[@Davidautofull]

@@theRPGmaster hahahahahahha

[@2511jeremy]

Lol yeah 75 dead gets a 7 one dead gets a 6

[@JamieSteam]

I'm impressed to see a radiological incident cleaned up so quickly and competently, without secrecy. Someone with great common sense must have been in charge.

[@jasonhaynes2952]

And they immediately contacted the IAEA for help. Good job!

[@canehdiansteve3455]

It's a lot easier to hold yourself accountable for something when you didn't cause it. I'm assuming that has a lot to do with it. It's not modern day Georgia's fault that the USSR dumped radioactive waste in the middle of the wilderness, so there's not really much of an incentive for the government to cover it up.

[@soylentgreenb]

It was a an almost pure beta source that was contained in a chunk of material. Clothes is significant protection against betas.

[@jeffreyskoritowski4114]

@@soylentgreenb but who will protect the betas from the Chads?

[@MandrakeFernflower]

@@soylentgreenb some plastics are good beta blockers so I guess they could have just gotten some big tongs and dropped the sealed capsule into a lead pig.

[@conandabarbarian]

I actually wrote a paper on this incident in college a while ago for a my international media class. We had to come up with an idea that could be used in media to help people network. They said they would give us funding and actually put it into action if you won the "contest" for the paper. My idea was to have PSAs either broadcast, on fliers, or in newspapers to spread awareness about what radioactive material looks like and how to identify radiation poisoning. They said I had a good idea but it wasnt selected because it didnt make money in any way 🙃

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It’s a shame as that sounds like a good idea!

[@RaglansElectricBaboon]

Its funny-sad how preventing suffering and expense isn't viewed as being as good as making money.

[@conandabarbarian]

@@RaglansElectricBaboon This was in 2009 and the prize was 300$ to the student. It was for an international media class. The winner was some sort of social media app. I thought they were trying to do something humanitarian but I realized they were just looking to steal ideas from the students 😅

[@daisyjoy242]

@@conandabarbarian dang, that's sad

[@briannawaldorf8485]

Lol that’s life for us they don’t care unless they make money. Were you getting mass communications / marketing degree? Because goddamn is that accurate lmfao

[@IxodesPersulcatus]

Guy 1: "There's a barrel in the middle of nowhere that's been there for who knows how long and it's somehow still warm." Guy 2: "Did you say it's warm?"

[@theRPGmaster]

"Oh boy! Let's sleep on it!"

[@jacobfreeman5444]

This is why education is a good thing. Being a peasant sucks normally but imagine if you wandered into a source and didn't know what it is

[@toothpasteman3400]

@@jacobfreeman5444 like some other guy said on another video imagine our descendants discovering this glowing blue rocks mysteriously warm objects they would put that stuff all over in a jiffy

[@cezarcatalin1406]

Funny enough, you could legit heat water with those and be safe... as long as you don’t forget to replace the evaporated water. 😂

[@Ksweetpea]

The American struggle: Lia, Georgia "Georgia the country or Georgia the state?" *snow* "Ah, the country"

[@adug4459]

90% of winters have a snow only in mountains, lol

[@francesconicoletti2547]

Nuclear disaster “No help “

[@marekhorak4453]

Remember snow fall in Atlanta few times. Very rare seeing lol

[@AtrociousAK47]

I have a sister who lives in georgia, she told me of the few times it snowed, of having to buy winter coats for her kids because they didnt own any, and a couple inches shutting everything down for days

[@opticalecho119]

“Georgia the country or Georgia the state?” *wacky radiological disaster* “Ah, the country”

[@Daydreaminginmono]

To get a complete understanding of how badly these guys were injured by this encounter, youve got to see the images in the IAEA report. Truly horrific.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It is nightmare fuel

[@phantomaviator1318]

@@PlainlyDifficult how bad we talking? Local 58, or SCP 001 proposal when day breaks images?

[@Daydreaminginmono]

@@phantomaviator1318 Like pussy bleeding necrotic sores, on the dudes backs, and skin grafts that didnt take... real nasty dude check the report in the description

[@ValStinks]

@@Daydreaminginmono I had to read that first part more times than I'd like to admit to realize you werent using some particularly colorful descriptive language

[@사라미-o2h]

dude, do radioactive ulcers just.. not heal? imagine living with that on your back for over a year as it continues to get worse and eat away at you until your ribcage and lungs are exposed and rotting away jesus christ

[@aurosoky]

I love how they found two random cilinders so hot they turned snow into steam and found them strange enough to not bring them home as a heat source yet normal enough to spend a whole night sleeping by them and not mention it to the doctor.

[@krimome8933]

They were really sick by the morning so they may not have been able to transport them, otherwise I think they would totally bring them home

[@MDVMike]

If an abandoned object is emitting heat. My first thought would be RADIATION! RUN!!

[@saxon215]

Yes, the benefits of an education would do that

[@thekekronomicon590]

What about a kitty they aren't radioactive most of the time

[@MDVMike]

@@saxon215 Agreed. I'm indeed appreciative. Education levels actually didn't cross my mind this time. Still without hearing true stories about radiation the warning signs may not register you right away.

[@MDVMike]

@@thekekronomicon590 LOL! abandoned inanimate objects... Happy now? lol

[@saxon215]

@@thekekronomicon590 only a possible 50 percent of the the according to shrodinger

[@TylerP223]

I just heard about a good candidate for A Brief History of: The Filming of The Conqueror. John Wayne as Genghis Khan was bad enough, doing all the location shoots downwind of the Nevada Test Site after the Upshot-Knothole tests and then taking back literal tons of soil to use in the sets back in Hollywood.... IIRC nearly half the crew wound up dying from some form of cancer or another.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion it’s one I want to look into

[@bigdeano4459]

Oh that would be a good one.

[@KB4QAA]

TP: This has been debunked. People with physics degrees have gone to the site and failed to find significant residual radiation that should have been present IF there had been high initial fallout. There is no proof that "half the CREW" (that means technicians, carpenters, etc. died. Several of the cast did, but then decades have passed. Many of them were heavy smokers/drinkers in an era when this was common and good nutrition was not. The claim about transporting tons of soil is new to me, and seems rather unbelievable. Transport tons of soil hundreds of miles for filming? That is what Hollywood 'set magic" is all about.

[@alexcurrie4514]

@@KB4QAA If I remember correctly, the transported soil WAS for the set. They wanted the set to match the on site locations better so they brought back a decent amount of dirt from the site itself.

[@walterscientist]

@@KB4QAA Doesn't sound all that implausible - *tons* of dirt could be just one dump truck. You will have to truck the dirt from somewhere - if you get it from the shooting location it should be a good match which would be otherwise rather hard to accomplish.

[@Voltaic_Fire]

"This unusual & unmarked object is warm without power or fire. Let's take it home, Steve." "You're a goddamn genius, Bob... Hey, did you always glow?"

[@realdenvermax]

my favorite thing about radiation is the 96 different terms used to describe its measurement... totally not confusing at all. not great.. not terrible.

[@Waldemarvonanhalt]

Some terms are outdated, but most are very context specific.

[@ExtremeSquared]

Who disassembled the two RTGs and left the radiation sources on the ground in the first place? It doesn't sound like a professional effort. Sounds like there was likely an exposure before the incident too.

[@jasonhaynes2952]

That's the million dollar question. How did 2 highly radioactive generators end up just laying in the forest in the middle of nowhere...and obviously any shielding was gone.

[@tSp289]

@@jasonhaynes2952 They did mention they were by a landslide. They might have been broken open by that, and possibly someone found and sold the shielding as scrap, or it's still there under a load of rock and crap.

[@Zonda1996]

@@tSp289 That’s where they were recovered from. They’d been handled and moved to the campsite prior to the recovery.

[@Nathan-gj8ch]

That's not the first time I heard of this happening to a RTG I remember reading about on in a lighthouse that was stolen. Russia made 1000s of them and can't account for large part of them.

[@christophertstone]

Likely someone knew what the RTGs were, recovered the non-radioactive materials for scrap, and dumped the rest. This is Russia we're talking about.

[@blepblop7342]

impressed by georgia’s response, they handled it very well

[@revenevan11]

Agreed, they put in effort and money without hesitation, without secrecy or trying to save face by sweeping it under a rug like a lot of governments do, making things worse often. Most commendable of all, they sought help from international experts! They acknowledged that they didn't know everything and needed outside help. Of course it's also kinda easy to not be ashamed when it's not their fault per se, but the USSR who left it there 🤷‍♂️.

[@petermeuller7355]

Nice „radiator“ 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Better than my central heating!

[@francis318VH]

@@PlainlyDifficult Oh, do you mean Centralia mine fire? lol

[@alwayslate1336]

Best part about all this... The trucks number plate started with "FAP" *Beavis & Butthead style laugh*

[@wadeguidry6675]

You rule, huhuhuhuh

[@Immashift]

It was only a few numbers away from FAP 69 too. Damn shame.

[@hdrenginedevelopment7507]

You should do a video explaining all of these different radiation/atomic energy units in layman's terms. The different unit names sound cool and scary, but I have absolutely no concept of what they are, relative scale, why one is used versus the other, origins, locale useage differences, etc... a little bit of history would make an interesting video and get everyone up to speed.

[@JoshuaKennedy321]

Yeah, I don't know the meaning of roentgens, rads, becules, curies, and grays so when he says a number of any of these units I'm like "Is that bad?" "How much is too much?"

[@RR2BOX46]

I once was pretty low on the informed side of these, RTG's - plenty of Wikipedia trolling greatly improved my understanding. Easiest way was to find the object of interest (RTG) start reading it, come to a spot where you don't know, jump to the related page explaining that section. Rinse and repeat till you've got about 30 tabs open and are learning about the SNAP programs of the US and other particularly interesting radioisotope projects that were undertaken on both sides of the iron curtain. Spent months doing this because there were so many seaways, now I have a plethora of relatively good information but mostly irrelevant in the long run.

[@mcgherkinstudios]

Here’s a good place to start: news.mit.edu/2011/explained-radioactivity-0328 I mostly work with uSv/mSv/Sv (microsieverts/millisieverts/sieverts) which is what our dosimeters read, so here’s some doses to give you scale: 3.6msv is average yearly background dose 3-15msv is equivalent to a CT scan. 17msv is the average dose recieved by a Pripyat resident before being evacuated (it wasn’t actually a lot!) 68msv maximum dose recieved by a member of the public after Fukushima 100-150msv highest doses believed to be recieved by Pripyat residents before evacuation. 250msv Fukushima maximum dose limit for life saving 500msv yearly dose limit for radiation workers in the US 4.5-6Sv fatal doses in the Goiana accident 17Sv Hishashi Ouchi (Tokaimura accident) survived 83 days after exposure 21Sv Louis Slotin’s lethal dose in the demon core accident 54Sv Boris Korchilov’s lethal dose in the K19 accident 64Sv Albert Stevens’ dose spread over 21 years. Survived! This is from memory, I’ll have to check it some other time when I’m working. 100msv is a 1/20000 chance of fatal cancer 250msv is a 1/1000 chance 500msv is a 2-3/100 chance 1000msv is a 1/20 chance, instant ARS 4-5000msv is a 1/2 chance. In reality the amount of radiation released outside of the immediate accident area to the public is rarely lethal even in the case of Chernobyl, as long as the public are evacuated until the area is safe again. Dozens of times background, yes, but not enough to cause any particular issues. The absolute worst nuclear incidents are actually lost source incidents since they can be passed around giving people such massive doses that they present serious radiation issues to others without even knowing it. A reactor incident tends to confine the worst stuff to the site where the staff take the big doses (that’s actually my job!) but the people in the surrounding areas are far less affected, as long as they are resettled for the duration of the worst radiation.

[@fatman9644]

As far as I know 1 bequerel means one decay per second, this results in higher bequerel numbers if the object is bigger/contains more radioactive atoms.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

@@mcgherkinstudios As soon as I hear someone drop the milli- and micro- prefixes on Sieverts, I know it’s bad.

[@renakunisaki]

I don't know which part baffles me the most. - that radioactive material was just left abandoned in the woods - that it didn't have huge warning labels all over it - that these guys didn't think a mysterious hot object with no apparent power source was potentially dangerous, even when they started feeling sick - that there wasn't a massive cleanup effort to find the remaining ones - that people really believe funneling all their private data through one company somehow improves their privacy

[@thesanfranciscoseahorse473]

Let us add to this list. There are STILL radioactive units unaccounted for in the wild.

[@Argumemnon]

Nice little jab there at the end.

[@iscander_s]

The thing is: RTG's are not dangerous by themselves, they have a good radiation insulation, built quite strudy and have warning labels all over it, that's why they were widely used in USSR in remote areas to power radio relays or lighthouses, nobody "abandoned" them. But then the USSR fell and a lot of the old infrastructure was practically forgotten. And at some point someone found it, dismantled it, dumped radioactive materials in the forest and probably sold the rest of the generator as scrap metal.

[@BackflipinBrandon]

@@iscander_s I wonder how sick the person who scrapped those things got...

[@josephsager9425]

RTGs are best known for their use on spacecraft like the Voyager probes and the Curiosity Mars rover. In space away from humans, RTGs don't require heavy radiation shielding so the RTG is better than solar panels in cases where sunlight may not be sufficient, such as the outer solar system (Voyager), or on Mars where solar panels can become covered by dust storms. In fact the Voyager probes are still working due to the nature of the radiation source's half-life, they've just turned off subsystems to operate on the reduced power.

[@nameismetatoo4591]

More about RTG's: NASA's RTGs use Pu-238, which has a half-life of 87.7 years. This makes it a bit less radioactive than the fuel used USSR RTGs, but still dangerous to handle. This has limited the quantities NASA is able to produce for its space probes, and the current supply was expected to run out in the late 2020's. Last year, however, Oak Ridge National Laboratory managed to automate this bottlenecking step, which means NASA may not have to worry about a shortage after all.

[@kumaahito3927]

Ohh, cool. More stuff to read about haha

[@ymirs4400]

“Wow it sure was nice of some stranger to leave some heaters that are being powered by unknown means out in the snow for hikers like us to use!”

[@Abeuss]

I’m a Georgia state resident.. I found the other Georgia 🇬🇪 on a glide when I was a kid and wanted to go. Me and my wife went a few years back and had a blast.. the people are really friendly. The county’s motto is “guests are a gift from God”.

[@Hannaconda99]

Wow, heating was a real problem in post USSR countries, I guess.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Very dangerous way to get heat

[@DavidCurryFilms]

Georgia has a lot of isolated mountain towns, snow capped peaks and the sort. Maybe it's easier to cut wood than try and link up power/gas supply ? :(

[@RezaQin]

The after effects of communism and tyranny.

[@janejan9728]

@@DavidCurryFilms It's usually just cheaper. They can buy coal heating as well (most old soviet houses have have a 'boiler room' in their basement where you have to drag yourself down once in awhile and top up a filthy black furnace by shoveling some coal into it, and there's coal sellers galore in little towns), but it's free to cut your own wood. They probably have gas lines available, but if you've got the old infrastructure in your home it's significantly cheaper to use coal or wood.

[@krashd]

@@RezaQin No, just life in a mountainous region. If you try to tell me there are no people in Appalachia or the Rockies who collect firewood then I'll say you are as stupid and naive as you seem.

[@JGV_IX]

I would not be surprised to see a radioactive powered vacuum cleaner on eBay from that part of the world...everything ran on ☢️

[@krashd]

"The Roomba That Would Not Die!" - The best feature film of 1952 is now in Technicolor!

[@handledhandlehandlinghandler]

The knockoff brand name would be Dysoon.

[@krashd]

@@handledhandlehandlinghandler Took me a moment to get the pun but I like it :D

[@NinoJoel]

from ´´that part of the world´´ ... Yea of course only russia used Radioaktive materials..... The US and the rest of the world never did somthing like this .... No no

[@krashd]

@@NinoJoel Actually yes only Russia powered everything with nuclear, that is why the former USSR is littered with abandoned portable reactors and no other country is.

[@somethingcool3182]

The tone shift from "Each one in the wilderness is just another Lia waiting to happen" to "Thank to NordVPN" made me lose it lol.

[@skizzik121]

There are a lot of types of "locals" but "unwitting" are hands down the best for creating interesting stories

[@fluffysaffron5719]

OMG, I remember reading about this somewhere when I was a kid. It creeped me out, even if I took away the lesson "if you find a random thing in the middle of the woods and it's warm and/or glowing, don't touch it, let alone try to use it as a heater." Years later, I would still think about it from time to time and wonder if it was real or an urban legend, since I couldn't remember any of the names of the men or where it took place. Now... I have confirmation that it was a real thing. I don't know if I should be glad or not.

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

To me this seems like a recent event. It's easy to forget that for someone born at the time, or a few years earlier, this must feel like the distant past.

[@juniuwu]

Lmao, exactly the same, I read it somewhere then wondered if it was real.

[@watcher333666]

"Time to shine" phrase on a slide in this context looks brilliant.

[@lewisdoherty7621]

I remember as a kid that in the late 60's and early 70's the TV stations in Louisiana would run these public service announcements showing pictures of blasting caps, dynamite and TNT warning kids if they were to see something like this, not to touch it, but tell an adult. I'm thinking is this a problem? Have people lost track of these things? Apparently so. I was thinking we don't have mines. But, in oil and gas exploration, seismic testing was done in which explosives are set off in the ground and the return waves show where oil and gas is likely to accumulate. In the numerous boom and bust cycles, companies would come and go, people were laid off and there was no responsibility for the explosives. Often the financial institutions which ended up gaining title to all of this equipment and material didn't realize they had inherited bombs.

[@amykathleen2]

A couple years ago I started watching old ephemeral films (i.e. not commercial movies) on the Internet Archive. I saw one of the PSAs you’re talking about but stopped watching halfway through because it freaked me out so bad. Your comment brought it back, so thanks for that. I can’t imagine how much more frightening they must’ve been as a child in a place and time where you could actually encounter the danger, whereas I was an adult in a place and time far removed from it.

[@DaDunge]

In Sweden we had such informaiton on undetonated bombs and ammunition. Which is a bit odd seeing as the last time we went to war it was with Napoleon.

[@frankschultz4170]

In the late '60s, I was installing a radiotelephone link between Ketchikan & Bell Island (damned-near got killed,m there), AK. The Bell Island-end was in the real boonies. I spent several months in researching power sources, prior - and stumbled across an American company that built (very) small thermo-nuclear generators, much as are described here - later, I considered those for installations in the Sahara... That plan never got anywhere (maybe because of the cost). Guess it was a good thing that it didn't... Don't remember the details now, but as I never throw anything away, I'm gonna start searching my files for that company's catalog-sheets.... The units converted the heat to DC with stacked thermocouples...

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

Yes, the conversion of heat to electrical energy is the simple part, using Peltier effect thermoelectric devices (similar to those in portable coolers/ refrigerators, only used in reverse). Securing the radioactive source, and shielding it appropriately, is the real challenge, as is keeping track of these hazardous units.

[@wallacegrommet9343]

Anything to do with Army Electronics Command?

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Didn't knew they made kalashnikovs with included radios ;)

[@pamthevan7340]

I'm a instructor for Radioactives transport in the UK. Some very good research here. As some have noted the swapping of units between Gy (Grey) and Sievert (Sv) along with swapping between Sieverts, milli Sieverts and then micro Sieverts can be a tad confusing if the subject is new to you. So I offer this:- For the purposes of making this understandable we can take 1 Gy to equal 1Sv and this level of exposure in one hit is likely to cause damage to red blood cells that can easily be spotted in non specialised labs. 1 milli Sv is 1/1000th of a Sievert. To put that into context the IAEA in this clip allowed an exposure per worker of 10 milli Sieverts. In the nuclear workplace a normal worker should not be exposed to no more than 20 milli Sieverts in any one year. When he talks about transporting it at the end with the lid on he goes to micro Sieverts. A micro is 1/1,000,000 (millionth). At that level it really isn't worth worrying about. As someone else pointed out dense materials like lead are not great for stopping Beta radiation (which is what we have here). The intact generator used Tungsten as the primary shield. Stopping Beta quickly (is in using lead) can cause gamma / xrays. My guess is the IAEA went for the thick lead layer as it was quick and easy to create.

[@DaDunge]

This should be higher up.

[@computername]

Patient: Reports with acute radiation sickness symptoms Doctor: You need to cut back on the booze buddy

[@Einargizz]

To be fair, I don't think that spending a night snuggling with a radioactive block of metal is very high up in the list of likely things that a walk in patient may be suffering from.

[@Zorro9129]

@@Einargizz In a former Soviet country, it's more likely than you think. Still not as likely as the booze.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

If Stalker has tought me anything, than that booze helps against radiation. Not that I'd reccomend it tho, as the quality of the results is highly dubious.

[@foreverpinkf.7603]

Russians and nuclear incidents: never ending story. Poor souls.

[@pliktley1]

They're not Russians

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

I wouldn't travel _anywhere_ in the northern hemisphere without a decent radiation meter / Geiger counter. You never know how much cobalt-60 has made it into the steel frame of the table at your favourite cafe.

[@theRPGmaster]

@@anhedonianepiphany5588 I don't need more paranoia in my life, damn you.

[@mrnice4434]

@@anhedonianepiphany5588 Or Radioactive fish because France and GB dumped there wast in the North Sea

[@p.m.gallows3199]

@@theRPGmaster don't worry, your long term exposure to the ultra-radiation from the sun and the earth alone that will only probably 100% definitely get ultimately worse thanks to the current heating up of our planet both with its naturally and unnaturally loving embrace of warming and modern man's superiority complex that would rather kill each other over nations they made up by drawing a line in the mud than migrate away from impending doom extinction like they did when they were partially smart, I'd say you have absolutely nothing to worry about... Save for the massive puddle of water growing within the ice shelves of the Arctic that could burst out and flood 79% of the earth at any given moment or the impending volcanic eruption from the super mega volcanoes in Antarctica, yellow stone that'll not only cause that flood but probably put America out of action, plus most of the "safe" cool enough hemisphere leaving only the proportion of the heating up side left. But this is all probably 100% speculation even though it's not, so don't worry enjoy life for the now 🦦😉

[@C05597641]

I could only imagine how many animals are killed by these things.

[@SuperUltimateLP]

As long as there not dissmatled like these where there harmless. The once mentioned here where stripped of there radiation shield and cooling finarray.

[@a-raegun912]

I would hope that the idea of the longer you are around it the worse you are would be good for animals, as i doubt theyd stick around it for long enough. Atleast i hope.

[@phoneywheeze]

exponentially more are killed by factory farming every day than these could kill over 100 years

[@thejudgmentalcat]

I respect a grown man with an impressive collection of rubber duckies ❤

[@praisethesun69]

*finds piece of scrap metal* hmm, neat *plainly difficult theme music plays* oh no

[@Mp57navy]

Should be common knowledge. An object that stays warmer than the surroundings? Either it's alive, or it's radioactive.

[@frostdachshund9618]

Or it’s volcanic

[@proskub5039]

Why were the RTGs disassembled far out in the woods? Seems kinda strange for someone to pull the heatsink off while leaving the spicy tube behind..

[@dreadpenguinlord340]

Maybe someone pried off the heat sink for scrap, then the rest of the RTG overheated and popped?

[@haugstule]

nicely machined non-corroded tungsten cylinder that creates heat left out here in the wild. stonks /

[@RR2BOX46]

What is stonks?

[@krivdik]

What could possibly go wrong, especialy when there is no apparent heat or power source nearby..

[@phantomaviator1318]

@@RR2BOX46 an artillery barrage

[@jamesluck2969]

So you loose some guys getting it back home..

[@BichaelStevens]

@@RR2BOX46 stocks. A new expression like "profit!" or "success!"

[@spencerrugg5814]

The patients chances of survival were greatly reduced when he got sent to russia

[@2strokeland]

I was finally awake when a new video was posted! Thanks for keeping them coming.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Enjoy!

[@ashj_2088]

Two strange objects one cup

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

It's worth noting that most of the damage caused to these men was due to x-rays, rather than by direct beta radiation. The beta emissions created the x-rays via bremsstrahlung effects in the materials still surrounding the actual source.

[@akeyshurbartholomew932]

Can you break this down for me please?

[@ahhhhh148]

He basically said that it was strong enough to penetrate skin, which causes damage. Beta particles can’t penetrate the skin but X-rays and gamma rays can.

[@ahhhhh148]

Beta can do damage but only the skin, which is what causes damage similar to severe sun burn.

[@JustMeUpNorth]

@@akeyshurbartholomew932 Beta particles aren't strong enough to penetrate skin very far, but when particles are slowed down by hitting other materials (materials around the beta emitter, in this case), they produce x-ray radiation (which is far more penetrating). Nature (and physics) hates us.

[@pawelcitak83]

Nicely t-old story, looks like not only Peter and Marie Curie knew about the deadly glowing ☢️ materials, time to buy a dosimeter...

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Probably a good investment!

[@pawelcitak83]

@@PlainlyDifficult heard of recently turned on Astravets Nuclear Power Plant? Some nations are a bit worried about it

[@phantomaviator1318]

@@pawelcitak83 Huh?

[@spider0804]

Comrade we have found a hot piece of metal with nothing powering it shall we sleep by it. No generator or batteries? The wonders of Russian science comrade. Da comrade, be sure to wrap yourself around it to conserve heat. Just as a personal note...they were literally collecting wood, throw some of that on the fire...

[@АнтонМоисеенко-я7р]

Minor correction - it's called not RTG, but RITEG - Radio Isotope Thermal-Electric Generator (at least in Russia)

[@H3wastooshort]

ithink both i ok. like GFCI/GFI/RCD

[@Novaaest]

It is called RTG, pretty sure

[@Peter_S_]

@@Novaaest Maybe do some research before posting. LOL. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqKofoabl5uhjNk

[@Novaaest]

@@Peter_S_ I did do research but seems like you haven't done any. One quick google search and you'll find out you can call them both RTG or RITEG.

[@MrCalldean]

@@Peter_S_ I reckon I'll go with the IAEA, and say they can be called RTG or RiTEG.... not some random, badly dubbed KZbin video.

[@davecool42]

I can’t believe they were just left out there. 🤯

[@RR2BOX46]

Russia has a pretty good pile of them on the north coasts too, for light houses, etc. - it does appear their cleanup efforts centered around just abandoning the equipment.

[@Damien.D]

They abandoned storage pools full of spent nuclear fuel too ;)

[@krashd]

Well in 1991 no one had been paid for around 18 months so people just left their posts and went to be with their families. It was tricky to keep a country running.

[@jokuvaan5175]

It's like their waste management system. Recycling is minimal and sorts of garbage are just piled on landfils by shady private contractors. Illegal dumps are everywhere. Metal, biowaste, car batteries, paint cans all just to same landfill and then covered by soil. You can't even go to some of the sites without protective equipment or you'll start to vomit. And there have been cases of local residents being poisoned from the fumes carried by winds from landfills. Needles to say Russian people haven't been very happy about it and there have been large protests

[@matttucker3]

Being from Georgia (the state) I instinctively clicked on this video but when you said cold winter in the first three seconds I was like oh the other one 😭😂😭

[@russlehman2070]

Hey, I once saw it snow in Atlanta (a few flakes in the air. No accumulation). This was in January. I was there a month later, and the daffodils were blooming.

[@tuc-dh4df]

The Georgia in this video is the original, from maybe a thousand years or more?

[@CRTukkerr]

Your happy but satisfying voice makes even the creepiest subject sound cool

[@leftnoname]

Once upon a time in former Soviet republic of Ukraine some guys lost an extremely radioactive part of a radiation measuring device (element containing Cs137) in a gravel quarry. They couldnt find it and called it a day. It ended up being picked up and mixed into concrete and embedded into a wall in a block of flats. One whole family died in that flat. Than another family got placed in it and they got sick and 1 person died. Needless to say, those were not particularly easy ways to go.

[@JustMeUpNorth]

That'd make a great video for this channel, if there's enough official material to work with. If I remember rightly, the orphan source was embedded in the wall of a room used as a child's bedroom. Absolutely tragic.

[@JW_934]

For someone that researches topics like this I thought you’d have the sense not to say something like "Nord VPN makes getting hacked pretty much impossible"

[@DedicatedAngler]

The problem with Nord VPN is you are paying to route all of your traffic through a privately owned company. To say it makes it impossible to get hacked is foolish and dangerous.

[@charlie15627]

Russia has the honor of cleaning up all of the disasters left by the Soviet Union.

[@trishayamada807]

Whenever people say “see, it was better when Russia was there (or the USA, UK, France ...) I get so irritated. When you leave a country you took control of and ruin it before leaving, it’s not going to be easy for the new government to fix. Destroy on your way out then blame the poor people living there that they are the reason their country is horrible.

[@JamieSteam]

Same people, different political system.

[@charlie15627]

@@JamieSteam Not really The vast majority of political figures that held power in the Soviet Union lost all power with its fall. The few that remain held very little power in the USSR. It’s disingenuous to hold them accountable for decisions they had no power in. Yet that is exactly what many would have us do. There has also been a concerted effort to tie those from the private sector to the political one. While people who do so in the US are derided and dismissed. The very same claims being made about individuals in Russia are being promoted. This is hypocritical and disingenuous.

[@JamieSteam]

@@charlie15627 fair enough, cheers for the info. ☺

[@bobroberts2371]

@@charlie15627 Putin. Remember , Russia / USSR is playing the long game.

[@trentbailey0yiaytokens]

So basically if you find something that’s warm while in the middle of a very snowy area, you should definitely stay far away from it.

[@binkycatfish]

This isn't listed in uploads... Recommendations go brr

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Oh no I wonder how that happened?

[@jhoughjr1]

10 W from 250 W is hella inefficient.

[@walterscientist]

Yeah, it is difficult to get good efficiency from this system. The thermal difference between the hot and cold side in the thermocouple is quite small.

[@conribarnes1373]

I think they just cared more about having a battery that lasts 20+ years than how inefficient it is.

[@russlehman2070]

Yeah, but they made great heaters, except for the radiation burns.

[@jhoughjr1]

@@conribarnes1373 true id just expect better performance considering its a beta source. I'm sure we could do better now. Nuclear cell phones bring em on.

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

@@jhoughjr1 It's a _thermoelectric_ generator - it uses decay heat to generate electricity, not the direct energy of the beta emissions. Peltier/Seebeck effect devices are extremely inefficient, regardless of the thermal differential between the two sides.

[@beliasphyre3497]

Think I'll invest in a geiger counter next time I plan a camping trip.

[@qzh00k]

Safecast dot Org has a good meter and maps. Worth a look

[@F100cTomas]

Same

[@E100Omega123]

North America: Find a piece of abandoned machinery in the woods Its probably some old construction equipment Eastern Europe: Find a piece of abandoned machinery in the woods Its probably an old nuclear reactor

[@screwlose]

So were the men sleeping on the heat sheild, radiation shield or direct on the tungsten shell?

[@jamesluck2969]

From their estimated absorbed dosage two of the men where likely as close to the thing as they could get without burning themselves on the shell, the other likely from his injuries carried the item

[@theRPGmaster]

There was no radiation shield or enclosure, so I would count it as direct contact.

[@Sigismundssword]

I'm so glad you made this video, I read about this story once and I could never remember where it took or place or what it was called. Thank you so much!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@lukek8357]

I remember this story around the time it happened. I was in high school and we talked about it in science. We watched a video documentary from a government agency. It was interesting to see what happened and how unsuspecting members of the public could be exposed to this kind of radiation unknowingly.

[@PinkSkinSisko]

Plainly Difficult thank you for your hard work to spread education. I don’t need drugs I need more uploads! Nothing quite like eating breakfast and watching your videos. Love ya bro lol.

[@joeylawn36111]

There was another incident in the country of Georgia similar to this. But this time, the radioactive source was pocket-sized, and, yes, someone found it and put it in their pocket with what results you would expect.

[@RobertSzasz]

Weren't these small too? Like 2”x2”x2”

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

@@RobertSzasz They were cylindrical at around 10cm by 15cm and weighing about 10kg, so they certainly were far too large and heavy for a pocket. (For those of you still using archaic units of measurement; that's around 4" x 6" at about 22lbs)

[@RobertSzasz]

@@anhedonianepiphany5588 ah, thanks, so the sources shown with a ruler near the end of the vid were something else

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

@@RobertSzasz I haven't re-reviewed the video, but the document he uses as a reference for it, and where I got those figures, is here: www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1660web-81061875.pdf

[@benjimlem1284]

My irrational fear of randomly stumbling upon radioactive materials has never been stronger, thanks Plainly Difficult!

[@thesciencefurry]

2:27 Calling it Thermo-Battery is a bit misleading, it's a Thermocouple. It converts the heat into electricity not storing it.

[@BTW...]

You are wrong. Perhaps research or actually have the practical knowledge before trying to appear smart. A thermocouple is a single junction 'cell' only capable of producing ultra-low voltages. Their use is limited to providing a voltage output proportional to a temperature input, via an amplified circuit in temperature monitoring/controlling devices. A thermopile is very different, being a battery (multiple series connected cells) of thermocouples, that can produce a low voltage low current output capable of directly powering high impedance solenoid coils, or in this case, a low powered radio transmitter for remote telemetry.

[@krashd]

@@BTW... No, he was absolutely correct, the entire device is actually referred to as a nuclear battery.

[@thesciencefurry]

@@BTW... Well yes, you put multiple speciallized "thermocouples" together to get a good enough output. Then we can call it Thermoelectric generator or TEG. That was wrong on my part aswell. I do have practical knowledge.

[@thesciencefurry]

@@krashd I was only talking about the device at 2:27 that's turning the heat into electricity.

[@krashd]

@@thesciencefurry I wasn't sure if Da Producer was replying to you or Jigen, his reply was aimed at you but appeared to be correcting Jigen.

[@veloc1tyTV]

"Look. There is an obviously human made cylinder magically melting the snow in a 1m radius ... Let's touch and sleep on it"

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Does Nord VPN protect us from radiation

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Fingers crossed

[@binkycatfish]

Sadly not, wait until 2032.

[@nameismetatoo4591]

*893 days* ...nothing you could offer me would be worth that much suffering. That is just pure torture.

[@poppedweasel]

I do wish you could include some kind of comparison when you say how radioactive something is. I can't tell my becquerels from my roentgeons. I know they describe different things, such as dose as opposed to activity. I just don't know what 500 of either is and I'm sure there are others like me. They're just big scary numbers without something to compare to.

[@addiemunson2119]

Yes!! I was thinking the same thing. It would be great to have a video explaining the different types of measurements and exposures.

[@dsnodgrass4843]

same. The no-context measuring units are a pain in the neutrons.

[@timquadrat70]

Exactly my thoughts!

[@rrknl5187]

Same here......it'd be like saying 'the Moon is 2,000 Fleems from the Earth'. Without some sort of context, the info is useless.

[@poppedweasel]

@@rrknl5187 Wow, that's a lot of Fleems!

[@rickgrendel1]

You just started a new war

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I have that effect

[@thefreedomguyuk]

Did you not notice we are in the middle of one ?? And we aren't exactly winning.....

[@rickgrendel1]

@@thefreedomguyuk yeah I know thats why I say a new one ;)

[@tipsyMJT]

Yess!!! When I first read this story I tried to message you to get it on your radar but I couldn't figure out how. So glad to see you've made a video on it

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

He seems well acquainted with the IAEA's catalogue of accidents/incidents, and this one is particularly prominent due to their assistance, and documenting, of the source retrieval. Not to mention the videos of the source recovery that have been on KZbin for many years.

[@TheMedievalNerd]

Oh wow, who left these magical space heaters lying around in the forest? How convenient! Let's bring them back to camp and sleep against them.

[@Person01234]

"little did they know that these unlabelled objects contained around 1295 terabecquerels of radioactivity" I don't know how much that is but if it's enough to keep 2 people warm in freezing conditions, it's probably a lot.

[@DavidCurryFilms]

Always the poor and uneducated getting burned by the mistakes of those who should know better 🙄.

[@whyjnot420]

Funny how often people who know better (or should know better) are also the people who do not give a shit.

[@maxcichon2557]

I built and installed the X-ray machines used at the ends of the Chunnel that made the image at 0:44. 5 MeV electron accelerator/5 mA electrons/Tungsten target. Those images were emailed to me by TML Security in 1998.

[@ultraman5168]

Yet another fascinating video. Love the outro music too. You should check out the Tham Luang cave rescue. Its an amazing story and i bet itd make a good Plainly Difficult.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion

[@ZGryphon]

"Good news: I may have a solution to my heating problem. Bad news: It involves me digging up the radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Now, if I remember my training correctly, one of the lessons was titled, 'Don't dig up the big box of plutonium, Mark.'"

[@Deeplycloseted435]

That guy survived almost 900 days suffering radiation symptoms? That has to be the worst way to end life. Poor guy.

[@maddiewhatever441]

I think that when people hear things like this they automatically get really freaked out over nuclear energy. Which is hilarious to me, seeing as most the time these incidents are caused by human failure. I guess we're so used to being partially irresponsible that when we're faced with a power source that needs constant maintenance, we really fuck up.

[@mikemhz]

Shit happens and governments, corporations and individuals are often irresponsible. People who see this as common and don't trust the process are afraid. People who see it as uncommon and trust the process are not afraid. Neither person is more correct than the other, and that's why nuclear power is controversial.

[@stephenverchinski409]

@@mikemhz and expensive and a really bad intergenerational idea

[@maddiewhatever441]

@@mikemhz I disagree. That's a very narrow minded view of why people don't trust nuclear power. Most people don't know jack shit about the process. They don't know why things go wrong, they just know it happened and they don't want it near them. People who understand or take the time to look into nuclear power and the processes will understand that nuclear power doesn't just decide one day to be nasty. Typically someone screws up, something goes wrong, and proper maintenance is not kept up. It's the same thing with a dam. If you don't keep that shit up, the dam breaks and everyone living under it, or even nearby, gets flooded out. The only difference between a dam and nuclear power is that it's a lasting danger that sits unknown to most people.

[@maddiewhatever441]

@@stephenverchinski409 They're expensive, yes, but so is every other form of power out there. I mean, solar panels cost an arm and they don't even work all the time. Same with wind turbines. Water is a great alternative, but you'll end up screwing up the rivers and waterways, making it difficult for the animals that use the natural resource. Coal and gas aren't going to last forever, but nuclear energy can get us by until something else comes. And yeah, it will effect future generations, but so does everything else I listed. At least with nuclear energy we can get a constant output, which can replace the more dangerous energy methods we have now. But I mean, fuck our planet right? We should just destroy it because sometimes our governments, our workforces, and our people fail. Humanity is unreliable, but there won't be a humanity to be unreliable if people don't get their heads out of their asses and work for something better, even if it's just temporary Also, I'm nineteen. I kinda don't care when older people talk about how when future generations will have consequences because y'all weren't thinking about that when you did all your bullshit. At least we have research

[@mikemhz]

@@maddiewhatever441 It doesnt matter whether they understand it or not. It's just pessimism vs optimism, a difference in risk perception. My point is peoples fears are valid, not stupid, and any pro nuclear action will have to acknowledge and work hard to reduce those fears and not laugh them off as ridiculous.

[@norikotakaya14292]

Great video as always! I want to share a few statements made by Kyle Hill in his video "The Lia Radiological Accident - Nuclear Bonfire". *Of the 1000 or so RTG's the former Soviet Union used throughout its territories, they utilized strontium-90 to power unmanned lighthouses and navigational beacons. When the USSR collapsed, many of them were abandoned without protection or warning signs and are still unaccounted for to this day.* *In 2003, the IAEA went back to Georgia looking for more orphaned sources, just in case, and they found another 300 of them.*

[@CassassinCatto]

Have you considered doing a documentary about Karen Silkwood? She worked for Kerr-McGee and suffered a plutonium poisoning.

[@kenshin891]

And then when she went whistleblower she had a suspicious lethal car crash

[@CassassinCatto]

@@kenshin891 certainly her story ticks the boxes for a nuclear documentary from Plainly Difficult.

[@astronomydemon6312]

8:05 "and look at the recovery operations - BURGER KING CHICKEN SANDWICH-" best ad timing

[@electrohalo8798]

guess you could say this event gave us a "chill"

[@Jay-ln1co]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpXWi4d8iMuLl9k

[@steveolotu52]

My coworker vomited today and the first thing that came to my mind was "did you touch a glowing or warm object recently"?

[@z50king29]

That's very sad. Also I can't believe there 1000 more of these left out in Russia

[@wanderinghistorian]

"These batteries produced reliable electricity simply by putting a hunk of radioactive material inside the battery and leaving it alone." Me. "Wow that's awesome, a self sustaining power generator. Why aren't we using these?" "It makes enough power to power one whole lightbulb!" Me. "Oh..."

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

These devices are extremely inefficient, but that's not the _primary_ reason why we "aren't using these". I wonder whether you can determine the main factor keeping these from everyday household use?!?

[@KeithHearnPlus]

Well, these are pretty low power, and turning 250W of heat into 10W of electricity is kinda low efficiency, about 4%. Typical RTGs are in the 3-7% range. The GPHS-RTG used by Cassini, started out producing 300W. But the power goes down over time. And they're not really something I'd want in my basement. And definitely not something I'd want my local terrorists to get their hands on. It makes se4nse to put them on space probes. Somewhat less sense to scatter them around the backwoods and forget about them.

[@mikewheeler9011]

Love your work PD, very informative, if a little scary. I'm all for nuclear research into power production as we plan to phase out fossil fuels. Unfortunately no matter how well you plan, there is always someone who can 'out-idiot' the idiot proof solution.

[@battleangel5595]

That key you tossed into your goodie pile... Inverse the profile and you might be able to start my Honda.

[@HolyDarkness767]

Yay, new radiation stories!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Plenty more to come!

[@88manta88]

I read about this accident loooooong before this video. Some remarks: These RTGs were disassembled before by someone else. Hence there must've been another scrap metal hunter some time before with severe burns on his hands. Or there is a dead person somewhere in the woods. We will never know. RTGs like this were installed in ALL ALONG the northern coast of russia. Putting cables there was way to difficult. Radio relays, navigation beacons, .... everything was powered by this things. Google for "Beta-M", "Gong", "Gorn", "Efir-MA", and many more. There is a mid 2-digit number of RTGs that were found disassembled. This means there are simple folks out there who actually worked unprotected on a PBq source NOT KNOWING what they handled there. "Wierd hot metal".

[@ionymous6733]

I wonder how many animals had issues because of these.

[@bezimiennyziemniak]

I imagine there were piles of animal bones and carcasses in various stages of decomposition all around the RTGs when they found them.

[@cymbala6208]

Thank you for the video! Very interesting, I've never heard of that incident... really sad story. And it's terrifying how careless radioactive material is handled in so many parts of the world even up to nowadays.

[@naysaykiller928]

Last time I was this early Pripyat wasn't evacuated

[@anteck7goat]

Love these orphaned source videos.

[@Caldersparr]

Wasnt this technology used in The Martian?

[@kenshin891]

Yes. RTGs with Plutonium (I want to say Pu-238) are common for space probes and other space equipment that can't rely on solar energy for whatever reason. These don't put out quite as much/intense radiation as the Strontium RTGs but I still wouldn't dismantle one