The Soviet Union’s Peaceful Nuclear Explosions

[@Spacedog79]

Couple of corrections for the nuke nerds: It is uranium 235 used in bombs not 238, which is the common isotope. Also tritium isn't actually very common, its efficiency means only a tiny amount is used and for the most part not tritium directly, but created during the fission explosion through the bombardment of lithium by radiation.

[@agranero6]

Yeah, Tritium has 0.02% of abundance and U-235 is 0.72%, but as a light element is is easily produced, as Lithium has a big cross section that is independent of neutron energy, even if the Lithium sample is not isotopically pure it is easy to separate of the sample used, this makes the process very efficient as long you have a nuclear reactor of a primary core. But It is used in the form of Lithium Deuteride as Lithium is highly reagent with water and other things exploding the same with deuterium (that is basically Hydrogen), using a molecule composed by the two is a very smart solution for a more stable, safe and manageable material.

[@TheBoss0110101001]

Shut it, nerd 😂

[@s.m.1354]

@@agranero6U-238 is used in a 4th generation device, in order to create Plutonium during the 2nd phase, which in turn will also detonate during the 4th phase, this type of tamper is commonly used in 4th generation thermonuclear devices.

[@treystephens6166]

So what made GODZILLA ⁉️⁉️

[@engineeranonymous]

I think it should be mentioned that soviets put out fire in Urta-Bulak gas field in 1966. As far as I know its the only time a nuclear bomb used successfully to resolve a problem in peace.

[@kapytanhook]

And those other hundreds of times to clear land and mountains

[@mael1515]

​@@kapytanhookI wouldn't call these attempts successful, since the radioactive results were too much of a downside. 🤔

[@WhiteOwlOnFire_XXX]

They did that multiple times

[@kapytanhook]

@@mael1515 10x background for some stuff is fine Reservoirs for power generation, clearing a mountain for roads In a few decades most of the radiation is gone. Besides I'm sure these days they can make even cleaner bombs. Would rule for digging out another planet. Imagine how good it would be for trade if the panama canal was the Panama straight instead. And the ocean already is filled with radioactive waste. The solution to pollution is dilution

[@mael1515]

@@kapytanhook I agree that it would be useful to have a very clean bomb as a replacement for dynamite. But I don't agree with "the solution for pollution is dilution". We should not pollute to begin with. Also "a few decades" is too long.

[@hello-rq8kf]

6:42 i'm glad you chose a work of titular art such as "I'm A High School Boy And A Best-Selling Light Novel Author Strangled By My Female Junior Who's A Voice Actress"

[@osakanone]

This was honestly when I stopped watching the video.

[@hello-rq8kf]

@@osakanone to go read the light novel right?

[@be0wulfmarshallz]

@@osakanone Time for volume 6: "I'm a High School Boy and a Bestselling Light Novel author, and my female classmate who is my junior and a voice actress is returning to her hometown, so I decided to head for a space odyssey. It's fine, I'll launch from Tanegashima --Time to Rocket--"

[@alexlapland]

One of the underground explosions in 1984 happened 40 kilometres from my home on the Kola Peninsula. It felt like a small earthquake, and the dishes in the kitchen cupboards rattled.

[@BearMeOut]

6:38 I didn't see that joke coming Keep it up

[@tomhalla426]

Confusing U 235 and U 238 is fairly easy, but only the first is useful in bombs. Most hydrogen bombs in the early tests had a natural uranium jacket, which acted both as a tamper and fissioned by the neutrons from the fusion reaction. The Soviet “100 megaton” Tsar Bomba had a lead jacket to detune it to 62 megatons.

[@allangibson8494]

And no-one knows about U-233 outside the actual physics fraternity…

[@grahamstevenson1740]

@@allangibson8494 Those working on the thorium fuel cycle are very aware of U-233.

[@allangibson8494]

@@grahamstevenson1740 As I said - physicists…(and the occasional nuclear engineer…).

[@agranero6]

@@allangibson8494 Well US and India made atomic bombs using U-233 so it is not so obscure now that all that was declassified.

[@nudgeunit]

So it turns out it IS useful in a bomb.

[@bignug137]

I cant wait to hear about nuclear fracking

[@geonerd]

It works quite well! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Rulison kzbin.info/www/bejne/apfdpJ5sntlgpNUsi=zThyIdwMza1lqcQy&t=842

[@KlodFather]

It does not exist.

[@mikebarushok5361]

I also look forward to that. In the meantime you can readily find information on the three times that nuclear fracking was done by the American Project Plowshare.

[@olegnaumov225]

@@KlodFather WTF. It does.

[@BeachTypeZaku]

I didn't know "peace nukes" were a thing. Now I learn the idiots used nukes to frack? Seriously, WTF? That sounds like the definition of the word "stupid."

[@JEDIACERIMMER]

Dude, your videos are so well done. Education and funny with a semi serious overtone, i love watching them and learn at the same time. If you ever come to the uk let me know, I'll buy you a coffee. Keep up the fantastic work.

[@veramae4098]

I still think a lot of the 'testing" just for military types to look at; they could NOT believe how powerful it was. Took some getting used to.

[@hhvictor2462]

There was talk about nuking a spot along a mountain range surrounding the Los Angeles basin. The resultant gap created by the explosion would allow constant air flow to help ventilate out the city's serious smog conditions.

[@ronjon7942]

Given the decades of health problems with the smog and pollution, it likely would’ve been a massive net positive. Let’s bring it up again 😊

[@AJWRAJWR]

Replacing smog with radioactive winds. Very innovative.

[@quint3ssent1a]

Lmao, a nuclear venthole. Sounds insane.

[@ImperativeGames]

@@AJWRAJWR The question should be "Is it net-positive?". If more people die from lung cancer due to smog than would die from slight increase in radioactivity - it's net-positive.

[@AJWRAJWR]

@@ImperativeGames Sure. Do we evacuate LA before we nuke it? Or do we stage it like the War on Terror and blame it on the Iranians?

[@SVOWarrior]

Nuclear explosions were also used to create deep underground reservoirs for chemical waste. Such as Kama-1 project, where 2000 m deep explosion took place to store hydrozine byproducts.

[@mikedrop4421]

One of my favorite facts about this crazy period of history where we were blowing up everything we could get away with using nukes is that Kodak suffered loss of film from there storage facilities from stray radioactive particles traveling hundreds or thousands of kilometers to zip right through the boxes and rolls of new film.

[@Gameboygenius]

They didn't zip right through anything. Radioactive fallout contaminated the paper mill that produced sheets of papers used as packaging separators for their x-ray film.

[@KlodFather]

@@Gameboygenius - It also contaminated all the post ww2 steel. Takes a lot of air to make steel.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

it was radioactive fallout, their customers kept returning fogged film which Kodak had to replace per their warranty and their reputation. they kept driving around the country trying to figure it out

[@quint3ssent1a]

​@@Gameboygenius yeah, that's the worst part. Wast swathes of land and soil were contaminated, and now as a result moder homo sapiens is more radioactive than people who lived before 1945. In that sense, first nuclear testing was a start of new geological era, where every part of the world will be slightly radioactive.

[@jemmerl]

@@KlodFather Good news! Last I heard, this isn't as much as an issue anymore (as of very recently). Current steel is no longer radioactive much above background, and can be used for most more sensitive applications. The really touchy stuff DOES still need the pre-war steel, but thankfully the demand is much lower given the obviously limited supply!

[@LuciFeric137]

Too bad they didnt build an Orion drive.

[@LostieTrekieTechie]

They could have escaped to the one place not corrupted by capitalism

[@ecognitio9605]

Or a crude fusion reactor, look up Project Pacer

[@Samcharleston24]

@@LostieTrekieTechiecapitalism was the mechanism that brought nuclear energy 🤔

[@johnredcorn2476]

Onion rings are delicious

[@sideeggunnecessary]

One nuke was even used to put out a oil well fire

[@jemmerl]

"nuclear fracking" is such a badass and terrifying phrase

[@worldoftancraft]

Sounds like something from the Battlestar Galactica

[@HorseWithNoBane]

And an environmental disaster.

[@minespeed2009]

Would it be possible to put conversions of imperial units (into SI units) when you use them onscreen for those of us that are used to it? I would very much appreciate not having to do mental calculations while watching.

[@ronjon7942]

Hit pause? Have an online calculator up? Probably not very helpful when on your phone doing chores & what not.

[@hydrolifetech7911]

​@@ronjon7942same thing I do every damn video with imperial units! Pause video, open online unit converter and check or if it's miles multiply the figure by 1.6 on a calculator! They really should just put the SI figures on the screen for non-Americans

[@derpinguin7003]

@@ronjon7942why not just use international standard units in science topic videos?

[@judeffr]

🤣 the title of the scientific paper

[@d3thkn1ghtmcgee74]

At least it's a title leaves little to the imagination of what it's about lol

[@FengLengshun]

6:42 I was so sleepy at work while I was listening to this on my phone, and I immediately went "wait what?" at that joke. That was unexpected but way too apt a description.

[@WhiteDevil--]

Appreciate all your work, efforts and knowledge shared. Thankyou brother.

[@hello-rq8kf]

7:01 only in soviet russia would hydronuclear warheads be called " *medium* machines"

[@DnvGoodwin555]

Right name "Ministry of Medium Machine Building". And it was specially called this way to make spies harder to steal/understand documents. Not a joke. It was popular practice in USSR. New developing battle tank could have short secret name like tractor.

[@johnwick-ii6il]

Trying to understand....Higher salinity will cause the sea water to freeze at a tenp below normal. Fair enough. But that tenp is lower, not higher. So how could it cause sea ice to melt if it is even lower than the sea ice melting point ? Although the water still remains fluid, it is still colder than what froze the ice in the first place. @20:05.

[@theq4602]

You overlooked the time they closed a out of control natural gas well with a nuke.

[@notreallyme425]

I’d call them “mostly peaceful” nukes.

[@prostytroll]

1:26 "... this was certainly propaganda (the peaceful use of atomic energy)" - if this was a propaganda, how would you describe Ursula von der Leyen's speech in which she implied that the Russian bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

[@ronjon7942]

Around 20:00, regarding the academics rationale, I wonder what a saltier Arctic Ocean at the northern border would have done regarding ice free shipping lanes. It would be interesting to learn of any such back story.

[@worldoftancraft]

That was my first thought, almost all of northern shore Rossii is being cuffed in ice

[@kiwiPatchAz]

Your content is very enjoyable. I love your channel. I think of you as a trustworthy source.

[@JohnnieWalkerGreen]

hear... hear...

[@bunsdad4530]

How is tritium more common than uranium. Tritium is very difficult to make and requires uranium to create a neutron field to turn deuterium into Tritium. And the process of refining the deuterium from water is monstrous.

[@laboratoryrack6488]

At 12:11, you say people can't fish on Lake Chagan, but it seems fishing there is common practice.

[@zolikoff]

Probably what he meant is that it is legally prohibited for some reason; but if there's nobody to enforce it, it doesn't matter.

[@BlackThorne]

Well, this was an unexpectedly wholesome take on soviet nuclear bombs

[@ImperativeGames]

USSR tried to build a better future. It failed and now we live in *this...* But one must not give up ^^

[@seanmichael6579]

Utterly fascinating. Thank you!

[@jamesocker5235]

Cant wait for the fracturing episode

[@williamduffy1227]

Very interesting and well researched. Thank you. 😁

[@agranero6]

The use of atomic bombs for peaceful applications was a common talk around the 50s and 60s, not only by the Russians but in USA too, for one reason was to advertise atomic bombs as not so nasty on public perception good look trying that) and for the others it was what I call hammer syndrome: if you only have atomic bombs all looks like a target, Teller wanted to explode a staged device on the Moon...just...because, there was Project Orion and several other things. But the Sovietic programs is far bigger than I was aware, thanks.

[@tcoan98]

@Asianometry Have you considered posting your videos as podcasts? It's a perfect format for a port!

[@blackfeatherstill348]

In Australian the British tested their nukes on indigenous land occupied by indigenous people. As well as some Australian military personnel. France executed nuclear weapons tests in the areas of Reggane and In Ekker in Algeria and the Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls in French Polynesia, from 13 February 1960 through 27 January 1996. These totaled 210 tests with 210 device explosions, 50 in the atmosphere. The US? Most of the tests took place at the Nevada Test Site (NNSS/NTS) and the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands and off Kiritimati Island in the Pacific, plus three in the Atlantic Ocean.. (it's probably worse than that)

[@ARareAndDifferentTune1313]

Holy hell that’s a long time France was doing that for 😮 but as you said it’s probably worse 😢

[@luiscarvalho1989]

As usual, an Excellent Documentary! Thanks!

[@markwentz8332]

i believe they had the idea of trying them on the oilsands up here as a thermal extraction method

[@stefanschneider3681]

Another fascinating video. I couldn’t stop watching giving me answers to questions I never had 😉! Thx!

[@Phil-D83]

Could crack a mountain for ore extraction

[@onceuponfewtime]

Nuclear Nadal ruined me 1:38 every time I heard this sentence I chuckle -_- thanks Wadiyan movie. and fun fact, the craters of Storax Sedan and Chagan had the same width and depth

[@PhantomHarlock78]

Mostly peaceful nuclear drtonations.

[@maxheadrom3088]

There was also Project Dunebug that used a nuclear bomb to do something like fracking. The multilated cows case seems to be related to a monitoring program related to Project Dunebug.

[@kelpeyehelp]

I'm glad you watched Oppenheimer, this is a gem

[@quint3ssent1a]

Nah, this movie is a coal and Nolan is a hack.

[@chrisbarnett5303]

I grew up about 25 miles from the Gasbuggy nuclear fracking site in New Mexico.

[@d3thkn1ghtmcgee74]

You forgot that the americans very seriously proposed under operation plowshare was to use hundreds of nuclear detonations to dig canals thru the sinai peninsula to give israel a way to bypass the suaz canal. Honestly using any nuclear bomb in the middle east was super controversial by itself much less hundreds lol

[@yymediaprod]

Well remember the USSR threatened the Suez Canal perpetrators with nukes so imagine if the US went ahead......

[@kapytanhook]

Would have made a better canal

[@d3thkn1ghtmcgee74]

@@yymediaprod what are you talking about?

[@d3thkn1ghtmcgee74]

@@kapytanhook yeah sure buddy. All your goods would have been laced with radioactive material 🤣

[@yymediaprod]

@@d3thkn1ghtmcgee74 I'm not a historian but it's true that the USSR said they nuke or send rockets to the UK, France & Israel if those countries didn't leave.

[@pokepress]

The only use I could think of that would be legitimately peaceful would be diverting an asteroid or comet from hitting Earth (something you’d think the USSR would consider significant), but even then it turns out you can accomplish that (with enough advance notice) with an impact or conventional explosives.

[@TechGorilla1987]

Look up the results of an EMP as this is what would result.

[@Jo-rz6bs]

You cannot just end a video on a cliffhanger like that.

[@pouya444]

Great video as usual. Tritium isn't a common isotope though, it is generated during fusion.

[@zhanglee4014]

E prime

[@justrl3k]

This Soviet program is about as intelligent as a secret doomsday machine. Interesting video; thanks!

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

@6:29 Are we sure those two "Yuri's" aren't the same person?

[@Conorscorner]

I would love to see the footage of 3 nukes going off ive always wanted to see at least 2 exploding at once to aee what that would look like

[@michal5642]

10:00 weren't underground tests still allowed because there was no method, at the time, to detect them?

[@kakwa]

Pretty sure any decent seismometer would register these large explosions. The ban was more linked to accident like Daiguo Fukuriryu Maru and the simple fact that by testing in the air, you cannot avoid spewing radioactive stuff over the whole planet. Even if it's trace amounts, other countries, specially non-nuclear ones, might see issues with that.

[@watchman835]

Automatic lake sounds sick, what about the newly created atomic sea ?

[@splitradix]

The Irish Sea (between Ireland and Britain) is apparently the most radioactive sea in the world due to the Sellafield nuclear waste processing plant in the UK.

[@mikedrop4421]

Gotta love those radioactive water reservoirs.

[@Xeonerable]

"Boom! Reservoir!" but in Russian by a soviet scientist wearing sunglasses and pointing fingerguns.

[@triedzidono]

Both the french and Geiger counters agree " Oouuiiii "

[@ARareAndDifferentTune1313]

That they then use the water for irrigation 😮

[@wiizrbreh]

I always wish they'd given fission bomb propelled spacecraft a whirl. The nuclear powered plane was a stupid idea, and they probably knew it. That money could have been better spent on yeeting a satellite into the cosmos

[@davecool42]

Crazy that this all mostly happened before the Beatles first hit America.

[@michaeldoe4805]

Nuclear Demolition anyone? Demolition of high rise structures were also on the list of use for peaceful nuclear explosions... Many systems put in place during construction of such structures during their construction... Some of you might have recognized three (3) of such systems being deployed at a particular date, 20-something years ago, thus completely pulverizing most of the structures into microscopic dust. Yes. It was a nuclear demolition. You are welcome

[@Hectico2257]

Yeeeeeesssss! Russo-Soviet docs, always love waiting for these 🙌

[@MAINTMAN73]

Minor correction their hydrogen bonds, or the super has its called sometimes requires a fission device which uses plutonium or uranium in order to initiate the thermal nuclear reaction of the hydrogen bomb. You just can't get away from the radioactive stuff.

[@brag0001]

Isn't that what laser fusion is intended for? To have a fusion trigger which is safer, easier to maintain and non-radioactive?

[@Name-ot3xw]

The nuclear age was wild.

[@XxLIVRAxX]

Is far from over.

[@Cs13762]

think of how many generic videos about nukes get like 5 million views in the first week even when it's a boring topic everyone has heard over and over, while this masterpiece still only has 122k views after almost a year.

[@justinfantastic4882]

the bomb was placed 200m down but the crater was only 100m deep???

[@Lazy_Tim]

Nuclear fracking. That I need to see a video about!

[@rotinoma]

...why that light novel in particular, if I may ask...?

[@craig4android]

this is so fucking crazy

[@groovy_bear]

Tritium is not far more commun than uranium. Actually, it's much much more rare than Uranium, even U235, in nature. Tritium is usually produced by fission of activated Lithium atoms. Still it is fairly difficult to collect and store.

[@markchapman2585]

Crazy stuff

[@geonerd]

Ha!! I never know WHAT you're going to come up with. :)

[@mauritsbol4806]

"On the need to launch work to study the possibilities of using atomic and thermonuclear explosions for technical and scientific purposes." -a Japanese Yuri.

[@ridhobaihaqi144]

Good morning from southeast asia

[@ohtoricp3272]

Hello asianometry

[@PoorMansChemist]

U238 Is extremely common. U235 is rare. Also tritium is crazy rare and wildly expensive. And if you think lithium deuteride is all sweetness and light I invite you to play with that highly reactive and pyrophoric chem sometime.

[@pop5678eye]

To say thermonuclear bombs are 'cleaner' is misleading. They still require the detonation of fissile material first along with usually further fissile tamper that will produce radioactive products. Hydrogen bombs are cleaner per unit of yield because their total yield is magnified by fusion. To date the worst total fallout from a US nuclear test was that from our highest yield thermonuclear bomb test Castle Bravo.

[@zolikoff]

Especially on the ground, all the neutrons escaping from the fusion reaction will activate any material nearby, resulting in short lived isotopes. Of course, one way to further increase yield is to use a uranium shell to capture as much of those fusion neutrons and create even more fission yield. But then you have more fission products instead.

[@bmitchizzle]

How about that nuclear fracking video essay?

[@liquidmobius]

"Peaceful Nuclear Explosions" - Please tell me I'm not the only one to find this phrase hilariously contradictory and ironic to the point of utter absurdity!

[@ewenewen4060]

i mean aside from the radioactivity this is actually a great idea

[@the-quintessenz]

Yeah. Imagine they could simply blow up the great garbage patch in the Pacific with a nuke.

[@KC-bv9kf]

@@the-quintessenzthere’s been progress made there. Interesting read

[@KlodFather]

@@the-quintessenz - You mean the one that China and India made? Yep... That has those numb-skulls written all over it.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

@@the-quintessenz Contrary to the name, the Great Garbage Patch isn't just one great patch of garbage.

[@agranero6]

I am very interested in who choose the test names: Starfish Prime, Castle Bravo, Project Plowshare, Project Teacup, Operation Sunbeam, Storax Sedan (this would be a cool rock band name).

[@TheMezzomorto]

The savage irony of the term “Peace Nuke”

[@ronjon7942]

No different than dynamite. Well, thousands of tons of dynamite. Ok, millions of tons of dynamite. Oh, and some pesky radiation. Fine, ‘savage irony’ works.

[@Voidapparate]

Free bird yeah!

[@EvidentlyChemistry]

It is easy to exaggerate radiation and fallout risks. That negatively impacts energy policy. High natural background radiation is not associated with any negative health outcomes. Fallout is usually really low acute dose. Your channel is great.

[@zolikoff]

Prompt fallout from a ground detonation can easily be lethal... but only for about a week. These "remnant" higher dose rates years later are, as you say, completely meaningless and have no negative health impacts. There are populations living at around 100x average background all their live with no statistically measurable effects at all, it has been tried.

[@paddypersonal2872]

excellent

[@abyteoftime281]

Soviet Union: when in doubt nuke it out.

[@bagavondo2477]

one could almost compare soviet peaceful nuclear explosions to USA's "not so" peaceful nuclear explosions in hiroshima and nagasaki

[@Yj-Fj]

That’s such a stupid comparison if there ever was one. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@bagavondo2477]

@@Yj-Fj to say that something is stupid is actually saying that you dont understand it or dont even bother to understand it. it is easier just to say its stupid. why is this comparison stupid?

[@Yj-Fj]

@@bagavondo2477 - uhhh… you can’t even see the actual historical comparison, instead of putting yourself in some pedestal and thinking you’d do better then??? Seriously??? You need an adult to point it out line by line for you?? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@bagavondo2477]

@@Yj-Fji would very much like from you to educate me. i kinda doubt that you are an adult but that doesnt mean that you cannot teach me something. please, stick to the subject, try to be objective and explain to me why was the comparison stupid? line by line

[@Yj-Fj]

@@bagavondo2477 - soooo… you’re seriously thinking that the first atom bomb shouldn’t have ever been used because there are tons of other ways that you have in your mind and no one else has ever thought about it, if only. Every Asian in the APAC region were relieved when the war ended so quickly, right after the two bombs dropped.

[@Supra-mk4-3i]

Can someone please tell him to make video on solid state battery🔋. Where it stand today. Is it even real if it is then when it will arrive. Because there is lots of misinformation about this topic on internet...

[@triedzidono]

The retro futurists dream, is to casually use nukes on D.I.Y. projects around the house & garden.

[@TemporalOnline]

Why do this in clear sky days? I imagine that in a rainy day the rwin and heavy water concentration around would prevent at least some of the radiantion from going away. The downside it that more of the radiantion wont go away, making the bomb site more radioactive, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@sharonrigs7999]

Thermonuclear, but mostly peaceful test

[@TheGuyfromValhalla]

Some made craters to...store... *gulp* water...

[@Samcharleston24]

The last one is fucking wild

[@matthewrosso8569]

Really I shouldn’t be surprised. Moscow probably looked at everything East of the Urals the way Washington looked at Nevada, but fuck that’s depressing. As always , great information. Thank you.

[@kloppskalli]

nuclear bombs for smashing Icebergs

[@kennyvdequetzalcoatl1245]

When you cant get off the couch. Wikipedia.

[@interstellarsurfer]

The US tried nuclear fracking as well. Should be plenty of material for a video.

[@theblackhand6485]

Show hard to watch due to KZbin ads every 2 minutes. ..who invented this had to have a nuclear meltdown himself 👻

[@alo1236546]

kim used nuke bomb for mining ?

[@daneldridge]

So we can survive a nuclear war?

[@0neIntangible]

What about China utilizing peace bombs.

[@jameswest7945]

Bunker tests basically

[@RejonMunchausen]

nuclear fracking, what could go wrong

[@nneeerrrd]

Soviet peace-dukes There, I fixed it for you